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Posted on 04/18/2020 8:48:26 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
I had admired Mr. Dennehy — who died on Wednesday, at 81 — as a smart, risk-taking and undersung actor onstage and onscreen. He was a heartbreakingly sensitive lout as the parvenu Lopakhin — a brute with a touch of the poet — in Peter Brook’s production of Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” (1988) at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. His performance as the serial murderer John Wayne Gacy in the 1992 television film “To Catch a Killer” was a penetratingly human portrait of a monster, and it haunted my nightmares for a long time.
But nothing I had seen Mr. Dennehy do before prepared me for his take on Willy Loman in Robert Falls’s shadow-shrouded “[Death of a Salesman],” [Arthur] Miller’s benchmark drama from 1949. The scale of his performance was more genuinely tragic than any version of Willy I’ve seen before or since. Mr. Dennehy had a large and brawny frame that loomed intimidatingly from a stage. Yet the character he was portraying thought of himself as a little man — so insignificant that he was afraid he was on the verge of disappearing altogether...
The disparity between Mr. Dennehy’s physical stature and his character’s sense of smallness generated extraordinary pathos. It was as if he had been made outsized by pain. And there was a visceral intensity to the way he moved...
He received his second Tony four years later, as the miserly, combative father in Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” also directed by Mr. Falls. Though his character, James Tyrone, was a retired matinee idol, Mr. Dennehy refrained from the easy temptation of playing the ham...he registered the enduring, impossibly tested love of a man for his wife, and the wounds with which she had left him...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Actor Brian Dennehy claimed for years that he served a five-year tour as a Marine in Vietnam, where he was wounded in action. In reality, Dennehy’s only Vietnam “action” was on-screen in “A Rumor of War”, in which he portrayed a Marine gunnery sergeant. While Dennehy did serve in the Marines, it was not in Vietnam; his only “combat duty” was playing football in Okinawa in 1962.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fake-war-stories-exposed/
Is it “tragic grandeur” to repeatedly lie about serving in Vietnam in order to get acting gigs?
I liked him as the sheriff in First Blood and also in My Brother ....
He was a good actor and he appeared likeable.
I appreciate his work.
But, I did not know the guy. I really didn’t care to know the guy—he wasn’t in my life.
Too bad he is dead. But a lot of other people I did not know, and did not care about died the other day too.
You post a comment to show how much you don’t care?
In my long life that’s showed me it means one of two things...you do care or you need attention :)
Or both :)
I just gave you some attention. You should be content :)
I will never forget two of Brian Dennehy’s bad guy roles -— BOTH GREAT !!
One was the first Rambo. The other one was one of my favorite western movies — Silverado ( where he played the corrupt Sheriff ). He was excellent in both.
That’s bad.
But he was a very good actor and I liked him in First Blood, FX and he played John Wayne Gacy very well.
And I’ll continue to watch some of his shows when they come on streaming now and again.
If we stopped watching every actor/actress who did or said something horrific, we’d watch nothing.
He’s a Huge guy to play will loman. Usually think of a small guy to play a small man.
It seems like the gamble paid off.
Nevertheless, I thought he was a very real person in Gorky Park. William Hurt was way too stoic and wooden as Arcady Renko. Im surprised they didn't make more movies about that character. Great books from Martin Cruz Smith.
Yeah, DP, I got to hang with him at the west L.A. Palm Restaurant in 2000. He was very generous to any fan who approached him. Of his personality, he definitely embodied Mr Callahan of TOMMY BOY. Obviously, he was a really big guy - but with matching charisma.
Give it a rest ok? At least the man served his country. He was a solid actor and he wasn't one of those hating on America every time he turned around.
He played Ken McElroy in the TV movie “In Broad Daylight,” about the vigilante execution of a town bully in Skidmore, Missouri by outraged townspeople. He was perfect as the overbearing, thuggish brute who got what was coming to him, even though he thought he was invincible.
I have a book in my study written by B. G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley. The book is Stolen Valor. It’s signed by B.G. I bought it from Jug when he was peddling the books from the back of his car. He didn’t think much of Brian Dennehy.
I just don’t understand fawning over dead strangers. Give the respect for their work or impact on your life.
But very few people on this site “knew” him.
there can be emotional ties with those who entertain us. The extreme of that is the root of the word “fan.”
Sorry I care more about the store stockers and truck drivers and those in the medical field that actually serve a purpose, then I do about an actor.
“Is it “tragic grandeur” to repeatedly lie about serving in Vietnam in order to get acting gigs?”
Hollywood is nothing but a lie. People aren’t themselves because it is never big enough to be the success they are expected to achieve.
There are only a few actual war vets in that business that are real “heroes” that did more than jut put in time. Mel Brooks was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge, Pat Sajak served in Vietnam, Dennis Frank in Vietnam, Bill Cosby in Korea, Montel Williams served in the Navy and was at Grenada, and Tony Bennett was in Europe in WW II.
There are more but very few that actually saw combat that are still alive. But many in Hollywood that profess their service, or allow it to be lied about, do this to assist their career.
rwood
I agree with your comments about Dennehy’s acting abilities. His lies about multiple tours in VietNam, wounded (Purple Heart), heroism, etc. just sort of puts him in the same catagory as Senator Richard Blumenthal (from article linked below}...
“Richard Blumenthal’s service would have been sufficiently honorable, and occasioned no comment, had he not chosen to exaggerate and distort it — not once, but repeatedly.”
I served for 4 years in the Marine Corps during the VietNam War(1970-1974), but was never “In-Country” nor have I ever claimed to be. My oldest brother did serve “In-Country” as a Marine and was awarded the Purple Heart (further reference: PANEL 52W, LINE 32 OF THE WALL and link below).
I invite each to read the linked sources.
https://dailycaller.com/2010/10/05/richard-blumenthal-lied-and-it-should-matter/
https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/48578/SAMUEL-T-SMITH-JR/
What's even more stupid is to even bring it up in this stage of his life.......But that's what insignificant, petty people do.
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