We lost one of our greatest character actors when Brian Dennehy passed away from natural causes Wednesday night at the age of 81. Over the course of a career that lasted more than forty years, Dennehy earned acting credits on over 180 different projects, with one of his most notable roles coming in the 1982 action classic FIRST BLOOD.
In that film, Dennehy played Sheriff Will Teasle, who gives a long-haired drifter passing through his small town a tough time. Unfortunately for Teasle, that drifter turns out to be troubled Vietnam veteran John J. Rambo. He has just gotten himself into a hell of a mess and unwittingly kicked off one of the most popular action franchises ever.
After learning of Dennehy's passing, Rambo himself Sylvester Stallone took to his Instagram to post a tribute to his FIRST BLOOD co-star:
Stallone and Dennehy also worked together on the 1978 film F.I.S.T.
Dennehy worked a lot in the drama, action, and thriller genres, and is also well known for appearing in the comedy TOMMY BOY, but he didn't do much in the way of horror. He did have roles in the 1977 "nature run amok" film ANTS, episodes of the anthology shows Darkroom and Night Visions, the Charles Starkweather mini-series Murder in the Heartland, and in Jean-François Richet's remake of the John Carpenter classic ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13. He also played serial killer John Wayne Gacy in the 1992 mini-series To Catch a Killer.
It's sad to know we don't have any more Dennehy performances to look forward to, but he left behind a lot of work for us to continue enjoying for a long time to come.
We send our sincere condolences out to Dennehy's family, friends, and fans.