Dennis Weaver, an American actor, was estimated to be worth $16 million at the time of his death. He was born on June 4th, 1924, in Joplin, Missouri, to his mother Lenna, and father Walter. Dennis attended Joplin Junior College for his higher education and then went to the University of Oklahoma. During his university days, Dennis ran track and studied drama.
Dennis Weaver also served as a pilot in the US Navy, and when the war was over, he tried out for the decathlon for the 1948 Summer Olympics, but he failed to qualify. He chose to pursue an acting career and after that, he enrolled in the Actors Studio in New York. His acting career began on Broadway, where he was an understudy to Lonny Chapman in the 1950 play named “Come Back, Little Sheba”. He soon took over the role on the national touring company. He was able to support himself and his family by taking odd jobs during the early days of his acting career, he worked jobs like a salesman of vacuum cleaners and tricycles.
Dennis Walter’s Film and TV Career
Weaver’s first film debut was in the 1952 Western “Horizons West”. The following year, he made an appearance in many more films like “The Redhead From Wyoming”, “The Lawless Breed”, and “Column South”. Dennis Weaver starred in films like “War Arrow”, and “Dangerous Mission” in 1954. In 1955, Dennis had a career breakthrough when he began playing Chester Goode in the new CBS Western television series “Gunsmoke”. The show was a massive success. It became one of the highest-rated and longest-running live-action series in US television history at the time. He left “Gunsmoke” in 1964 due to his work.
Dennis Weaver won an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor (Continuing Character) in a Dramatic Series. The same year that the show debuted, he appeared in the films “Seven Angry Men”, “Chief Crazy Horse”, and “Storm Fear”. Dennis Weaver’s later credits in the 1950s included films like “Navy Wife” and “Touch of Evil”, and “The Gallant Hours”, a film and a few episodes of the television anthology series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and “The Twilight Zone” in the early 1960s.
Dennis Weaver also appeared in a variety of films and television series, including “Kentucky Jones,” the short-lived NBC series in which he starred as the titular character from 1964 to 1965, “Duel at Diablo”, “Way…Way Out”, and “Gentle Giant”. He reprised his role from “Gentle Giant” in the television series adaptation “Gentle Ben”, from 1967 to 1969. In 1970, Dennis Weaver began starring as the titular Western deputy marshal-turned-NYPD special investigation in the NBC police drama series “McCloud”. This show was a big hit that ran until 1977.
Other appearances during his time on the show included “A Man Called Sledge,” “What’d the Matter with Helen?”, “Duel”, “The Great Man’s Whiskers,” and “Rolling Man.” He also starred in “Intimate Strangers”, “Ishi: The Last of His Tribe”, the miniseries “Pearl”, and “Centennial” in the late 1970s.
In the 1980s, Dennis Weaver starred in the films “Amber Waves”, “The Ordeal Of Dr, Mudd”, a short-lived ABC police drama “Stone”, “Cocaine: One Man’s Seduction”, a television film, and a short-lived series, the soap opera “Emerald Points N.A.S”
In the 1990s and 2000s, Dennis Weaver hadn’t done as many acting roles. He did a few voice-overs during this time, which included a 2002 episode of “The Simpsons”(as the voice of Buck McCoy), and the 2004 Disney animated film “Home on the Range”. His final role was in the ABC Family Series “Wildfire” in 2005, where he played the role of Henry Ritter.
FAQs
- How many children did Dennis Weaver have?
Dennis Weaver had three sons, Richard, Robert, and Rustin with his childhood sweetheart Gerry Stowell.
- How did Dennis Weaver die?
Dennis Weaver passed away at the age of 81 from prostate cancer on February 24, 2006.
- What environmental activism did Dennis Weaver take part in?
Dennis Weaver had been hugely involved in environmentalist causes.
- He established the Institute of Ecolonomics, a non-profit organization that advocated for the usage of alternative energy.
- He founded the Los Angeles hunger relief organization LIFE(Love Is Feeding Everyone)
- He was involved with John Denver’s Windstar Foundation with the Humane Society of the United States’s annual Genesis Awards.
- Where did Dennis Weaver live?
Dennis Weaver resided in a sustainably built home in Ridgway, Colorado dubbed “Earthship” from the late 1980s till 2004.
Dennis Weaver’s estimated net worth as of 20 December 2024 is $388,486. Dennis Weaver is the Chief Clinical Officer of Oscar Health Inc and he owns about 27,110 shares of Oscar Health Inc (OSCR) stock worth $388,486. His life is fascinating, he was dedicated to his craft, and he also didn’t skip out from working to make the world a better place. He truly is quite the inspiration!
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