Brian Dennehy
Acting

Brian Dennehy

Born 9 July 1938 · Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA · Died 15 April 2020

Brian Manion Dennehy (July 9, 1938 – April 15, 2020) was an American actor of film, stage, and television. His breakthrough film role was as the overzealous sheriff Will Teasle in First Blood (1982). Typically a character actor, Dennehy displayed versatility in varying and often complex roles ranging from villainous (such as a corrupt sheriff in the 1985 western Silverado) to virtuous (such as a benevolent alien leader in Cocoon, also released in 1985). Other notable films featuring Dennehy include Gorky Park (1983), Never Cry Wolf (1983), Legal Eagles (1986), F/X (1986), Tommy Boy (1995), Romeo + Juliet (1996), and Ratatouille (2007). A prominent figure in the theater world (especially in Chicago), Dennehy won two Tony Awards for Best Lead Actor, for Death of a Salesman (1999) and Long Day's Journey into Night (2003). He starred in numerous television films and miniseries, garnering six Emmy Award nominations, and had memorable supporting and guest roles in many series including Just Shoot Me, The Good Wife, and The Blacklist.

Known for

Ratatouille
First Blood
Romeo + Juliet
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
The Blacklist
Tag
The Next Three Days
Cocoon
Righteous Kill
Assault on Precinct 13
Tommy Boy
The Big Year
Son of the South
Driveways
The Song of Sway Lake
3 Days with Dad
The Seagull
Tag
A Very Merry Toy Store
Knight of Cups
The Ultimate Legacy
The Challenger Disaster
Twelfth Night
The Big Year
The Next Three Days
Every Day
Alleged
Meet Monica Velour
Caesar and Otto meet Dracula’s Lawyer
Lost Road of the Popes: Via Papale
Love and Valor
Righteous Kill
Cat City
Ratatouille
War Eagle, Arkansas
Welcome to Paradise
Marco Polo
Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil & The Presidency
The Ultimate Gift
10th & Wolf
Everyone's Hero
The Exonerated
Assault on Precinct 13
Our Fathers
Category 6: Day of Destruction
She Hate Me
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron
American Valor
Stolen Summer
Making 'The Misfits'
Code Yellow: Hospital at Ground Zero
A Season on the Brink
Summer Catch
Three Blind Mice
Warden of Red Rock
Fail Safe
Dish Dogs
Death of a Salesman
NetForce
Out of the Cold
Sirens
Silicon Towers
Thanks of a Grateful Nation
Voyage of Terror
Indefensible: The Truth About Edward Brannigan
Romeo + Juliet
Jack Reed: Death and Vengeance
Jack Reed: A Killer Among Us
Tommy Boy
The Stars Fell on Henrietta
Jack Reed: One of Our Own
Midnight Movie
Jack Reed: A Search for Justice
Leave of Absence
Prophet of Evil: The Ervil LeBaron Story
Foreign Affairs
Jack Reed: Badge of Honor
Final Appeal
Gladiator
To Catch a Killer
Deadly Matrimony
Teamster Boss: The Jackie Presser Story
The Diamond Fleece
F/X2
In Broad Daylight
Zebras: Patterns in the Grass
Presumed Innocent
A Killing in a Small Town
The Last of the Finest
Rising Son
Pride and Extreme Prejudice
Day One
Perfect Witness
Seven Minutes
Indio
The Man From Snowy River II
Miles from Home
A Father's Revenge
Best Seller
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam
The Belly of an Architect
The Lion of Africa
The Little Mermaid
Legal Eagles
F/X
The Check is in the Mail...
Annie Oakley
Acceptable Risks
Cocoon
Silverado
Twice in a Lifetime
Finders Keepers
The River Rat
The Pigs vs. The Freaks
Gorky Park
Never Cry Wolf
Blood Feud
I Take These Men
First Blood
Split Image
The Man Who Married a French Wife and Other Stories
Fly Away Home
Skokie
The Girls in Their Summer Dresses and Other Stories
Little Miss Marker
The Jericho Mile
The Seduction of Miss Leona
10
Butch and Sundance: The Early Days
Dummy
Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil Story
Foul Play
A Real American Hero
Ruby and Oswald
A Death in Canaan
F.I.S.T.
Semi-Tough
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
It Happened at Lakewood Manor
Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye
Brian Dennehy · Midrow