Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 1, 1994 TAG: 9411110002
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB THOMAS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
Not that kind of wheel, as in ``big wheel.'' In television terms, a wheel is a show that appears intermittently through the season as a two-hour movie. Peter Falk's ``Columbo'' is a prime example.
``NBC has talked about a wheel, which would be five a year,'' he reported from Toronto, where he was rehearsing for a movie. ``I certainly wouldn't consider doing it as a series; if I ever needed to learn my lesson, I've learned it well and truly [with the recent `Birdland'].
``Doing an hour-long dramatic series is just impossible ... You've got to have a first-rate producer-writer who is totally devoted to the show. The genius of Steve Bochco (`L.A. Law,' `NYPD Blue') is his focus. He's not looking to become a movie producer. He doesn't have 16 projects going at the same time. He focuses on what he has to say. In television, you must have that.''
``Jack Reed: A Search for Justice,'' which appears as NBC's ``Sunday Night at the Movies,'' marks a milestone for Dennehy. He makes his debut as a director in a script he co-wrote with Bill Phillips.
Why direct?
``It's a logical extension,'' he explained. ``I love acting. In January I'm going to New York to do Brian Friel's play `Translations.' I don't apologize for my acting. I'm not one of these people who gets to a certain age and says, `It's a kind of ridiculous way of making a living.'
``If you're serious about acting, as I am, it presents a constant challenge. But you have to approach it as a challenge, not the way some American actors do: as a way of making a lot of money and establishing oneself as a commodity and then selling that commodity.
``What does happen as you get older is you begin to have strong opinions of what you're doing and what the story's about. If you have any real intelligence at all, you get to the point where you say, `I can do this better!' ''
The new movie, third in the Jack Reed saga, puts the detective on the case of a seemingly respectable car dealer (Miguel Ferrer) who kills his pregnant mistress. Reed solves the case with the help of his wife, played by Susan Ruttan, and his new partner, Charles Dutton. The story is based on a real case, said Dennehy, and Jack Reed is a real-life detective.
``He's a deputy sheriff in Chicago,'' said the actor. ``He's recently been promoted to lieutenant, finally, after 20-something years. He's always been in trouble with the powers-that-be because he's such an uncompromising cop.'' In the movie Reed is passed over for promotion in favor of the less experienced Dutton.
The bulky Dennehy had concerns about his directorial debut - ``I didn't worry about working with the actors; I've directed in theater. It takes a lot of energy to direct a film. I wondered if I had the stamina.''
He did. He managed to finish ``Jack Reed'' a day ahead of schedule, saving $200,000 of the reported $3.4-million budget.
Dennehy was born 56 years ago in Bridgeport, Conn., and grew up in Brooklyn, one of three sons of an Associated Press editor. He played football at Columbia University, graduated with honors in history, spent five years in the Marines, including two tours in Vietnam.
Back in New York, he studied acting while working at anything from bartending to selling stocks. Stage roles followed, and he started making films in his 30s. He has been busy ever since, alternating between good guy (``Cocoon,'' ``FX'') and bad guy (``Silverado,'' ``Gorky Park'').
In Toronto he is filming a Lorne Michaels production - ``Billy the Third'' starring Chris Farley. ``It's a crazy comedy, and nobody ever offers me a comedy,'' said the actor.
When he's not working, Dennehy, his wife Jennifer and their young son Cormac divide their time between a home in Santa Fe, N.M., and a place near Cork in Ireland. Dennehy has three daughters from his first marriage; two of them, Elizabeth and Kathleen, appear in ``Jack Reed.''
The Dennehys were staying on the 16th floor of the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills on the early morning of Jan. 17 when the earthquake struck.
``That reinforced my wife's opinion that we should spend as little time as possible in Los Angeles,'' said Dennehy. ``I don't have that luxury, but she does.''
by CNB