Veteran Hollywood actor Brian Dennehy dies aged 81

Brian Dennehy, known for his roles in hits including First Blood, Cocoon and many other Hollywood blockbusters, has died at the age of 81.

His daughter Elizabeth Dennehy tweeted that her father had died of natural causes, not Covid-19. “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,” she tweeted.

Multiple reports said that Dennehy’s agent Brian Mann specified that Dennehy died from “cardiac arrest due to sepsis”.

Tributes poured in from big Hollywood names for the actor who admitted in 2018 “I don’t look like an actor, I don’t sound like an actor, I’m just another person”.

Mia Farrow tweeted that there was “no one I enjoyed working with more”, while William Shatner called him “a wonderfully talented actor” and James Woods remembered that “for a big ‘tough guy’ he was a sweetheart”.

Born to an Irish-American family in Connecticut, Dennehy’s formidable size saw him play football at Columbia University, before he studied drama at Yale and went on to a series of small roles in 1970s’ hits including Kojak and M.A.S.H.

His break into films came in 1982 when he appeared in First Blood, the first Rambo film, opposite Sylvester Stallone. That was the start of a celebrated career in which he appeared on stage, screen and television, on everything from Dynasty to Law & Order to appearing in plays by Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov and Arthur Miller.

He won a Golden Globe for his performance as Willy Loman in the 2000 TV-film adaptation of Death of a Salesman, having already won a Tony Award for Best Actor in 1999 for his performance on stage as the famous character.

Inveterately down-to-earth, Dennehy was upfront about the TV jobs he took, saying that they were what “paid the bills” in between big screen appearances and award-winning theatre work. His cinematic appearances included Gorky Park, Tommy Boy, Silverado, F/X, Presumed Innocent and Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet.

Dennehy’s first wife, Judith Scheff, died in 2015. He is survived by his second wife, Jennifer Arnott, and his four daughters and one son.