[1] In 1930 Durand appeared with stage star Belle Baker in the Columbia Pictures backstage drama Song of Love.
His child-actor credits include Bad Sister, The Spy, Rich Man's Folly, Probation, Forbidden Company, Silver Dollar, The Great Jasper, Son of the Border, The Life of Jimmy Dolan, Jennie Gerhardt, Cradle Song, As the Earth Turns, Viva Villa!, Hat, Coat, and Glove, Wednesday's Child, Little Men, and The Band Plays On.
Having outgrown child roles, Durand became a familiar face in teenage stories, including Scouts to the Rescue, Streets of New York, and Boys' Reformatory.
His most representative credit of the late 1930s was a leading role (without billing) as a rebellious teen in MGM's Crime Does Not Pay short subject A Criminal Is Born (1938).
[2] These films, showing the comic misadventures of a promising young prizefighter, were produced by the same staff that made Columbia's popular Three Stooges and Buster Keaton comedies.