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IMDbPro

Dennis O'Keefe(1908-1968)

  • Actor
  • Writer
  • Director
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Dennis O'Keefe
Story of a Navy ship with a captain obsessed with catching a fish, a singing executive officer wanting to get married, and an Indian with a turkey as a pet. With Pat Boone as the hopeful suitor, Barbara Eden as his girl, and Buddy Hackett assigned to Boone to stay out of the captain's way.
Play trailer2:43
All Hands on Deck (1961)
11 Videos
99+ Photos
Tall, cheerful, outdoorsy leading man of Hollywood B movies who started in show business as an infant accompanying his vaudevillian parents ("Flanagan and Edwards, the Rollicking Twosome") on the stage. In his teens, Dennis started to write film scripts while attending college. He then tried to break into films as an extra, appearing under his birth name Bud Flanagan. His easy-going manner and impudent grin -- possibly reminding Clark Gable of himself (they worked together on Saratoga (1937)) -- led to the star suggesting Bud to MGM management for leading roles. In short order, Bud Flanagan became Dennis O'Keefe, resident tough guy of action dramas and the occasional comedy.

Serious acting was rarely called upon but Dennis handled the material given to him with aplomb and good humour. After his contract with MGM expired in 1940, he free-lanced and appeared in, arguably, three of his best pictures: in support of Roland Young and Joan Blondell in the delightful supernatural murder spoof Topper Returns (1941); in the Val Lewton-produced thriller, The Leopard Man (1943); and in the tense crime melodrama T-Men (1947) which he co-scripted (with John C. Higgins) for Eagle-Lion. This rather unambitious little film for what was essentially considered a 'poverty row' studio proved so successful that it spawned a CBS radio series three years later. Dennis was chosen for the lead (though his character was renamed) and his delivery was perfect for scripts which balanced drama with light comedy.

For most of the period between 1944 and 1952, Dennis alternated roles on radio with film work. He had another lead in the 1945 radio serial "Hollywood Mystery Time" as a movie director-cum-sleuth. On screen, he displayed his penchant for comedy in the funniest version of the much-filmed Brewster's Millions (1945), followed by the forgettable farce Getting Gertie's Garter (1945) (from the same stable). Another fair, marginally off-beat comedy, was The Lady Wants Mink (1953), co-starring Dennis with Ruth Hussey and Eve Arden. In addition, there were scores of 'cheap and cheerful' action films including several made in Europe. Dennis eventually turned his hand to directing with Angela (1954), a crime thriller set in Rome which he also co-scripted under the pseudonym Jonathan Rix. At the end of the decade, Dennis starred in his own short-lived television sitcom about a widowed Los Angeles syndicated columnist. After that, he guested in just a few more TV episodes before his untimely death from lung cancer in August 1968.
BornMarch 29, 1908
DiedAugust 31, 1968(60)
BornMarch 29, 1908
DiedAugust 31, 1968(60)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank

Photos163

Ginger Rogers, Betty Bassett, Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, Harriette Haddon, Mary Halsey, Una Merkel, Laura Morse, Clarence Nordstrom, Dennis O'Keefe, Bee Stevens, Pat Wing, Sally Haines, Marie Arbuckle, Evelyn Wise, Emily Williams, Bernice Graves, Alice Arnold, and Beatrice Hagen in 42nd Street (1933)
Mary Meade and Dennis O'Keefe in T-Men (1947)
Rhonda Fleming, Dennis O'Keefe, and John Payne in The Eagle and the Hawk (1950)
Dennis O'Keefe and Fay Wray in Ann Carver's Profession (1933)
Frank Albertson, Ronnie Cosby, Warren Hull, Margaret Lindsay, Anita Louise, Dennis O'Keefe, and Henry O'Neill in Personal Maid's Secret (1935)
Dennis O'Keefe and Florence Rice in The Kid from Texas (1939)
Dennis O'Keefe in The Kid from Texas (1939)
Carmen Miranda, Vivian Blaine, Stephen Dunne, and Dennis O'Keefe in Doll Face (1945)
Dennis O'Keefe in Dragoon Wells Massacre (1957)
Marilyn Buferd, Margia Dean, Adele Mara, Marie McCardle, Constance Moore, and Dennis O'Keefe in Earl Carroll Vanities (1945)
Joan Fontaine and Dennis O'Keefe in The Affairs of Susan (1945)
Maureen O'Sullivan and Dennis O'Keefe in Hold That Kiss (1938)

