Dennis Christopher

Dennis Christopher

Birth : 1955-12-02, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

History

Dennis Christopher (born Dennis Carrelli on December 2, 1955) is an American actor. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is known for playing Dave Stoller in Breaking Away and tragic film buff psychopath Eric Binford in Fade to Black. His Golden Globe-nominated breakthrough role was as Dave Stohler in the coming-of-age classic Breaking Away (1979). Other roles include American track star Charlie Paddock in Chariots of Fire, and Fade to Black, science fiction movies like Plughead Rewired: Circuitry Man II. He has appeared in nearly 40 movies and made-for-TV movies since 1975. Television roles include "Jack of All Trades" in the Profiler TV series, Eddie Kaspbrak in Stephen King's It, Desmond Floyd in Jake Speed, and in the HBO series Deadwood. Christopher has guest starred in two Star Trek episodes: the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Search (Part II)" and the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Detained". He also guest-starred as the demon-sorcerer Cyvus Vail in three episodes of Angel. Christopher had a reunion with Breaking Away "father" Paul Dooley, again as his son, in an episode of TV's Law & Order: Criminal Intent. The two had first played father and son in Robert Altman's A Wedding. In December 2006 he played Dr. Martin Ruber in the Sci Fi Channel miniseries The Lost Room.

Profile

Dennis Christopher

Movies

ICON: The Robert Englund Story
Since first donning a tattered fedora and a glove of eviscerating blades in 1984, Robert Englund has become one of our generation's most beloved horror icons. Englund has risen to stand shoulder to shoulder in the pantheon of movie legends alongside such greats as Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee. His portrayal of Freddy Krueger is without doubt a moment as visceral to the horror genre as Chaney's werewolf or Karloff's ground-breaking realisation of Frankenstein's monster. Yet few realise the depths of England's true power as a character actor away from the latex mask and iconic red and green jumper. A classically trained actor and talented director, Englund has starred in many well-received movies in the years since Freddy's cinematic birth as well as directing his own feature film.
Pennywise: The Story of IT
Himself
Thirty-plus years after its release, the popular two-part miniseries "IT" and its infamous villain Pennywise live on in the minds of horror fans around the world. This documentary captures not only the buzz the "IT" saga generated in 1990 but also the lasting impact it has had on an entire generation and the horror genre at large. Several years in the making, the film features exclusive interviews with many of the cult classic's key players, from cast members Richard Thomas, Seth Green, and Tim Curry, who portrayed the notorious monster clown Pennywise, to director Tommy Lee Wallace and special effects makeup artist Bart Mixon. The documentary also boasts a wealth of archival material and never-before-seen footage.
Battle at Versailles
M2M's first original long-form documentary, Battle at Versailles, follows an event in 1973 at Palace of Versailles where top French designers such as Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Cardin faced of against American newcomers Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein and Halston. That pitted France’s best designers against the best America had to offer. It was the first time the fashion world's gaze was fixated on American design.
Prisoners
Mr. Jones (uncredited)
Keller Dover is facing a parent’s worst nightmare: his young daughter and her friend have gone missing. Heading the investigation, Detective Loki arrests the only suspect – the driver of an RV on which the girls had been playing – but a lack of evidence forces his release. As pressure mounts, Loki’s team pursues multiple leads while a frantic Dover decides he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands.
Django Unchained
Leonide Moguy
With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.
Versailles '73: American Runway Revolution
Self
