Brian Dennehy

**Brian Manion Dennehy** (July 9, 1938 – April 15, 2020) was an American actor of stage, television, and film. Dennehy won two Tony Awards, an Olivier Award, and a Golden Globe, and received six Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He had roles in over 180 films and in many television and stage productions. His film roles included *Gorky Park* (1983), *Silverado* (1985), *Cocoon* (1985), *F/X* (1986), *Presumed Innocent* (1990), *Romeo + Juliet* (1996), and *Knight of Cups* (2015). Dennehy won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film for his role as Willy Loman in the television film *Death of a Salesman* (2000).

According to *Variety*, Dennehy was "perhaps the foremost living interpreter" of playwright Eugene O'Neill’s works on stage and screen. He had a decades long relationship with Chicago's Goodman Theatre where much of his O'Neill work originated.[1] He also regularly played Canada's Stratford Festival, especially in works by William Shakespeare and Samuel Beckett.[2] He once gave credit for his award-winning performances to the play's authors: "When you walk with giants, you learn how to take bigger steps."[3] Dennehy was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2010.

## Contents

* 1Early life
* 2Career
	+ 2.1Film
	+ 2.2Television
	+ 2.3Theater
* 3Personal life and death
* 4Filmography
	+ 4.1Film
	+ 4.2Television films
	+ 4.3Television series
	+ 4.4Video games
* 5Awards and nominations
* 6Notes
* 7References
* 8External links

## Early life[edit]

Brian Manion Dennehy[4] was born on July 9, 1938, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Hannah (Manion) and Edward Dennehy, a wire service editor for the Associated Press.[5] He had two brothers, Michael and Edward.[6][7] He was of Irish ancestry and was raised Catholic.[8][9] The family relocated to Long Island, New York, where Dennehy attended Chaminade High School in the village of Mineola.[10]

He entered Columbia University in New York City on a football scholarship in the fall of 1956. He interrupted his college education to spend five years in the U.S. Marines. He was stationed in the U.S., Japan, and Korea. He returned to Columbia in 1960 and graduated in 1965 with a B.A. in history. While acting in regional theater he supported his family by working blue-collar jobs, driving a taxi and bartending. He hated his brief stint as a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch in their Manhattan office in the mid 1970s.[11] He later described how working odd hours allowed him to attend matinee theater performances that provided his acting education: "I never went to acting school–I was a truck driver and I used to go see everything I could see–Wednesday afternoons."[12][a] In the 1970s, stage performances in New York led to television and film work.[16]

## Career[edit]

*Find sources:* "Brian Dennehy" – news **·** newspapers **·** books **·** scholar **·** JSTOR *(April 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)*

### Film[edit]

Dennehy was primarily known as a dramatic actor. His breakthrough role was as the overzealous sheriff Will Teasle in *First Blood* (1982) opposite Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo.

His earlier films included several comedies, like *Semi-Tough* with Burt Reynolds (in which he portrayed a pro football player), *Foul Play* with Chevy Chase, and *10* with Dudley Moore (as a Manzanillo bartender). He later portrayed a corrupt sheriff in the western *Silverado* and an alien in *Cocoon*, both released in 1985.

Dennehy had memorable supporting parts in such films as *Split Image* (1982), *Legal Eagles* (1986), *F/X: Murder By Illusion* (1986), *Presumed Innocent* (1990), *F/X2: The Deadly Art of Illusion* (1991) and *Prophet of Evil* (1993).

Dennehy gradually became a valuable character actor but also achieved leading-man status in the thriller *Best Seller* (1987) co-starring James Woods. He also starred in the Peter Greenaway film *The Belly of an Architect*, for which he won the Best Actor Award at the 1987 Chicago International Film Festival. Commenting upon this unusual venture, Dennehy said, "I've been in a lot of movies but this is the first film I've made."

He went on to star as Harrison in the Australian film *The Man from Snowy River II* in 1988.

One of his most well-known roles came in the 1995 Chris Farley-David Spade comedy *Tommy Boy* as Big Tom Callahan. He also was reunited with his *10* co-star Bo Derek in *Tommy Boy*, in which she played his wife.

Dennehy had a voice role in the animated movie *Ratatouille* as Django, father of the rat chef Remy. He appeared as the superior officer of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in the 2008 cop drama *Righteous Kill* and as the father of Russell Crowe in the 2010 suspense film *The Next Three Days*.

Dennehy starred as Clarence Darrow in *Alleged*, a film based on the Scopes Monkey Trial, the famous court battle over the teaching of evolution in American public schools.[17]

### Television [edit]

Dennehy began his professional acting career in small guest roles in such 1970s and 1980s series as *Kojak*, *Lou Grant*, *Dallas*, *Dynasty*, and *Hunter*. He also appeared in an episode of *Miami Vice* during the 1987–88 season.

Born: July 9, 1938, Bridgeport, CT

Died: April 15, 2020, New Haven, CT

Children: Elizabeth Dennehy, Cormack Dennehy, Kathleen Dennehy, Deirdre Dennehy, Sarah Dennehy

TV shows: Star of the Family, The Fighting Fitzgeralds, MORE

Spouse: Jennifer Arnott (m. 1988–2020), Judith Scheff (m. 1959–1974)

Movies