WorldFest is honored to grant a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Remi Award to Brian Dennehy for his long and talented career in motion pictures. In one of his final roles as Del, an aging Korean War Vet in Driveways (USA) directed by Andrew Ahn, he warmly depicts his unexpected friendship (at times gruff but still caring) with a lonely 8 year old boy, Cody, (Lucas Jaye, our own Rising Star Actor 2020), who moves in next door with his single Mom (Hong Chau). Driveways is a heartwarming story which had been selected to be the Official Closing Night Film of WorldFest 2020. Brian Dennehy knew of the WorldFest Lifetime Achievement Award and was hoping to be able to travel and personally accept it, however, it was not to be.
Brian Manion Dennehy (July 9, 1938 – April 15, 2020) was an American actor of stage, television, and film. Dennehy won two Tony Awards, an Olivier Award, and a Golden Globe, and received six Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He had roles in over 180 films and in many television and stage productions. His film roles included Gorky Park (1983), Silverado (1985), Cocoon (1985), F/X (1986), Presumed Innocent (1990), Romeo + Juliet (1996), and Knight of Cups (2015). Dennehy won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film for his role as Willy Loman in the television film Death of a Salesman (2000).
According to Variety, Dennehy was "perhaps the foremost living interpreter" of playwright Eugene O'Neill’s works on stage and screen. He had a decades long relationship with Chicago's Goodman Theatre where much of his O'Neill work originated.He also regularly played Canada's Stratford Festival, especially in works by William Shakespeare and Samuel Beckett. He once gave credit for his award-winning performances to the play's authors: "When you walk with giants, you learn how to take bigger steps." Dennehy was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2010.
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1977 | Looking for Mr. Goodbar | Surgeon | |
1977 | Semi-Tough | T.J. Lambert | |
1978 | F.I.S.T. | Frank Vasco | |
1978 | Foul Play | Fergie | |
1979 | Butch and Sundance: The Early Days | O.C. Hanks | |
1979 | 10 | Don the Bartender | |
1980 | Little Miss Marker | Herbie | |
1982 | Split Image | Kevin Stetson | |
1982 | First Blood | Sheriff William "Will" Teasle | |
1983 | Never Cry Wolf | Rose Little | |
1983 | Gorky Park | William Kirwill | |
1984 | Finders Keepers | Mayor Frizzoli | |
1984 | The River Rat | Doc Cole | |
1985 | Cocoon | Walter | |
1985 | Silverado | Sheriff Cobb | |
1985 | Twice in a Lifetime | Nick | |
1986 | F/X | Lt. Leo McCarthy | |
1986 | The Check Is in the Mail | Richard Jackson | |
1986 | Legal Eagles | C.J. Cavanaugh | |
1987 | The Belly of an Architect | Stourley Kracklite | |
1987 | Best Seller | Lt. Dennis Meechum | |
1988 | The Man from Snowy River II | Harrison | |
1988 | Miles from Home | Frank Roberts, Sr. | |
1988 | Cocoon: The Return | Walter | Uncredited role |
1989 | Indio | Whytaker | |
1989 | Seven Minutes [de] | Wagner | |
1990 | Blue Heat | Frank Daly | aka The Last of the Finest |
1990 | Presumed Innocent | Raymond Horgan | |
1991 | In Broad Daylight | Ken McElroy | |
1991 | F/X2 | Leo McCarthy | |
1992 | Gladiator | Jimmy Horn | |
1994 | Jackaboy Blue | Guggles McMillian | |
1995 | Tommy Boy | Big Tom Callahan II | |
1995 | The Stars Fell on Henrietta | Big Dave McDermot | |
1996 | Romeo + Juliet | Ted Montague | |
1999 | Out of the Cold | David Bards | |
1999 | Silicon Towers | Tom Warner | |
2000 | Dish Dogs | Frost | |
2001 | Summer Catch | John Schiffner | |
2002 | Stolen Summer | Father Kelly | |
2002 | Code Yellow: Hospital at Ground Zero | Narrator | |
2002 | Drawing First Blood | Himself | Short |
2004 | She Hate Me | Chairman Billy Church | |
2005 | Assault on Precinct 13 | Jasper O'Shea | |
2005 | Tommy Boy: Behind the Laughter | Himself | Short |
2005 | 10th and Wolf | Agent Horvath | |
2006 | Everyone's Hero | Babe Ruth | Voice |
2006 | The Ultimate Gift | Gus | |
2007 | Ratatouille | Django | Voice |
2007 | Welcome to Paradise | Bobby Brown | |
2007 | War Eagle, Arkansas | Pop | |
2008 | Cat City | Harold Vogessor | |
2008 | Righteous Kill | Lt. Hingus | |
2010 | Every Day | Ernie | |
2010 | Meet Monica Velour | Pop Pop | |
2010 | The Next Three Days | George Brennan | |
2010 | Alleged | Clarence Darrow | |
2011 | The Big Year | Raymond Harris | |
2012 | Twelfth Night | Sir Toby Belch | |
2013 | The Challenger | Chairman William Rogers | |
2015 | Knight of Cups | Joseph | |
2018 | The Seagull | Sorin | |
2018 | Tag | Mr. Cilliano, Randy's Father | Uncredited |
2018 | The Song of Sway Lake | Hal Sway | |
2019 | Driveways | Del | |
2019 | Master Maggie[34] | Himself | Short |
2019 | 3 Days With Dad | Bob Mills | |
2020 | Son of the South | Grandfather | Post-production, Posthumous release |
TBA | Long Day Journey | Post-production, Posthumous release; Final film role |
11.05.2020 | WorldFest Houston's blog
Cat. : PEOPLE