In an era known for protests and sit-ins, the 1973 Grand Divertissement at Versailles, made a statement of its own - a fashion statement. The legendary event pitting the five lions of French couture Givenchy, Dior, Ungaro, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Cardin with five American designers Halston, Oscar de la Renta, Anne Klein, Stephen Burrows and Bill Blass created a cross-stitch of change across fashion, race, business and catwalks. When African American models Bethann Hardison, Pat Cleveland, Alva Chinn, Billie Blair, Norma Jean Darden, Barbara Jackson, Jennifer Brice, Romana Saunders and Amina Warsuma boarded the plane to Paris, they had no idea they would help change the course of fashion and pull off its biggest coup. Versailles '73: American Runway Revolution tells this story
Jobriath A.D.
Himself
Called "The American Bowie," "The True Fairy of Rock & Roll" and "Hype of the Year," Jobriath's reign as the first openly gay rock star was brief and over by 1975. Now, 35 years later, "Jobriath A.D." spotlights his life, music, groundbreaking influence and the new generations of fans slowly re-discovering him.
Queen of the Lot
Odin Johannessen
An electronic ankle bracelet and being under house arrest aren't about to stop up-and-coming actress Maggie Chase (Tanna Frederick) from the two things she craves the most: real fame and true love. With more "Google points" than her Iowa hometown, but far less than Angelina Jolie, Maggie is desperate to claw her way off the B-list of action/adventure pictures and into major movie stardom.
Inside the Lost Room
Self
Making of 'The Lost Room'
Dangerous Isolation
Adrien
A top software engineer and her daughter are kidnapped. The kidnappers want her to decrypt sensitive government information, and they are threatening her and her daughter's life if she doesn't cooperate.
Nine Lives
Mikey
Lust and dysfuntion come full circle in this collection of nine steamy scenes exploring gay life, sex, addition, drugs and HIV/AIDS as revealed by a latino pool boy, a television writer, a meth dealer and others. As one affair leads into another, the connections betwen the characters reveal the secrets each one holds.
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple
Joshua 'Carrots' Beale
The adventures of a family who head west to the California gold fields in the 1850s.
Anthony Perkins: A Life in the Shadows
Self
The life of legendary actor Anthony Perkins is recounted by friends and family, colleagues and co-stars, revealing the man underneath Norman Bates.
Skeletons
Jim Norton
A heart attack moves a Pulitzer winning journalist to leave NY for the peace of a small New England town, but he soon finds himself pulled into a case of a man accused of killing his gay lover with the blade of a shovel. Wanting to keep the case quiet, the town turns against the journalist and his family when he begins digging into its secrets, until finally the accused man is found hanging in his cell and the truth comes out about more than just the killing.
The Silencers
Comdor
U.S. Senator is assassinated by Men in Black, mysterious organization which suppresses all knowledge about UFOs. Agent Rafferty from the U.S. Secret Service will confront them and discover the sinister truth. The only person that can help him comes from another world.
It's My Party
Jack Allen
Nick, a gay, HIV-positive architect, begins to display severe symptoms of AIDS and makes preparations to kill himself before he is unable to function normally. He arranges a party to reconnect and say goodbye to his closest friends and his confused parents. But when his ex-partner, Brandon, a television director who left Nick when he was diagnosed with HIV, shows up, what was supposed to be a celebratory event becomes much more difficult for everyone.
Mind Rage
Steve
A serial killer's trail of dead bodies leads to the haunting past of two brothers and one woman's love for both men. The fact this features some fairly well known actors (one of whom died in 1997), yet took at least seven years to release, probably isn't a hallmark of high quality.
Deadly Invasion: The Killer Bee Nightmare
Pruitt Taylor Beauchamp
When Bees attack an isolated country house, a family must stick together to survive.
Aurora: Operation Intercept
Victor Varenkov
There have been two mysterious plane crashes in only 48 hours. The aircraft suddenly lose control and crash, killing everyone aboard. A woman of Russian descent, Francesca Zaborszin, the daughter of a slain Federal investigator, claims responsibility for the crashes. She believes her father was killed by the FBI as part of a cover-up operation and wishes to avenge his death by threatening to down more aircraft using the same electromagnetic pulse method. She also intends to crash a stolen military jet into the White House. There's no time to ground the planes: just enough time to try to stop her.
