Brian Dennehy has won the 2006 Best Actor Laurence Olivier Award for his portrayal of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death Of A Salesman. This completes an impressive treble for Dennehy, who also won a Tony Award (Broadway’s equivalent of the Laurence Olivier Awards) and a Golden Globe for exactly the same role when the production was originally staged on Broadway and subsequently filmed.
Dennehy was top dog of a Best Actor category overflowing with talent. Last year’s recipient Richard Griffiths (Heroes), Sir Derek Jacobi (Don Carlos), Con O’Neill (Telstar) and David Threlfall (Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me) were all nominated alongside Dennehy.
Dennehy collected his award from actress Jodhi May, who is currently appearing alongside Roger Allam in Blackbird at the Albery.
It is a first Laurence Olivier award for the American Dennehy. "And I’m sure it will be my last," he told us. "I’ve done it [the play] a lot. It was always interesting to come back to it, and doing it in London with a new cast and group of people was energising and of course the play has so many possibilities, it's never boring. The last time I did it, November 5th last year, I felt just as enthusiastic about it as I did the first time, and probably knew a lot more about it too."
Dennehy, a dramatic arts graduate of Yale, utilised his imposing frame to great effect in Death Of A Salesman as aging salesman Willy Loman. The broad shoulders and barrel chest of the American Dream’s greatest follower were transformed during the performance into the most fragile of shells, as Dennehy played out the life of a travelling salesman whose entire working life may have been a feat of imagination.
Dennehy was making his West End debut in Arthur Miller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play. He is probably best known for his film roles which include Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo And Juliet, Presumed Innocent, F/X, Legal Eagles, Cocoon, Gorky Park and First Blood. His Broadway stage work includes Long Day’s Journey Into Night, for which he won a second Tony Award for Best Actor in 2003, and Peter Brook’s production of The Cherry Orchard.
MA
