Micky Dolenz
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| Micky Dolenz | |
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 Dolenz at the Tribeca Film Festival, June 2007 |
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| Born | George Michael Dolenz, Jr. March 8, 1945 Los Angeles, California USA |
| Other name(s) | Micky Braddock, The Monkees |
| Occupation | Actor, Musician |
| Years active | 1956-Present |
| Spouse(s) | Samantha Juste Trina Dolenz Donna Quinter (2002 - Present) |
George Michael Dolenz, Jr. (born March 8, 1945) is an American actor, musician, television director and theatre director; he is best known for his role as the drummer/vocalist in the 1960s made-for-television band, The Monkees.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Dolenz was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of George Dolenz, a Hollywood character actor, and his wife Janelle Johnson. As a child he was diagnosed with Perthes disease. Dolenz began his show business career in 1956 when he starred in a children’s show called Circus Boy under the name Micky Braddock. In the show, he played an orphaned boy who is the water boy for the elephants in his uncle’s one-ring circus at the start of the twentieth century. The program ran for three years, after which Dolenz made sporadic appearances on network TV shows and pursued his education. He also played with a couple of obscure rock and roll bands, including one called The Missing Links. Dolenz went to Ulysses S. Grant High School in Valley Glen, Los Angeles, California and graduated in 1962.
[edit] The Monkees
In 1965, Dolenz was cast in the television sitcom The Monkees and became the drummer and lead vocalist for the band created for the show. He was not at that time a drummer and needed lessons even to be able to mime credibly. He wrote a few of the band’s songs as well as providing the lead vocals for such hits as "Last Train to Clarksville" and "I'm a Believer". Towards the end of the series’ hectic two-year run, Dolenz directed and co-wrote what turned out to be the show’s final episode.
While in the UK on tour with the group, Dolenz met future wife Samantha Juste, the girl who pretended to put the records on the jukebox on the BBC's "live" pop series, Top of the Pops. The couple had a daughter, Ami Dolenz, who was an actress in the 1980s, born in 1969. Dolenz and Juste divorced in 1975.
[edit] Post-Monkees
After the show ended and the band broke up, Dolenz hoped to continue a recording career, and released several singles on MGM Records (and its subsidiaries) in the early 1970s. He also continued performing, providing voice-overs for a number of Saturday-morning cartoon series including The Funky Phantom, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, Devlin and Wonder Wheels (from The Skatebirds). He also auditioned for the role of Fonzie on the series Happy Days, but lost out to Henry Winkler. Dolenz eventually reunited with fellow Monkee Davy Jones and Monkee songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart for an album and a lengthy tour spanning 1975 and 1976, continuing with Jones on tour in 1977 and finishing up with a role (with Jones) in a stage production of the Harry Nilsson musical The Point! in London, playing the part of Arrow, Oblio's (Jones) pet dog.
After the show’s run, he remained in England and began directing for the stage and television, as well as producing several of the shows he directed. In 1980, Dolenz produced and directed the sitcom Metal Mickey,[1] featuring a small metallic robot with the catch-phrase "boogie boogie". Due to the similar nature of the character's name and his own, causing chaos on set, it was at this time that Micky Dolenz officially changed his name to Michael Dolenz.
In the early 1980s, Dolenz directed a stage version of Bugsy Malone, the cast of which included a then-unknown 14-year-old Catherine Zeta-Jones.[2]
From 1983 to 1984 he was responsible for creating and producing the UK children's television show Luna.
In 1986, a screening of the entire Monkees television series by MTV led to renewed interest in the group, followed by a 20th Anniversary Tour, a greatest hits album and a brand new LP, Pool It! in 1987. The group's original albums were reissued and all of them hit the record charts at the same time. The group also found chart success with a new recording, "That Was Then, This Is Now" hitting the Top 20 on Billboard in the U.S.
Since 1986, Dolenz has joined the other ex-Monkees for periodic reunion tours, with the last one in 2001, and has performed as a solo performer from time to time. He has continued to direct for television both in England and in the United States and had occasional acting gigs, including a role as the Mayor on the cable TV series Pacific Blue.
Dolenz has studied for a Bachelor of Arts degree with the Open University in England.
While Tim Burton was still slated to direct Batman Forever, Dolenz was considered to play The Riddler, and even did a screen test for the role. He was reportedly cast after Robin Williams turned the part down. However, Burton's exit from the film ended Dolenz's involvement. Not to be left out of the Batman franchise completely, Dolenz, as a voice actor, played Two-Face's twin henchmen in the two-part episode "Two-Face" on Batman: The Animated Series. He provided the voice of Arthur in the first season of the animated series The Tick. Dolenz also played one of Alan Matthews' bandmates in the sitcom Boy Meets World.
In 2005, Dolenz replaced Dan Taylor as the morning disc jockey at oldies radio station WCBS-FM in New York. On June 3, 2005, Dolenz celebrated his 100th show with a special morning show at B.B. Kings. At 5:00 PM, WCBS-FM announced that the station would replace its oldies format with a "Jack" format. WCBS-FM has since returned to its oldies format it was recently announced that Dolenz will do a New York Radio Greats Shift February 3, 2008.
In 2005 after the format change a WCBS-FM Dolenz went on tour with his sister, singer Coco Dolenz. In June 2006, Dolenz played Charlemagne at the Goodspeed Opera House for the revival of the musical "Pippin" in East Haddam, Connecticut. As of January 2007, he was touring in that role.
In a September 2006 radio interview, Dolenz reported that he is the current voice of Snuggle the Fabric Softener Bear.[3] He appeared in Rob Zombie's Halloween remake as Derek Allan, the owner of the gun shop where Dr. Loomis (played by Malcolm McDowell) buys a gun in his search for Michael Myers. In April 25, 2007, Dolenz was featured on American Idol on the Idol Gives Back episode when the show filmed celebrities singing and dancing to "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees.
[edit] Personal life
Dolenz has been married three times and is the father of four daughters. With Samantha Juste, Ami Bluebell (b. January 1, 1969). With Trina Dolenz, he had the other three: Charlotte Janelle (b. August 8, 1981), Emily Claire (b. July 25, 1983), and Georgia Rose (b. September 3, 1984).
Dolenz married his third wife, Donna Quinter, in 2002.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Micky Dolenz Official Website
- Coco Dolenz website
- Micky Dolenz at the Internet Movie Database
- MICKY FANS
- Micky's First Television Show: Circus Boy
- Former Monkee still a player
- 2006 radio interview with Micky
- Micky Dolenz Radio Interview with Chris Comer & Rob Ervin July 13, 2004
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Dolenz, Micky |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | actor and musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 8, 1945 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Los Angeles, California |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
