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Post by stephen on Apr 16, 2020 17:53:50 GMT
The two-time Tony-winning big man passed at the age of 81.
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Post by pupdurcs on Apr 16, 2020 17:56:43 GMT
Sad loss to the acting and stage community. RIP.
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Post by stephen on Apr 16, 2020 18:03:40 GMT
Sad loss to the acting and stage community. RIP. I'd love to see recordings of his stage performances, because I've heard nothing but raves for his Tony-winning roles. As for his film work, I have to give shoutouts to three in particular. One is his chilling turn as John Wayne Gacy in To Catch A Killer, the second is his performance as the unpleasant asshole at the center of In Broad Daylight (both of which are fine TV productions), and the third is as Chris Farley's doomed dad in Tommy Boy. |
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 16, 2020 18:04:47 GMT
Seen him a lot onstage and he was in his element there - he did something that's very hard to do awards-wise:
He came into Broadway in 2 classic plays and won lead Tony's for both, very fast. It's almost unheard of because in theater circles that sort of thing is seen as playing it safe and it's really looked down upon.......they maybe reward you for your 1st Tony but rarely the 2nd and never that quickly - he won his like Cranston (who did new plays) within ~5 years.
RIP
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Post by wallsofjericho on Apr 16, 2020 18:16:46 GMT
Very sad news. RIP. I'm so over this year already.
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sirchuck23
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Post by sirchuck23 on Apr 16, 2020 18:44:57 GMT
RIP. First time I saw him was in Tommy Boy but learned more about him and his greatness as a stage actor when I got older.
Here's a clip of his performance from the 1999 Broadway Revival of Death of a Salesman:
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Post by pupdurcs on Apr 16, 2020 19:22:00 GMT
Sad loss to the acting and stage community. RIP. I'd love to see recordings of his stage performances, because I've heard nothing but raves for his Tony-winning roles. As for his film work, I have to give shoutouts to three in particular. One is his chilling turn as John Wayne Gacy in To Catch A Killer, the second is his performance as the unpleasant asshole at the center of In Broad Daylight (both of which are fine TV productions), and the third is as Chris Farley's doomed dad in Tommy Boy. I really enjoyed the two F/X movies he did with Bryan Brown. They weren't high art or anything, but I found them to be enjoyable thrillers with modest ambitions that worked mainly thanks to the chemistry betwen Brown and Dennehy. |
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The-Havok
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Post by The-Havok on Apr 16, 2020 20:11:36 GMT
And so did E.T cinematographer.... Two Academy members in a row. This fucking bug....
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Post by quetee on Apr 16, 2020 20:13:42 GMT
RIP. He was still acting too. He was on The Blacklist.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 16, 2020 20:16:11 GMT
And so did E.T cinematographer.... Two Academy members in a row. This fucking bug.... Dennehy didn't die of Covid I believe.........natural causes RIP Allen Daviau |
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Post by ibbi on Apr 16, 2020 20:32:11 GMT
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Post by therealcomicman117 on Apr 16, 2020 21:25:09 GMT
RIP. First time I saw him was in Tommy Boy but learned more about him and his greatness as a stage actor when I got older. Here's a clip of his performance from the 1999 Broadway Revival of Death of a Salesman: conquered stage so much later in his life too. In addition to Death of a Salesman, he was supposedly excellent in Long Day's Journey to Night. Interesting career too. He was a late bloomer to the acting game, making his film debut in his late thirties in the Burt Reynolds sports comedy Semi-Tough. Prior to that he was a stockbroker, who only got into acting by accident. He's done so many great character parts over the years, but I still think my favorite role of his was as the antagonist pricky sheriff in First Blood. He was more then a equal presence to Stallone in that film. RIP!!! |
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Post by TerryMontana on Apr 16, 2020 21:53:20 GMT
Very sad news... RIP
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 16, 2020 21:56:13 GMT
