Brian Manion Dennehy (July 9, 1938 – April 15, 2020) was an American actor of film, stage, and television. His breakthrough film role was as the overzealous sheriff Will Teasle in First Blood (1982). Typically a character actor, Dennehy displayed versatility in varying and often complex roles ranging from villainous (such as a corrupt sheriff in the 1985 western Silverado) to virtuous (such as a benevolent alien leader in Cocoon, also released in 1985). Other notable films featuring Dennehy include Gorky Park (1983), Never Cry Wolf (1983), Legal Eagles (1986), F/X (1986), Tommy Boy (1995), Romeo + Juliet (1996), and Ratatouille (2007). A prominent figure in the theater world (especially in Chicago), Dennehy won two Tony Awards for Best Lead Actor, for Death of a Salesman (1999) and Long Day's Journey into Night (2003). He starred in numerous television films and miniseries, garnering six Emmy Award nominations, and had memorable supporting and guest roles in many series including Just Shoot Me, The Good Wife, and The Blacklist.

Filmography

• 2021Son of the South — Grandfather
• 2020Driveways — Del
• Penny Dreadful: City of Angels — Jerome Townsend
• 20193 Days with Dad — Bob
• 2019The Song of Sway Lake — Hal Sway
• 2018Tag — Mr. Cilliano
• 2018The Seagull — Pjotr Sorin
• 2017A Very Merry Toy Store — Joe Haggarty
• Hap and Leonard — Sheriff Valentine Otis
• Cocked — Wade
• 2015Knight of Cups — Joseph
• Public Morals — Joe Patton
• 2015The Ultimate Legacy — Gus
• The Blacklist — Dominic Wilkinson, In Memory Of
• 2013The Challenger Disaster — Rogers
• 2012Twelfth Night — Sir Toby Belch
• 2011The Big Year — Raymond Harris
• 2010Alleged — Clarence Darrow
• 2010Caesar and Otto meet Dracula’s Lawyer — Steve Dracula’s More Famous Brother
• 2010Every Day — Ernie
• 2010Meet Monica Velour — Pop Pop
• Rizzoli & Isles — Ret. Det. Kenny Leahy
• The Big C — Dad
• 2010The Next Three Days — George Brennan
• 2009Bunker Hill — Martin 'Mutt' Kelsey
• 2009Lost Road of the Popes: Via Papale — Narrator
• 2009Love and Valor — Narrator (voice)
• The Good Wife — Bucky Stabler
• 2008Cat City — Harold
• 2008Righteous Kill — Hingis
• 2007Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil & The Presidency — Andrew Jackson (voice)
• 2007Marco Polo — Kublai Khan
• Marco Polo — Kublai Khan
• Masters of Science Fiction — Bedzyk
• 2007Ratatouille — Django (voice)
• Rules of Engagement — Roy
• 2007The Ultimate Gift — Gus
• 2007War Eagle, Arkansas — Pop, Enochs Father
• 2007Welcome to Paradise — Bobby Brown
• 200610th & Wolf — Agent Horvath
• 30 Rock — Mickey J
• 2006Everyone's Hero — Babe Ruth (voice)
• 2006The Exonerated — Gary Gauger
• 2005Assault on Precinct 13 — Sargeant Jasper O'Shea
• 2005Our Fathers — Father Dominic Spagnolia
• 2004Category 6: Day of Destruction — Andy Goodman
• Category 6: Day of Destruction — Andy Goodman
• 2004She Hate Me — Billy Church
• The 4400 — Mitch Baldwin
• 2003American Valor — Narrator
• 2003Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Three's Company' — Fred Silverman
• 2003The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron — Mr. Blue
• 2003The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone — Tom Stone