Known for

Mary Meade and Dennis O'Keefe in T-Men (1947)
T-Men
6.9
  • Dennis O'Brien - aka Vannie Harrigan
  • 1947
Walk a Crooked Mile (1948)
Walk a Crooked Mile
6.3
  • Daniel F. O'Hara
  • 1948
Dennis O'Keefe and Helen Walker in Brewster's Millions (1945)
Brewster's Millions
6.6
  • Montague L. 'Monty' Brewster
  • 1945
Margo and Dennis O'Keefe in The Leopard Man (1943)
The Leopard Man
6.8
  • Jerry Manning
  • 1943

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • Bea Benaderet, Edgar Buchanan, Frank Cady, Linda Henning, Jeannine Riley, Pat Woodell, and Higgins in Petticoat Junction (1963)
    Petticoat Junction
    • Walter O'Connor
    • TV Series
    • 1966
  • Deadline for Murder (1964)
    Deadline for Murder
    • Paul Ashley
    • 1964
  • Red Skelton in The Red Skelton Hour (1951)
    The Red Skelton Hour
    • Sid the Snitch
    • TV Series
    • 1963
  • Tuesday Weld in Follow the Sun (1961)
    Follow the Sun
    • Harry B. Hogan
    • TV Series
    • 1961–1962
  • The Dick Powell Theatre (1961)
    The Dick Powell Theatre
    • Pete Flannery
    • TV Series
    • 1961
  • The Joey Bishop Show (1961)
    The Joey Bishop Show
    • Brian Taylor
    • TV Series
    • 1961
  • All Hands on Deck (1961)
    All Hands on Deck
    • Lt. Cmdr. Brian O'Gara
    • 1961
  • Riverboat (1959)
    Riverboat
    • Dan Muldoon
    • TV Series
    • 1960
  • The Dennis O'Keefe Show (1959)
    The Dennis O'Keefe Show
    • Hal Towne
    • TV Series
    • 1959–1960
  • Suspicion (1957)
    Suspicion
    • John Wycherly
    • Victor
    • TV Series
    • 1958
  • Studio 57 (1954)
    Studio 57
    • Dick Richards
    • TV Series
    • 1958
  • Lady of Vengeance (1957)
    Lady of Vengeance
    • William T. Marshall
    • 1957
  • El aventurero (1957)
    El aventurero
    • Steve Ryman
    • 1957
  • Hal Baylor, Hans Conried, and Chuck Hicks in Schlitz Playhouse (1951)
    Schlitz Playhouse
    • Prof. Stephen Bolt
    • TV Series
    • 1957
  • Dennis O'Keefe and Barry Sullivan in Dragoon Wells Massacre (1957)
    Dragoon Wells Massacre
    • Capt. Matt Riordan
    • 1957

Writer

  • Deadline for Murder (1964)
    Deadline for Murder
    • written for the screen by (as Al Everett Dennis)
    • 1964
  • Lux Video Theatre (1950)
    Lux Video Theatre
    • original screenplay
    • TV Series
    • 1955
  • Angela (1954)
    Angela
    • screenplay (as Jonathan Rix)
    • 1954
  • The Black Knight (1954)
    The Black Knight
    • additional dialogue
    • 1954
  • Dennis O'Keefe and Margaret Sheridan in The Diamond Wizard (1954)
    The Diamond Wizard
    • story (as Jonathan Rix)
    • 1954
  • William Bendix, Barbara Britton, and Dennis O'Keefe in Cover Up (1949)
    Cover Up
    • original screenplay (as Jonathan Rix)
    • 1949

Director

  • Angela (1954)
    Angela
    • Director
    • 1954
  • Dennis O'Keefe and Margaret Sheridan in The Diamond Wizard (1954)
    The Diamond Wizard
    • Director
    • 1954

Videos11

Official Trailer
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Trailer 2:08
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Trailer 2:08
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Trailer 4:31
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Trailer 2:42
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Trailer 1:46
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Trailer 2:43
Official Trailer
The Eagle and the Hawk
Trailer 1:55
The Eagle and the Hawk
The Leopard Man
Trailer 1:01
The Leopard Man

Personal details

Edit
  • Alternative names
    • Al Everett Dennis
  • Height
    • 6′ 2″ (1.88 m)
  • Born
    • March 29, 1908
    • Fort Madison, Iowa, USA
  • Died
    • August 31, 1968
    • Santa Monica, California, USA(lung cancer)
  • Spouses
      Steffi Duna1940 - August 31, 1968 (his death, 2 children)
  • Children
    • James O'Keefe
  • Parents
    • Edward Flanagan
  • Other works
    Unsold pilot: Appeared in a pilot for a western series called "Ride the Bugle" as a cavalry officer.
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Biographical Movie
    • 5 Articles

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Was an extra in over 200 films.

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