Born in Richmond, Indiana; educated in Cincinnati, Ohio. During his early twenties played trumpet and piano for the Kay Kyser band, later arranging most of the music for Kyser's popular "Kollege of Musical Knowledge" radio program. It was during the Kyser band's appearance in CAROLINA MOON (1944) that Duning's work was noticed, leading to a Columbia contract. He composed stock music that was used in dozens of films from the 1940s until the 1960s. In 1947 he began scoring films, mostly for Columbia. Some notable non-nominated films score credits include THE LAST ANGRY MAN (1959), THE WORLD OF SUZIE WONG, THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER and THE WACKIEST SHIP IN THE ARMY (all 1960), THE DEVIL AT 4 O'CLOCK (1961), THE NOTORIOUS LANDLADY and THAT TOUCH OF MINK (both 1962), TOUS IN THE ATTIC (1963), ENSIGN PULVER (1964), DEAR BRIGITTE (1965), ANY WEDNESDAY (1966) and his last feature film, THE MAN WITH BOGART'S FACE (1980). From the early 60s he scored numerous TV series and TV movies: "The Big Valley," "Star Trek," "The Time Tunnel," "Cimarron Strip," and "Then Came Bronson."  Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Musical Picture) 1949: JOLSON SINGS AGAIN (w. Morris Stoloff)  Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1950: NO SAD SONGS FOR ME  Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1953: FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (w. Morris Stoloff)  Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1955: PICNIC  Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1956: THE EDDY DUCHIN STORY (w. Morris Stoloff) 5 nominations