Brian Dennehy, who starred in ‘Tommy Boy’ and Rambo flick ‘First Blood’, dies aged 81
Actor Brian Dennehy who won two Tony awards for his starting roles in 'Death of a Salesman' and 'Long Day’s Journey Into Night' and who acted in films including 'Tommy Boy', 'First Blood' and 'Cocoon' died at the age of 81. He passed away on Wednesday night in New Haven, Connecticut.
The actor's daughter Elizabeth Dennehy tweeted, "It is with heavy hearts we announce that our father, Brian passed away last night from natural causes, not Covid-related. Larger than life, generous to a fault, a proud and devoted father and grandfather, he will be missed by his wife Jennifer, family and many friends." The news was first confirmed by his agency ICM.
Dennehy is survived by his second wife Jennifer Arnott whom he married in 1988 who is a costume designer, three daughters by Judith Scheff (his first wife) -- actresses Elizabeth Dennehy and Kathleen Dennehy and Deirdre Dennehy -- as well as son Cormac and daughter Sarah with Arnott.
Dennehy first won his Tony award in 1999 for his performance as Willy Loman in 'Death of a Salesman', which happened to be a revival of Arthur Miller's work. His second Tony award was for his role as James Tyrone portrayed in 'Long Day's Journey into Night' in 2003 and this was a revival of Eugene O'Neill's work. He has worked on many of O'Neill's works including 'Desire Under the Elms' in 2009 and 'The Iceman Cometh' (in which he played Larry Slade) in 2012 at the Goodman Theater in Chicago. 'The Iceman Cometh' was then revived in 2015 at the BAM Harvey Theater in New York City and Dennehy reprised his role.
He was also well known for his performance in films and had also received an Emmy nomination in 1990 for is role as a defense attorney in 'A Killing in a Small Town', which was a telepic. Then, in 1992, he was yet again nominated and this time for two of his works. First, for his role in the Scott Turow-based miniseries 'The Burden of Proof' and second, for his role as serial killer John Wayne Gacy in the TV movie 'To Catch a Killer'. In 1993, he was nominated for his work in 'Murder in the Heartland' and in 2005 for his role in Showtime’s 'Our Fathers'.