Brian Dennehy

Brian Dennehy was an American actor.

Dennehy’s breakthrough film role was as the brash sheriff in 1982’s First Blood (opposite Sylvester Stallone).

He also played officers of the law in: Gorky Park (1983), Silverado (1985), F/X (1986), Presumed Innocent (1990), F/X 2 (1991) Best Seller (1987), The Last of the Finest (1990), and Assault on Precinct 13 (2005). 

Dennehy also played more compassionate roles: a sympathetic bartender consoling Dudley Moore in 10 (1979), the leader of a peaceful race of aliens in Cocoon (1985), and Chris Farley’s everyman dad in Tommy Boy (1995).

On the stage, Dennehy made his Broadway debut in Translations (1995) alongside Dana Delaney and Rufus Sewell. He went on to win two Tony Awards for his stage work.

A prolific television actor, Dennehy received six Emmy Award nominations, including one for his portrayal of Willy Loman in a 2000 production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, which aired on Showtime. He last appeared on television in a recurring role in NBC’s The Blacklist (with James Spader).

Dennehy died April 15th, 2020, in New Haven, Connecticut.  He was 81.