• 2002A Season on the Brink — Bobby Knight
• 2002Code Yellow: Hospital at Ground Zero — Narrator
• Founding Brothers
• 2002Making 'The Misfits' — Narrator
• 2002Stolen Summer — Father Kelly
• Animated Tales of the World — Captain (voice)
• Night Visions — Camper Ben (segment "Quiet, Please"), Director
• 2001Summer Catch — John Schiffner
• The Agency — James Graydon
• The Fighting Fitzgeralds — Mr. Fitzgerald
• 2001Three Blind Mice — Matthew Hope, Executive Producer
• 2001Warden of Red Rock — Sheriff Selwyn Church, Executive Producer
• 2000Death of a Salesman — Willy Loman, Executive Producer
• 2000Dish Dogs — Frost
• 2000Fail Safe — Gen. Bogan
• Founding Fathers — George Washington (voice)
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit — Judson Tierney
• 1999NetForce — Lowell Davidson
• Netforce — Lowell Davidson
• 1999Out of the Cold — David Bards
• 1999Silicon Towers — Tom Warner
• 1999Sirens — Lt. Denby
• The West Wing — Rafe Framingham
• Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke — Louis Bromfield
• 1998Thanks of a Grateful Nation — Sen. Donald Riegle
• 1998Voyage of Terror — The President
• 1997Indefensible: The Truth About Edward Brannigan — Eddie Brannigan, Director, Executive Producer
• Just Shoot Me! — Red Finch
• Nostromo — Joshua C. Holroyd
• A Season in Purgatory — Gerald Bradley
• Dead Man's Walk — Major Chevallier
• E! True Hollywood Story
• 1996Jack Reed: A Killer Among Us — Jack Reed, Director, Writer
• 1996Jack Reed: Death and Vengeance — Jack Reed, Co-Executive Producer, Writer, Director
• 1996Romeo + Juliet — Ted Montague
• 1996Shadow of a Doubt — Charley Sloan, Director, Teleplay, Executive Producer
• Undue Influence — Paul Madriani
• 1995Jack Reed: One of Our Own — Jack Reed, Director, Co-Executive Producer, Writer
• 1995The Stars Fell on Henrietta — Big Dave McDermot
• 1995Tommy Boy — Thomas 'Big Tom' Callahan
• Birdland — Dr. Brian McKenzie
• 1994Jack Reed: A Search for Justice — Jack Reed, Co-Executive Producer, Writer, Director
• 1994Leave of Absence — Sam
• 1994Midnight Movie — James Boyce
• 1993Final Appeal — Perry Sundquist
• 1993Foreign Affairs — Chuck Mumpson
• 1993Jack Reed: Badge of Honor — Jack Reed, Co-Executive Producer
• Murder in the Heartland — John McArthur
• 1993Prophet of Evil: The Ervil LeBaron Story — Ervil LeBaron
• 1992Deadly Matrimony — Jack Reed
• 1992Gladiator — Jimmy Horn
• 1992Teamster Boss: The Jackie Presser Story — Jackie Presser
• The Burden of Proof — Dixon Hartnell
• 1992The Diamond Fleece — Inspector Outlaw
• 1992To Catch a Killer — John Wayne Gacy
• To Catch a Killer — John Wayne Gacy
• 1991F/X2 — Leo McCarthy
• 1991In Broad Daylight — Len Rowan
• 1991Zebras: Patterns in the Grass — Narrator (voice)
• 1990A Killing in a Small Town — Ed Reivers
• 1990Presumed Innocent — Raymond Horgan
• 1990Pride and Extreme Prejudice — Bruno Morenz
• 1990Rising Son — Gus Robinson
• 1990The Last of the Finest — Frank Daly
• 1989Day One — Gen. Leslie Groves
• 1989Indio — Whitaker
• 1989Perfect Witness — James Falcon
• 1989Seven Minutes — Wagner
• 1988A Father's Revenge — Paul Hobart
• American Experience — Aaron Burr (voice)
• 1988Cocoon: The Return — Walter (uncredited)
• 1988Miles from Home — Frank Roberts Sr.
