Peter Dennis

Peter Dennis (born October 25, 1933) is a Screen Actors Guild Award and Drama-Logue Award winning English film, television, theatre, and voice actor. His extensive career has spanned both sides of the Atlantic with projects ranging from "Sideways" to "The Avengers". He is perhaps best known for his more than three decades association performing the works of A.A. Milne on stage in his one-man show entitled "Bother! The Brain of Pooh".

Early life

Dennis was born Peter John Dennis in Dorking Surrey, England the son of Michael Henry Dennis, a mechanical engineer and Violet Frances Lockwood a housewife. He was one of four children including two brothers, Michael and David, and a sister, Dorothy.

His early education was in a Roman Catholic convent. He continued his early studies in Portobello Road, London at the North Kensington Secondary School, until the age of 14. He spent the next four years training as an accountant and as a surveyor. While employed at T.S. Appleton & Son Ltd. In Shepherds Bush, he was called up for service in the British Army.

Peter Dennis served as a Sergeant in Nigeria from January 1952 to March 1958, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Royal Army Service Corps His duties included drill and weapons training, shorthand writing in the service of Lieutenant General Sir Roderick McLeod and General Sir Nigel Poett, Director of Military Operations, and as a Personal Assistant to General Sir Kenneth Exham, General Officer Commanding the Royal West African Frontier Force, Nigerian Military Forces.

Upon his return to civilian life, he worked as Personal Assistant to Harry Arkle, European Managing Director, Canadian Pacific Railway and Bill Nicol, Deputy Chairman of Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds, Birmingham.

On his 29th birthday, Dennis saw his first play, a production of Look Back in Anger at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, starring Derek Jacobi and dictated his resignation the following day. By the following fall he was in attendance at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art graduating two years later in 1965.

Career

Upon his graduation from RADA, he returned to the Birmingham Rep to play numerous leading roles. He went on to perform at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, the Liverpool Repertory Theatre, and in London's West End. He also began to be a regular presence on British television, appearing in The Avengers among many other shows.

October 14, 1976 marked the premiere of his one-man show “Bother! The Brain of Pooh” at the ADC Theatre, Cambridge, given in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the publication of “Winnie-the-Pooh” written by A. A. Milne. It contained selected readings from When We Were Very Young, Winnie-the-Pooh, Now We Are Six, and The House at Pooh Corner.

At the invitation of Anna Strasberg, Head of the Actors Studio, “Bother!” received its American premier in December of 1986 at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in Hollywood, where it was honored with the Drama-Logue Award and the L.A. Theater Award. Dennis’s one-man bravura performance of Milne’s writings would lead to performances of “Bother!” throughout the coming decades of his career at more than eighty venues throughout America and Europe from the Hollywood Bowl under the baton of conductor George Daugherty to the Palace of Westminster in London at the invitation of the Prime Minister.

His American television career grew to include appearances on a number of popular series including Friends, Murphy Brown, Alias, Prime Suspect, and Murder She Wrote. Highlights of his film career include Sideways and Shrek.

Awards

*L. A. Weekly Theatre Award
*Drama-Logue Award
*Corporation for Public Broadcasting Silver Award
*Achievement of Merit Ohio State Award
*Audie Award
*Parents' Choice Award Gold Award
*Screen Actors Guild Ensemble Award “Sideways”

Filmography

*"Beowulf" (2007)
*"Ten Inch Hero" (2007)
*"Monster Safari" ( 2007)
*"Man in the Chair" (2007)
*"Eragon" (2006)
*"Psychonauts" (2005)
*"Sideways" (2004)
*"Hellborn" (2003)
*"Shrek" (2001)
*"Second Generation" (2000)
*"Diagnosis Murder" (2000)
*"The Effects of Magic" (1998)
*"The Emissary: A Biblical Epic" (1997)

Television

*"Alias" (2001)
*"Felicity" (1999)
*"Seinfeld" (1997)
*"" (1996- 2001)
*"Family Matters" (1997)
*"Tracey Takes On…" (1997)
*"In The House" (1997)
*"Profiler" (1997)
*"H.M.S. Pinafore" (1997)
*"Mr. Rhodes" (1996)
*"Friends" (1996)
*"Townies"
*"Step by Step" (1996)
*"Mad TV" (1995)
*"" (1995)
*"Casino ID’s" (1995)
*"Prehysteria! 3" (1995)
*"Young Indiana Jones and the Hollywood Follies" (1994)
*"Acapulco H.E.A.T."(1994)
*"The Adventures of Brisco County Jr." (1993)
*"Melrose Place" (1992)
*"Murphy Brown" (1992)
*"Murder She Wrote" (1992)
*"Prime Suspect" (1991)
*"To Be The Best" (1992)
*"A Man Called Sarge" (1990)
*"The Rainbow Thief" (1990)
*"War and Remembrance" (1988)
*"" (1988)
*"C.A.T.S. Eyes" (1985 – 1987)
*"Under Plain Cover" (1985)
*"Minder on the Orient Express" (1985)
*"Minder" (1984)
*"Scandalous" (1984)
*"The Cleopatras"(1983)
*"Yes Minister" (1982)
*"Never the Twain" (1982)
*"Crown Court" (1982)
*"Grange Hill" (1982)
*"The Stud" (1978)
*"The Famous Five" (1978)
*"Sutton" (1976)
*"How’s Your Father" (1975)
*"Confessions of a Window Cleaner" (1974)
*"Dial M for Murder" (1974)
*"Hold the Front Page" (1974)
*"Hadleigh" (1973)
*"Detective" (1968)
*"The Troubleshooters" (1968)
*"The Avengers" (1967)
*"The Rat Catchers" (1966)
*"No Hiding Place" (1965)

Theatre

*“The Body” (2004)
*"Bother! The Brain of Pooh” (1976 – present)
*"Speak of the Devil”

Recordings

*"The Complete Works of Winnie-the-Pooh" by A. A. Milne
*"The Tigger Movie", Walt Disney Records
*"102 Dalmations", Walt Disney Records
*"The Seven Deadly Sins", Jazz Suite with Phil Woods
*"The Children’s Suite" by Phil Woods
*"The Strange Affliction" by Norman Corwin, with Samantha Eggar, Carl Reiner and Norman Lloyd

External links

* [http://www.pooh-corner.com// Pooh Corner]
*imdb name|id=0219536