BRIAN DENNEHY [1938–2020] was one of the most respected American actors of his generation. He came to acting late, after a Columbia University education on a football scholarship, five years in the Marines, and a stretch of working-class jobs including cab driving and bartending. He educated himself on theater by catching matinee performances on his days off, and it showed.
His screen breakthrough came playing the bullying small-town sheriff opposite Stallone in First Blood (1982), which immediately established him as the go-to guy for authority figures, lawmen, and heavies. He was versatile enough to play corrupt sheriffs, alien leaders, serial killers, and a beloved comedy dad, but while Hollywood loved him as a character actor, the theater world recognized something deeper.
He won two Tony Awards — one for Death of a Salesman (1999) and another for Long Day's Journey into Night (2003) — and a Golden Globe for the TV adaptation of Salesman in 2000. Variety once called him "perhaps the foremost living interpreter" of Eugene O'Neill's work on stage and screen.
He appeared in well over 180 productions across film, TV, and stage, working consistently right up until his death at 81.
Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977)
Semi-Tough (1977)
Foul Play (1978)
10 (1979)
First Blood (1982)
Split Image (1982)
Gorky Park (1983)
Never Cry Wolf (1983)
Silverado (1985)
Cocoon (1985)
F/X (1986)
Legal Eagles (1986)
The Belly of an Architect (1987)
Best Seller (1987)
The Man from Snowy River II (1988)
Cocoon: The Return (1988)
Miles from Home (1988)
Presumed Innocent (1990)
F/X2 (1991)
Gladiator (1992)
Prophet of Evil (1993)
Tommy Boy (1995)
Romeo Juliet (1996)
Stolen Summer (2002)
She Hate Me (2004)
Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
10th & Wolf (2006)
Ratatouille (2007) — voice
Righteous Kill (2008)
The Next Three Days (2010)
Alleged (2010)
Knight of Cups (2015)
The Seagull (2018)
Tag (2018)
Driveways (2019)
It's worth noting that The Belly of an Architect (1987) is the one Dennehy himself considered his finest film work. He won Best Actor at the Chicago International Film Festival for it and said it was the first time he felt he'd actually made a film rather than just appeared in one. And Tommy Boy is the one most people remember, even though he dies in the first act. His rapport with Farley was genuinely warm, and by all accounts he looked out for the troubled comic during production.