Brian Manion Dennehy was an American actor of film, stage, and television. A winner of one Golden Globe, two Tony Awards and a recipient of six Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Brian Dennehy always maintained a strong presence film, theater, and television for three decades. He won twice the Tony Award for Best Actor: honored for playing James Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night," and for playing Willy Loman in "Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman." The latter production was also filmed for Showtime by director Kirk Browning, with Dennehy executive-producing. The television version subsequently earned Dennehy a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Emmy Award nomination. He revived the role of Willy Loman in London's West End in 2005 for which he received the coveted Olivier Award for Best Actor.
Dennehy was well-known to audiences worldwide for his performances in such popular films as Michael Ritchie's "Semi-Tough," Colin Higgins' "Foul Play," Blake Edwards' "10," Ted Kotcheff's "First Blood," Ron Howard's "Cocoon," Robert Mandel's "F/X," Alan J. Pakula's "Presumed Innocent," Peter Segal's "Tommy Boy" and Baz Luhrmann's "William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet." His other notable screen credits include "Gorky Park," "Never Cry Wolf," "Finders Keepers," "Silverado," "Twice in a Lifetime," "Best Seller," "The Belly of an Architect" (for which he received Best Actor honors at the Chicago Film Festival), Spike Lee's "She Hate Me" and Robert Moresco's "10th & Wolf." He voiced the role of Babe Ruth in "Everyone's Hero."
Dennehy starred in a wide range of television projects, receiving Emmy Award nominations for his performances in the miniseries "The Burden of Proof," "Murder in the Heartland," "To Catch a Killer" (in which he played John Wayne Gacy) and Stephen Gyllenhaal's telefilm "Killing in a Small Town." His characterization of police investigator Jack Reed anchored a successful series of telefilms that he starred in for NBC throughout the 1990s, several of which he executive-produced, co-wrote, and directed. He also directed and starred in the telefilms "Shadow of a Doubt" (which he co-wrote and co-produced) and "Indefensible."
Dennehy was associated for two decades with Chicago's Goodman Theatre (on whose Board he served), where he has starred in numerous leading roles. His other notable stage work includes the Broadway production of "Translations"; "Hughie," at Trinity Repertory; Peter Brook's production of "The Cherry Orchard" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; "Trumbo," which he starred in off-Broadway and then went on tour; Wisdom Bridge Theatre's production of "Rat in the Skull"; "Says I, Says He" at The Mark Taper Forum in L.A. and The Phoenix Theatre in N.Y.; and Bob Balaban's production of "The Exonerated," which he starred in Off-Broadway and toured with. He also starred in the Court TV film version of the latter production, directed by Bob Balaban.