• 1988The Man From Snowy River II — Harrison
• 1987Best Seller — Dennis Meechum
• 1987Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam — (voice)
• 1987The Belly of an Architect — Stourley Kracklite
• 1987The Lion of Africa — Sam Marsh
• 1987The Little Mermaid — King Neptune (Narrator) (voice)
• 1986Acceptable Risks — Don Sheppard
• 1986Annie Oakley — Buffalo Bill
• 1986F/X — Lt. Leo McCarthy
• 1986Legal Eagles — Cavanaugh
• 1986The Check is in the Mail... — Richard Jackson
• 1985Cocoon — Walter
• Evergreen — Matthew Malone
• Screen Two — James Boyce
• 1985Silverado — Cobb
• Tall Tales & Legends — Buffalo Bill
• The Last Place on Earth — Frederick Cook
• 1985Twice in a Lifetime — Nick
• 1984Finders Keepers — Frizzoli
• Hunter — Dr. Bolin
• Miami Vice — Reverend Billy Bob Proverb
• 1984The Pigs vs. The Freaks — Sergeant Cheever
• 1984The River Rat — Doc Cole
• 1983Blood Feud — Edward Grady Partin
• Blood Feud — Edward Grady Partin
• 1983Gorky Park — William Kirwill
• 1983I Take These Men — Phil Zakarian
• 1983Never Cry Wolf — Rosie
• Cagney & Lacey — Michael Magruder
• Faerie Tale Theatre — King Neptune / Narrator (voice)
• 1982First Blood — Hope Sheriff Will Teasle
• 1982Split Image — Kevin Stetson
• Star of the Family — Leslie 'Buddy' Krebs
• 1982The Man Who Married a French Wife and Other Stories — Grimmet
• Darkroom — Roland
• Dynasty — Jake Dunham
• 1981Fly Away Home — Tim Arnold
• 1981Skokie — Police Chief Arthur Buchanan
• 1981The Girls in Their Summer Dresses and Other Stories — Grimmet
• A Rumor of War — Sgt. Ned Coleman
• 1980Little Miss Marker — Herbie
• 1980The Jericho Mile — Dr. D
• 1980The Seduction of Miss Leona — Bliss Dawson
• 197910 — Donald
• Big Shamus, Little Shamus — Arnie Sutter
• 1979Butch and Sundance: The Early Days — O.C. Hanks
• 1979Dummy — Ragoti
• Knots Landing — James Cargill
• 1979Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil Story — John O'Neil
• 1978A Death in Canaan — Barney Parsons
• 1978A Real American Hero — Buford Pusser
• Dallas — Luther Frick
• 1978F.I.S.T. — Frank Vasko
• 1978Foul Play — Fergie
• Pearl — Sgt. Otto Chain
• 1978Ruby and Oswald — George Paulsen
• 1977It Happened at Lakewood Manor — Fire Chief
• 1977Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye — Longshoreman
• Lanigan's Rabbi — Burton Tree
• 1977Looking for Mr. Goodbar — Surgeon
• Lou Grant — Wilson
• Lucan — Fisher
• 1977Semi-Tough — T.J. Lambert
• The Fitzpatricks — Coach Hatfield
• Serpico — Jody
• The Tony Randall Show — Brian Sr.
• Playhouse — Grimmet
• Police Woman — Burrows
• Kojak — Peter Connor
• M*A*S*H — M.P. Ernie Connors
• Great Performances — Grimmet

Appearances as themselves (10)

• 2019Alan Pakula: Going for Truth — Self
• 2007Trumbo — Self
• Arrest & Trial — Self - Host
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien — Self - Guest
• Reading Rainbow — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 1982The Making of 'First Blood' — Self
• Saturday Night Live — Self (uncredited)
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — Self
• Tony Awards — Self - Presenter / Performer / Winner, Self - Winner
• Golden Globe Awards — Self - Nominee