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Brian Dennehy was somehowin everything.
Hollywood will miss him.
But the theater will grieve.
Some of the others were more strategic less powerful, Miller said.
Brian is really throwing himself on his sword.
Prepare to spill your fucking blood, because Im gonna spill mine, and youre coming with me.
Then he tossed back a glass of Merlot.
They met in 1985, when Falls was running the small 120-seat Wisdom Bridge Theatre in Chicago.
That production wasnotedfor Dennehys cunning and rage.
When Falls got to Dennehys floor, It looked like the Manson murders, laughs Falls.
There were bloody handprints smeared all down the hallway.
Its only a mouse, referring to a common boxing injury.
He had to wear giant sunglasses for the rest of rehearsal, says Falls.
But even when he was peaceful, he was fighting with the text.
And it was how he worked, says Falls.
In going after these monstrosities of plays he had to wrestle; it had to be hard.
There was grace under the muscle.
And it was as a thinker-in-space that he made his mark on the theater.
Icemanwas their last production.
Falls says that he sensed it would be their last time working together.
He was getting tired, he says.
He felt he was the most fortunate person in the world to play what he did, says Falls.
He had played in Beckett; he had hit the roles that you could play in the ONeill canon.
I cant think of another role … His voice trails off.
Well, he always wanted to play Lear, Falls says.
And the two of us are quiet for a moment, thinking about what might have been.
