Barry Dennen

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Barry Dennen

Barry Dennen (born February 22, 1938 in Chicago , Illinois , † September 26, 2017 in Burbank , California ) was an American film and stage actor .

Life

As a young man, Barry Dennen moved to New York City , where he enjoyed initial success as a Shakespeare actor. So he stood on the stage in Heinrich V as well as The Taming of the Shrew . In 1968 he stood in front of the film camera for the first time in a double episode of the television series Batman . Shortly thereafter, Dennen moved to England , where he lived for almost 15 years. Here he was on stage in 1969 in cabaret .

After some appearances in British television series, such as Hadleigh or Paul Temple , Dennen was offered his most famous role in 1971. In Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber , Dennen was convincing in the role of Pontius Pilate . The musical was first performed 268 times on Broadway between October 1971 and June 1973 . When director Norman Jewison adapted the film of the same name from it in 1973 , Dennen could be won again for the role of the Roman governor.

Barry Dennen was only able to build on the success of Jesus Christ Superstar to a limited extent. In Ring of Passion from 1978, which was about the boxing match between Max Schmeling and Joe Louis , Dennen stood as Adolf Hitler in front of the camera. In Shining by Stanley Kubrick he played the assistant to the hotel manager, but most of his dialogues were removed from the cut theatrical version. He played another small supporting role in 1983 in Superman III - The Steel Lightning . His last appearance on camera was in 1997 when he made a minor appearance as a praying man in James Cameron's film Titanic .

After 1998, Dennen largely retired from acting and worked as a voice actor on the production of video games . All in all, he has been involved in more than 120 film and television productions as well as computer games.

In 1997 he published his autobiography , My Life With Barbra: A Love Story . In it he addressed the short relationship with Barbra Streisand that he had in the early 1960s. He also openly confessed his homosexuality in this book . In June 2017, Dennen sustained brain injuries in a fall. He died in a hospice in September 2017 at the age of 79 .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dino-Ray Ramos, Jeremy Gerard: Barry Dennen Dies: 'Jesus Christ Superstar's Pilate And Barbra Streisand Mentor Was 79. In: Deadline.com . September 26, 2017, accessed September 27, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Dennen, Barry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film and stage actor
DATE OF BIRTH February 22, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH 26th September 2017
Place of death Burbank, Los Angeles County