Interesting career too. He was a late bloomer to the acting game, making his film debut in his late thirties in the Burt Reynolds sports comedy Semi-Tough. Prior to that he was a stockbroker, who only got into acting by accident. He's done so many great character parts over the years, but I still think my favorite role of his was as the antagonist pricky sheriff in First Blood. He was more then a equal presence to Stallone in that film. I love a lot of his late 80s work especially too - Belly of An Architect he's great in and Best Seller with James Woods. On stage I can tell you he was even better in Long Day's Journey Into Night than Death Of A Salesman - in the O'Neill he is not really "right" for the role and was surrounded by a heavy duty cast (Vanessa Redgrave and PSH) - that's sort of what I meant in my previous post - he was undeniable in that 2nd production that they had to give him the Tony. I remember I saw him interviewed when he lost the Emmy for his filmed version of Death of a Salesman (to Jack Lemmon) and he genuinely looked upset by that because I think he thought he was a lock to win (though Lemmon did not have an acting Emmy then, he did have a hosting one) and that was interesting because a lot of people considered Dennehy's Tony win an upset (he won over the favorite maybe that night Kevin Spacey for The Iceman Cometh). He never won an Emmy with 6 nominations which is a bit of a headscratcher tbh........  |
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morton
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Post by morton on Apr 16, 2020 22:15:06 GMT
Interesting career too. He was a late bloomer to the acting game, making his film debut in his late thirties in the Burt Reynolds sports comedy Semi-Tough. Prior to that he was a stockbroker, who only got into acting by accident. He's done so many great character parts over the years, but I still think my favorite role of his was as the antagonist pricky sheriff in First Blood. He was more then a equal presence to Stallone in that film. I love a lot of his late 80s work especially too - Belly of An Architect he's great in and Best Seller with James Woods. On stage I can tell you he was even better in Long Day's Journey Into Night than Death Of A Salesman - in the O'Neill he is not really "right" for the role and was surrounded by a heavy duty cast (Vanessa Redgrave and PSH) - that's sort of what I meant in my previous post - he was undeniable in that 2nd production that they had to give him the Tony. I remember I saw him interviewed when he lost the Emmy for his filmed version of Death of a Salesman (to Jack Lemmon) and he genuinely looked upset by that because I think he thought he was a lock to win (though Lemmon did not have an acting Emmy then, he did have a hosting one) and that was interesting because a lot of people considered Dennehy's Tony win an upset (he won over the favorite maybe that night Kevin Spacey for The Iceman Cometh). He never won an Emmy with 6 nominations which is a bit of a headscratcher tbh........ He would have been one of my mentions for the thread about actors who are always reliable. Sad and I agree a headscratcher that he never won an Emmy. The Emmys like all award shows are strange in there own way. I know he was great across all mediums, but one of the first things that I saw him in was a tv movie based on a true story of a guy that everyone hated in a small town that was killed vigilante style. He could be such a great villain, but then turn around and play such teddy bear characters like the dad in Tommy Boy. Related to Tommy Boy, I never found Dennehy that attractive, but when he was the fireman dad of David Spade's character on Just Shoot Me, I totally got why one of the other characters found him hot. It was the perfect combination of his teddy bear side plus totally believable as a veteran fireman. |
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Post by therealcomicman117 on Apr 16, 2020 22:17:58 GMT
Interesting career too. He was a late bloomer to the acting game, making his film debut in his late thirties in the Burt Reynolds sports comedy Semi-Tough. Prior to that he was a stockbroker, who only got into acting by accident. He's done so many great character parts over the years, but I still think my favorite role of his was as the antagonist pricky sheriff in First Blood. He was more then a equal presence to Stallone in that film. I love a lot of his late 80s work especially too - Belly of An Architect he's great in and Best Seller with James Woods. On stage I can tell you he was even better in Long Day's Journey Into Night than Death Of A Salesman - in the O'Neill he is not really "right" for the role and was surrounded by a heavy duty cast (Vanessa Redgrave and PSH) - that's sort of what I meant in my previous post - he was undeniable in that 2nd production that they had to give him the Tony. I remember I saw him interviewed when he lost the Emmy for his filmed version of Death of a Salesman (to Jack Lemmon) and he genuinely looked upset by that because I think he thought he was a lock to win (though Lemmon did not have an acting Emmy then, he did have a hosting one) and that was interesting because a lot of people considered Dennehy's Tony win an upset (he won over the favorite maybe that night Kevin Spacey for The Iceman Cometh). He never won an Emmy with 6 nominations which is a bit of a headscratcher tbh........ It's amazing he never won an Emmy especially given how respected he seemed to be within the acting community. You'd think he'd at least have won for Death of a Salesman, but he didn't. He also gave a lot of great work in a variety of TV projects over the years, including the TV film A Killing In A Small Town, where he plays a conflicted district attorney, for which he received another Emmy nomination. Best Seller's a good one. He and James Woods were the unlikeliest screen duo, but they made that film work. I also thought he was great as Harrison Ford's boss in Presumed Innocent. He always worked well as as an authoritative or higher-up figure, mostly because of the fact that he got into the acting game so late, he came off incredible mature and very rough on screen. |
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Post by therealcomicman117 on Apr 16, 2020 22:44:28 GMT
I love a lot of his late 80s work especially too - Belly of An Architect he's great in and Best Seller with James Woods. On stage I can tell you he was even better in Long Day's Journey Into Night than Death Of A Salesman - in the O'Neill he is not really "right" for the role and was surrounded by a heavy duty cast (Vanessa Redgrave and PSH) - that's sort of what I meant in my previous post - he was undeniable in that 2nd production that they had to give him the Tony. I remember I saw him interviewed when he lost the Emmy for his filmed version of Death of a Salesman (to Jack Lemmon) and he genuinely looked upset by that because I think he thought he was a lock to win (though Lemmon did not have an acting Emmy then, he did have a hosting one) and that was interesting because a lot of people considered Dennehy's Tony win an upset (he won over the favorite maybe that night Kevin Spacey for The Iceman Cometh). He never won an Emmy with 6 nominations which is a bit of a headscratcher tbh........ Related to Tommy Boy, I never found Dennehy that attractive, but when he was the fireman dad of David Spade's character on Just Shoot Me, I totally got why one of the other characters found him hot. It was the perfect combination of his teddy bear side plus totally believable as a veteran fireman. Lol! I remember him on Just Shoot Me, mostly because it was a mini three + year Tommy Boy reunion with him and David Spade. I don't think Brian Dennehy was ever cut out to play romantic leads (he was probably considered too "puffy and older" by Hollywood standards), but I can see why somebody might consider him "attractive". He had a certain strange ruggedness to him. Also the fact that he was able to go between darker and more likable characters speaks to his versatility as a performer. |
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Post by Mattsby on Apr 16, 2020 23:02:51 GMT
When I was younger I used to always confuse him with Charles Durning and Ned Beatty.... I liked him a lot , a really strong talent from what I've seen. First Blood I've seen a hundred times. And relatively recently saw two other perfs I really like, a well-made TVMovie A Killing in a Small Town opposite Barbara Hershey , and Night Visions horror episode 'Quiet Please' - only 25 minutes, directed by Joe Dante, on Youtube! RIP  |
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Post by mhynson27 on Apr 17, 2020 2:21:10 GMT
RIP  |
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Post by Mattsby on Apr 18, 2020 20:44:46 GMT
I haven't seen F/X but reading Pauline Kael's review, 1) a lot of Dennehy praise, may have to check this out 2) randomly, hilariously, throws Wayne under the bus. Woody Allen in his book called Kael "a witty shark" and that pretty much nails it.
Kael ends her F/X review:
Dennehy has "some sharp tough-guy lines, and he sends them home like a master comedian. Dennehy is so enthusiastically overscaled that he fills the screen. He's the kind of actor John Wayne would have been if he'd been an actor."
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Post by stephen on Apr 18, 2020 21:03:10 GMT
I haven't seen F/X but reading Pauline Kael's review, 1) a lot of Dennehy praise, may have to check this out 2) randomly, hilariously, throws Wayne under the bus. Woody Allen in his book called Kael "a witty shark" and that pretty much nails it. Kael ends her F/X review: Dennehy has "some sharp tough-guy lines, and he sends them home like a master comedian. Dennehy is so enthusiastically overscaled that he fills the screen. He's the kind of actor John Wayne would have been if he'd been an actor." Dennehy was crazily good at playing toughs and baddies. I think if they'd made Blood Meridian when it came out in 1985, you could've done far worse than casting Dennehy as Judge Holden. He certainly had the size and the larger-than-life charisma. |
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