Brian Dennehy achieved prominence with notable roles in movies such as First Blood (1982), F/X (1986), and Romeo + Juliet (1996), among others. Beyond his acting career, he also served in the US Marine Corps from 1958 to 1963.
Dennehy faced controversy and backlash for falsely claiming to have served in the Vietnam War. His repeated lies were especially hurtful to those who had genuinely fought through the challenges and sacrifices of the war.
Stolen valor
Instances of individuals making up or exaggerating their military service, known as stolen valor, are relatively common. People partake in this behavior for a variety of reasons, including seeking financial benefits from government agencies or the public, or desiring the honor typically reserved for genuine war heroes who have faced the enemy.
The rise of numerous online platforms has made acquiring medals and uniforms simpler, and social media allows individuals to craft any persona they wish. Even before the digital era, falsifying military service was relatively easy due to the challenges in verifying these claims. After all, who would pretend to be a war veteran?
While it may seem unlikely for a celebrity to engage in such lies, history has proven otherwise.
The beginning of Dennehy’s career
Dennehy got his start in Hollywood in 1977, featuring in two films and three television series. His breakthrough came with the inaugural Rambo film, First Blood, where he played Sheriff Will Teasle. This role marked one of his most memorable performances, leading to numerous opportunities in the following decades.
Dennehy earned the admiration of audiences worldwide, with his military service further enhancing his esteemed reputation.
Dennehy’s service in the Marine Corps
Here is what we know about Dennehy’s service in the Marine Corps. He enlisted on September 15, 1959, and was stationed for a period in Okinawa, where he played football. He left the military on June 4, 1963, just under four years later, before the Vietnam War had fully escalated.
During his career, Dennehy claimed to have served in Vietnam. In an interview with Playboy, he mentioned a five-year tour during the war and described sustaining minor injuries in combat. He provided more details to The New York Times, stating that the injuries were due to shrapnel and also mentioned having suffered a concussion.
Dennehy even shared he had an understanding of the mindset of those who had to kill while serving, explaining to Playboy, “As for killing someone, anyone in combat would agree that it’s pretty much accidental. It’s not what you’re thinking about. You spend a considerable amount of time just trying not to be in a combat situation. You’re trying to avoid coming face-to-face with anything. So when something bad happens, it’s usually accidental.”
“But the implication in war movies is that war has this rational beginning, middle and end. And of course none of it does,” he continued to say. “It’s absolutely f*****g chaos. Apocalypse Now is the movie. Even more interesting is that it was made so soon after the war was over. It was and is the most sophisticated overview of the experience.”
He was called out in 1998
The truth is, Dennehy never served in Vietnam. In 1998, he issued a public apology after being called out by B.G. “Jug” Burkett, a real veteran dedicated to exposing cases of stolen valor. Dennehy told The Globe:
“I lied about serving in Vietnam and I’m sorry. I did not mean to take away from the actions and the sacrifices of the ones who did really serve there…I did steal valor. That was very wrong of me. There is no real excuse for that. I was a peace-time Marine, and I got out in 1963 without ever serving in Vietnam… I started the story that I had been in ‘Nam, and I got stuck with it. Then I didn’t know how to set the record straight.”
As CBS News notes, the closest the actor ever got to “action” during the war was portraying Marine Sgt. Ned T. “Frozen Chosen” Coleman in the made-for-TV movie, A Rumor of War (1980).
Dennehy lied again
Despite his admission, Dennehy began repeating the same falsehoods less than 10 years later. In 2007, he told a journalist at The Wall Street Journal that he’d served in Vietnam. As The Denver Post reports, it was more than clear he didn’t feel that bad about stretching the truth of his service and wasn’t truly sorry.
Apart from facing backlash from veterans and the families of servicemen who saw combat, Dennehy’s professional career saw little impact following his confession of stolen valor. This could be attributed to a lack of complete understanding among the wider population on the gravity of his lies or to the common leniency towards such behavior in the entertainment industry.
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Each case of stolen valor deserves equal scrutiny, no matter the status of the person involved. Such claims diminish the true bravery of veterans who courageously served and sacrificed for our freedoms, and deserve recognition and thanks, regardless of their deployment in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, or any other conflict.