Brian Dennehy Bio

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Brian Mannion Dennehy (born July 9, 1938) is an American actor of film, stage and screen.

Brian Dennehy: Early years

Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Hannah and Edward Dennehy, who was a wire service doctor for the Associated Press; he has two brothers, Michael and Edward. The family relocated to Long Island, New York, where Dennehy attended Chaminade High School in the town of Mineola.

Rather than immediately chase his dreams of stage and screen, Dennehy enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1959, actively serving until 1963. Although he said in numerous interviews that he had fought in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, even telling harrowing tales of his service there, it was revealed in the 1998 book Stolen Valor by B.G. Burkett that Dennehy had never served overseas at all during his time in the military. Later that year, Dennehy admitted to the tabloid The Globe "I lied about serving in Vietnam and I'm sorry. That was very wrong of me. There is no real excuse for that. I was a peace-time Marine, and I got out in 1963 without ever serving in Vietnam. I started the story that I had been in 'Nam, and I got stuck with it. Then I didn't know how to set the record straight." However, in 2007, he once again told a reporter tales of his service in the Vietnam War, this time to Glenna Whitley of the Wall Street Journal.

He went on to attend Columbia on a football scholarship to major in history, where he also became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, before moving on to Yale to study dramatic arts. He played rugby for Old Blue RFC. He currently resides in Woodstock, CT.

Brian Dennehy: Career

Dennehy is primarily known as a dramatic actor. His breakthrough role was as the overzealous Sheriff Will Teasle in First Blood (1982) opposite Sylvester Stallone as Rambo. His other roles include a corrupt sheriff in the western Silverado, and an alien in Cocoon, both released in 1985. He later played memorable supporting parts in such films as Legal Eagles (1986), F/X - Murder By Illusion (1986), Presumed Innocent (1990) and F/X2 - The Deadly Art Of Illusion (1991).

During the 1980s, Dennehy gradually became a valuable character actor in films and subsequently gained leading man status in the thriller Best Seller (1987) co-starring James Woods. He gained his arthouse spurs when he 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 then went on to support star as Harrison in the Australian legendary film, The Man from Snowy River II in 1988.

Perhaps one of his most well known roles was in the 1995 Chris Farley-David Spade comedy Tommy Boy as Big Tom Callahan.

Two of his earliest roles were in 10 with Bo Derek and Dudley Moore and Foul Play with Chevy Chase. Later, he would again star with Bo Derek in "Tommy Boy."

He also has had a role in the recent movie Ratatouille as Django, Remy's Father.

Brian Dennehy - Television

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

Dennehy portrayed Sergeant Ned T. "Frozen Chosen" Coleman in the television movie A Rumor of War (1980) opposite Brad Davis. He continued to appear in such high-profile television movies as Skokie (1981), Day One (1989), A Killing in a Small Town (1990) opposite Barbara Hershey, In Broad Daylight (1991), Scott Turow's The Burden of Proof, and the miniseries A Season in Purgatory. He also played a convincing Jackie Presser in HBO's Teamster Boss: The Jackie Presser Story.

Dennehy also had a lead role as fire chief/celebrity dad Leslie "Buddy" Krebs in the short-lived 1982 series Star Of The Family. Despite his star power, that show was cancelled after two seasons.

Dennehy was nominated for Emmy Awards six times for his television movies including one for his performance as John Wayne Gacy, for which he was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie. He was also nominated that same year in a different category, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie, for The Burden of Proof (1992). He was also nominated for an Emmy for his work in A Killing in a Small Town, Murder in the Heartland (1993) and, most recently, for the Showtime cable TV movie Our Fathers (2005), which was about the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal.

In 2000, Dennehy was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie for a television presentation of his performance as Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman which he had performed on Broadway. Although he did not win the Emmy (he has yet to win an Emmy), he did receive a Golden Globe award for the presentation.

He has starred in the popular crime drama Jack Reed TV movies. He also appeared as a recurring character in the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me!

Dennehy parodied in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, 1999

Dennehy was parodied in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) and an episode of The Simpsons.

In January 2007, he starred as a retired criminal who wants to reconnect with his daughter and admit his crimes thus eventually clearing a wrongfully imprisoned inmate on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In April 2008, Dennehy guest-starred as a Teamster boss named "Mickey" in an episode of "30 Rock".

Dennehy is currently shooting footage for his upcoming mini-series on the History Channel called "Brian Dennehy's America." The show follows Dennehy as he explores the states, from his boyhood home in New England, all the way to the Pacific Northwest, interviewing the locals about why they love their state.

Dennehy will guest-star in an episode of Rules of Engagement in the Fall 2008 season as the father of the main character, Jeff.

Dennehy has also worked in many television specials and pilots. He has appeared in many episodes of other television series. Brian once played an extra in the video for 'The king of rock 'n' roll' by musical legends Prefab Sprout.

Dennehy has also narrated many television programs and recently narrated the IFTA nominated Canadian-Irish docudrama Death or Canada.

Brian Dennehy - Theater

Dennehy has won two Tony Awards, both times for Best Lead Actor in a Play. The first win was for Death of a Salesman (for which he also won a Laurence Olivier Award for the production's London run), in 1999, and the second was for Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night in 2003. Both productions were directed by Robert Falls and were originally produced at the Goodman Theatre company in Chicago.

On stage, Dennehy has made frequent performances in the Chicago theatre world, and made his Broadway debut in 1995 in Brian Friel's Translations. In 1999, he was the first male performer to be voted the Sarah Siddons Award for his work in Chicago theatre. He made a return to Broadway in 2007 as Matthew Harrison Brady in Inherit the Wind opposite Christopher Plummer. In 2008, Dennehy will appear at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada, appearing in All's Well That Ends Well and a double bill of plays by Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape and Eugene O'Neill's Hughie.

Brian Dennehy: Personal life

He is the father of actresses Elizabeth Dennehy and Kathleen Dennehy. He resides in Woodstock, Connecticut. His son, Cormac Dennehy, currently attends Pomfret School.