Boys Life
Mr. Reese (The Disco Years)
Each of the three short films in this collection presents a young gay man at the threshold of adulthood. In "Pool Days," Justin is a 17-year old Bethesda lad, hired as the evening life guard at a fitness center. In the course of the summer, he realizes and embraces that he's gay. In "A Friend of Dorothy," Winston arrives from upstate for his freshman year at NYU. He has to figure out, with some help from Anne, a hometown friend, how to build a social life as a young gay man in the city. In "The Disco Years," Tom looks back on 1978, the year in high school that he came out of the closet after one joyful and several painful encounters
Plughead Rewired: Circuitry Man II
Leech
In the backdrop of Earths polluted future a female FBI agent removes Danner, a pleasure android from an asylum in order to coerce him into helping her hunt down the criminal psychopath Plughead. But Plughead who has tangled with Danner before has his own plans as he is forcing a female scientist to help him manufacture life extending longevity chips which he intends to sell to rich and powerful clients.
The Disco Years
Mr. Reese
Tom Peters looks back to 1978, the year in high school that he came out of the closet. Tom's mom is both sweet and intrusive, urging him to take out girls. She also drags him to her disco-dancing lessons. His friendship with Matt becomes his first love, and then Matt turns on Tom with homophobic venom. Later, Matt and Matt's new girlfriend trash the classroom of an effeminate teacher with more vicious homophobia. At first, Tom joins in heaping scorn on the teacher, then he has to decide if it isn't time to open the closet door. A crisis of sorts ensues with his mom, and disco proves to be a balm.
Necronomicon
Dale Porkel
H.P. Lovecraft anthology is divided into four segments: "The Library" which is the wraparound segment involving Lovecraft's research into the Book of The Dead and his unwitting release of a monster and his writing of the following horror segments "The Drowned", "The Cold", and "Whispers".
Doppelganger
Doctor Heller
After being implicated in a murder, a young woman flees New York City and moves to Los Angeles, where she rents a room from a writer. They begin an affair, but it seems she's been followed by a homicidal duplicate of herself.
False Arrest
Wally Roberts
A luxury home, a handsome husband and terrific children. But it all comes crashing down when she is accused of being a mastermind behind a brutal triple-homicide and is arrested and handcuffed in front of her own children. A gripping story of passion and betrayal as a woman fights to clear her name and avoid the death penalty for a crime she didn't commit.
Dead Women in Lingerie
Lapin
A private detective is hired to catch a serial killer who makes immigrant garment workers his victims.
Circuitry Man
Leech
In a future where most humans have moved underground to escape the pollution, one of the few pleasures left is a kind of narcotic in the form of chips which can be plugged directly into the brain. Lori, a female body guard steals a case of such chips and flees underground Los Angeles with Danner, a pleasure android so that they can smuggle the chips to New York. In pursuit is Plughead, a dangerous criminal so named because of the many sockets and ports which decorate his scalp so that he can test and use the chips that he is after.
A Sinful Life
Nathan Flowers
A former 'Sonny and Cher' dancer tries to pull her life together when social services threaten to take her daughter away from her.
Friends
John
John is a legal assistant who is looking forward to marriage to his fiancee Sally, but his daydream is interrupted when a model plane crashes through his window. Following the plane is a family of six who invade his life and apartment.
Jake Speed
Desmond Floyd
Jake Speed (Wayne Crawford) is the lead character in some of the biggest page-turners of the 1940s. A chiseled, heroic action figure, Speed saves lives on paper, but when a young girl is kidnapped and her sister (Karen Kopins) begs the real-life Speed for help, he must find a way to be as gallant as the book hero whose creation he's inspired. Accompanied by the victim's sibling, Speed flies to Africa to see if he's up to the task.
Flight of the Spruce Goose
Stan
Drama starring Karen Black, Betsy Blair and Dennis Christopher
The Falling
Damon
Three young friends who are on vacation in Spain and a NASA scientist must join forces to save themselves and the rest of the world from an alien menace.
