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|---|---|---|---|---|
 Brian Dennehy | ||||
| Personal Information | ||||
| Gender: | Male | |||
| Born: | 9 July 1938 | |||
| Birthplace: | Bridgeport, Connecticut | |||
| Career/Family Information | ||||
| Character information | ||||
| Appeared on: | Behind the Camera:The Unauthorized Story of Three's Company | |||
| Character played: | Fred Silverman, ABC-TV executive | |||
Brian Dennehy (born 9 July 1938) played the part of TV executive Fred Silverman in the 2003 ABC made-for-TV movie Behind the Camera:The Unauthorized Story of Three's Company. A prolific US actor, well respected on both screen and stage for the best part of thirty-five years.
Life and Career[]
Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Brian attended Columbia University in New York City on a football scholarship. He majored in history, before moving onto to Yale to study dramatic arts.
Brian appeared as fictional U.S. Senator Rafe Framhagen (R-FL) on the NBC-TV series The West Wing, in the episode "Ninety Miles Away". Brian is perhaps best known for his role in movies, including the 1982 Sylvester Stallone film First Blood, Silverado, Cocoon, F/X, Presumed Innocent, Romeo + Juliet, She Hate Me, Assault on Precinct 13, The Ultimate Gift, Righteous Kill, The Next Three Days and The Big Year.
He first appeared in minor screen roles in such fare as Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Semi-Tough, and Foul Play and proved popular with casting directors, leading to regular work. However, he really got himself noticed by movie audiences in the box-office hit First Blood as the bigoted sheriff determined to run Vietnam veteran "John Rambo", played by Sylvester Stallone, out of his town. Dennehy quickly escalated to stronger supporting or co-starring roles in films including the Cold War thriller Gorky Park, as a benevolent alien in Cocoon, a corrupt sheriff in the western Silverado, a tough but smart cop in F/X and a cop-turned-writer alongside hitman James Woods in Best Seller.
In 1987, Brian turned in one of his finest performances as cancer-ridden architect "Stourley Kracklite" in Peter Greenaway's superb The Belly of an Architect, for which he won the Best Actor Award at the 1987 Chicago Film Festival. More strong performances followed. He reprised prior roles for Cocoon: The Return and F/X2, and turned in gripping performances in three made-for-TV films: a sadistic small-town bully who gets his grisly comeuppance in In Broad Daylight, real-life serial killer John Wayne Gacy in the chilling To Catch a Killer and a corrupt union boss in Teamster Boss: The Jackie Presser Story.
