Donny (The Big Lebowski). “Donny” is a fictional character from Joel and Ethan Coen’s film The Big Lebowski (1998). Donny is a quiet character, so much so that Edward Guthmann of The San Francisco Chronicle called him a “nearly wordless dunce”. Donny is most well known for having Walter Sobchek yell “Shut the fuck up Donny!” at him. Donny always wants to participate or contribute to conversations, but Walter never lets him get a word in because he is “out of his element”. Like The Dude and Walter, Donny is a bowler and appears to be quite a good bowler. Of the three times we see Donny bowl, two of the three are strikes and the one time we don’t see him bowl a strike, he seems confused and agitated.

In his younger years, Donny liked to surf along the coast of southern California. During the scuffle between The Dude and the nihilists, Donny suffered a heart attack and died. After Donny’s death, The Dude and Walter dumped his ashes off a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean “in accordance with what we think your dying wishes might well have been”.

Actor Steve Buscemi played the role of “Donny”. This was Buscemi’s first major role with the Coens. Prior to his role as “Donny”, Buscemi appeared in Miller’s Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) and Fargo (1996) with the Coens.—Landon Doane