Barry Dennen (February 22, 1938 – September 26, 2017) was an American actor, singer, and writer. He played

Pontius Pilate Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of ...

on the original recording and later in the film of '' Jesus Christ Superstar''.

Life and career

Dennen was born in Chicago, Illinois in February 22, 1938. His brother is Lyle Dennen. In New York City from 1960 to 1961, he had a relationship with

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

. They lived together for a year, during which time he helped her develop the nightclub act that began her successful career as a singer and actress. He moved to London for 15 years and in 1968 landed the starring role of the master of ceremonies in the London version of ''

Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining o ...

''. In 1970, he played

on the album of '' Jesus Christ Superstar'', and he played the same role in the Broadway production (1971). In the same year, he played Mendel in

Norman Jewison Norman Frederick Jewison (born July 21, 1926) is a retired Canadian film and television director, producer, and founder of the Canadian Film Centre. He has directed numerous feature films and has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best ...

's film of '' Fiddler on the Roof''. According to Dennen's website, he suggested to Jewison that he direct a film version of ''Jesus Christ Superstar''. Jewison did so, and Dennen played Pilate again (1973). Dennen also played a variety of small parts on American television shows including: '' Batman'', ''

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

'', '' Galtar and the Golden Lance'', ''

Tales from the Darkside ''Tales from the Darkside'' is an American anthology horror TV series created by George A. Romero. Debuting in October 1983 with a pilot episode and then being picked up for syndication in September 1984, the show ran for 4 seasons through Ju ...

'' and '' Justice League: Throne of Atlantis'', and films, such as '' Madhouse'' (1974), '' Brannigan'' (1975), ''

The Kentucky Fried Movie ''The Kentucky Fried Movie'' is a 1977 American independent sketch comedy film, produced by Kim Jorgensen, Larry Kostroff, and Robert K. Weiss, and directed by John Landis. Among the numerous star cameos are George Lazenby, Bill Bixby, Henry G ...

'' (1977), '' The Shining'' (1980), ''

Ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...

'' (1981), ''

Trading Places ''Trading Places'' is a 1983 American comedy film directed by John Landis, with a screenplay by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod. Starring Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, and Jamie Lee Curtis, the ...

'' (1983), ''

Superman III ''Superman III'' is a 1983 superhero film directed by Richard Lester from a screenplay by David Newman and Leslie Newman based on the DC Comics character Superman. It is the third installment in the ''Superman'' film series and a sequel to '' ...

'' (1983), ''

Twin Sitters ''Twin Sitters'' is a 1994 American comedy film directed and written by John Paragon and starring Peter Paul, David Paul and Christian and Joseph Cousins. The plot concerns identical twin brother bodybuilders who protect 10 year old identical tw ...

'' (1994) and ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unit ...

'' (1997). He also played auto dealer Irwin Lapsey in ''

Shock Treatment ''Shock Treatment'' is a 1981 American musical comedy film directed by Jim Sharman, and co-written by Sharman and Richard O'Brien. It is a follow-up to the 1975 film ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show''. While not an outright sequel, the film do ...

'' (1981). In 1982, Dennen played the role of Buddy in the TV adaptation of ''

Beau Geste ''Beau Geste'' is an adventure novel by British writer P. C. Wren, which details the adventures of three English brothers who enlist separately in the French Foreign Legion following the theft of a valuable jewel from the country house of a rel ...

''. Dennen also ventured into voice acting. He portrayed the Chamberlain SkekSil in ''

The Dark Crystal ''The Dark Crystal'' is a 1982 dark fantasy film directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. It stars the voices of Stephen Garlick, Lisa Maxwell, Billie Whitelaw, Percy Edwards, and Barry Dennen. The film was produced by ITC Entertainment and The ...

'' (1982) as well as

Tulku A ''tulku'' (, also ''tülku'', ''trulku'') is a reincarnate custodian of a specific lineage of teachings in Tibetan Buddhism who is given empowerments and trained from a young age by students of his or her predecessor. High-profile examples ...

in ''

The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...

'' (1994). He also did voice work on cartoons such as ''

DuckTales ''DuckTales'' is an American animated television series produced by Disney Television Animation. The original cartoon series premiered on syndication and on Disney Channel on September 18, 1987 and ran for a total of 100 episodes over four sea ...

'', '' Batman: The Animated Series'', ''

The Pirates of Dark Water ''The Pirates of Dark Water'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by David Kirschner and produced by Hanna-Barbera. The series premiered as a five-part miniseries on Fox Kids early 1991. The first season, consisting of 13 ...

'', ''

Animaniacs ''Animaniacs'' is an American animated comedy musical television series created by Tom Ruegger for Fox Broadcasting Company's Fox Kids block in 1993, before moving to The WB in 1995, as part of its Kids' WB afternoon programming block, until ...

'', ''

Avatar: The Last Airbender ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'' (abbreviated as ''ATLA''), also known as ''Avatar: The Legend of Aang'' in some regions or simply ''Avatar'', is an American anime-influenced animated television series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and ...

'' and '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars''. He also did voices for many video games, including Fatman in '' Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty'', Master Li in ''

Jade Empire ''Jade Empire'' is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare, originally published by Microsoft Game Studios in 2005 as an Xbox exclusive. It was later ported to Microsoft Windows personal computers (PC) and published by 2K Games in 200 ...

'', Police Chief Bogen in ''

Grim Fandango ''Grim Fandango'' is a 1998 adventure game directed by Tim Schafer and developed and published by LucasArts for Microsoft Windows. It is the first adventure game by LucasArts to use 3D computer graphics overlaid on pre-rendered static backgroun ...

'', Mimir in the video game '' Too Human'', Dean Domino in '' Fallout: New Vegas'' expansion "''Dead Money''", ''The Dark One'' in '' The Mark of Kri'', the

Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to ...

in '' Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties'', Benedict Burgess Batteric III in ''

Infinity Blade III ''Infinity Blade III'' is an action role-playing video game for iOS, developed by Chair Entertainment and Epic Games. It is the third game in the ''Infinity Blade'' series. It was released on the App Store on September 18, 2013. The main character ...

'', Chaos Knight, Phantom Lancer, and Rubick in '' Dota 2'', and the venerable Odo and meister Glimmerheim in '' Dungeon Siege III''. In 1984, Dennen wrote the lyrics for the children's musical revue ''Wanna Play?!'', which was produced in Kansas City and later produced on television twice. The show, written with writer Linda Bergman and composer Jeff Rizzo, is licensed by Samuel French. He wrote the screenplay for an episode of ''

Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances ...

'' titled "The Secret Cinema" (1985) and cowrote an episode of '' The Comic Strip Presents...'' titled "Demonella" (1993). His autobiographical book ''My Life With Barbra: A Love Story'' (1997) deals with their relationship and with his gradual realization that he was gay. In June 2017, Dennen suffered a fall in his home in Burbank, California and required hospital care. He never fully recovered and died on September 26.

Filmography

References

External links

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Barry Dennen
at Find a Grave {{DEFAULTSORT:Dennen, Barry 1938 births 2017 deaths Male actors from Chicago American male film actors American memoirists American male musical theatre actors American male screenwriters American male voice actors Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery Deaths from falls American gay actors American gay writers American LGBT writers LGBT people from Illinois American male non-fiction writers Screenwriters from Illinois 21st-century LGBT people