The Official KRESKY Homepage

Hank Duran

Born: June 23, 1931; New York, NY.

Known primarily for his television portrayals of tough-talking cops and Mafia thugs, Hank Duran was, in reality, a soft-spoken family man of Welsh and Jewish extraction. He stumbled into acting late in life after returning from the Korean War and abandoning a career as a New York City transit official. He started out in the mid-sixties doing commercials, including a famous turn as the wise-cracking "Mr. Hotdog" for Ballentine Hotdog, and quickly went on to guest roles in such series as Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.; Our Favorite Spy; Combat; Alas, Mr. Swift and Ironside. Before long he had cemented his image in viewers' minds as the perennial tough guy, but it wasn't until Kresky that the actor found his true niche as the tough guy with the heart of gold.

A famous workaholic Duran has worked almost non-stop since Kresky in countless television and film roles. Another career high point was his memorable performance as Clint Eastwood's doomed partner Ernie Hagel in Dunnock's Last Run (1979). In the eighties and nineties, he successfully launched yet another career as a director, helming episodes for Magnum, P.I., The Brophy Papers, MacGuyver, Murder Most Foul and Nash Bridges as well as the Steven Seagal film Aim to Kill.

Return to Premise