Jack and the Beanstalk
Jack
Imaginative and creative Jack seeks adventure while trying to provide for himself and his mother. Will he ever solve the mystery of how his father died?
Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder
Brian Anderson
During the Vietnam War, Brian Anderson, a young Army medic, is stationed in Saigon. Initially apathetic and self-serving, he eventually has his heart won over by the children at a nearby orphanage where he does volunteer work. At first, a doctor named Katherine Cross has to persuade him to help the children. But soon, Brian willingly puts his career and safety on the line to provide the orphans with the food and medical supplies they need.
Chariots of Fire
Charles Paddock
In the class-obsessed and religiously divided UK of the early 1920s, two determined young runners train for the 1924 Paris Olympics. Eric Liddell, a devout Christian born to Scottish missionaries in China, sees running as part of his worship of God's glory and refuses to train or compete on the Sabbath. Harold Abrahams overcomes anti-Semitism and class bias, but neglects his beloved sweetheart in his single-minded quest.
Fade to Black
Eric Binford
A shy, lonely film buff embarks on a killing spree against those who browbeat and betray him, all the while stalking his idol, a Marilyn Monroe lookalike.
Breaking Away
Dave Stoller
Dave, nineteen, has just graduated high school, with his 3 friends, The comical Cyril, the warm hearted but short-tempered Moocher, and the athletic, spiteful but good-hearted Mike. Now, Dave enjoys racing bikes and hopes to race the Italians one day, and even takes up the Italian culture, much to his friends and parents annoyance.
California Dreaming
T.T.
Young T.T. comes from Chicago to spend the summer in California. He slowly becomes "California-ized," while learning about love and life in the Golden State.
Elvis
Nick Adams
This biopic traces Elvis Presley’s life from his impoverished childhood to his meteoric rise to stardom to his triumphant conquering of Las Vegas.
The Last Word
Ben Travis
When politicians try to force out a renter in a corrupt real-estate deal, the man decides to take matters into his own hands. He takes a police officer hostage, hoping to expose the scam and save his home.
A Wedding
Hughie Brenner
Muffin's wedding to Dino Corelli is to be a big affair. Except the ageing priest isn't too sure of the ceremony, only the families actually turn up as the Corelli Italian connection is suspect, security guards watch the gifts rather over-zealously, and Dino's grandma expires in bed just as the reception starts. Could be quite an occasion.
September 30, 1955
Eugene
A young Southerner loses his grip on reality when his favorite movie star James Dean suddenly dies in a car crash.
3 Women
Soda Delivery Boy (uncredited)
Two co-workers, one a vain woman and the other an awkward teenager, share an increasingly bizarre relationship after becoming roommates.
Bernice Bobs Her Hair
Charley
Bernice, a shy young woman, leaves her safe home to go visit her flapper cousin. When her cousin tries to teach Bernice how to be much more modern, Bernice gives her much more than she bargained for.
Roma
The Hippie (uncredited)
A virtually plotless, gaudy, impressionistic portrait of Rome through the eyes of one of its most famous citizens.
The Young Graduates
Spunky and precocious high school senior Mindy Evans spurns her decent, but frustrated boyfriend Bill and has a fling with hunky married nice guy teacher Jack Thompson. Midy finds out that she might be pregnant. While waiting for the results of her pregnancy test, Mindy decides to alleviate the tension by embarking on an impromptu road trip to Big Sur, California with her loyal best gal pal Sandy.
Blood and Lace
Pete
After her prostitute mother and her john are beaten to death while they are asleep in bed, teen-aged Ellie Masters is sent to an isolated orphanage run by a mysterious woman and her handyman, both whom she comes to suspect are hiding dark secrets.
Didn’t You Hear?
Kevin
Kevin is wandering through the confused haze that most college students pass through at one time or another: lectures that make little - if any - sense, pranks by the fraternities and sororities, deep yet meaningless discussions on philosophy with ones friends. Through all of this, Kevin passes in and out of a dream-like fantasy world, in which he and his friends sail the ship 'Queen of Sheba' to a variety of islands, with natives both friendly and hostile.