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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Biography
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
Mickey Braddock
.
[1] 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.
"Mickey and the One Nighters"
Need info
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. (Interestingly, he learned to play right-handed and left-footed.) 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. Dolenz and Juste divorced in 1975.
Post-Monkees
thumb, June 2007.
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 called
Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart 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
,
[2] 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.
[3]
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 roles in the TV series
The Equalizer
and 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.
Other
Category:Articles with obsolete information
Dolenz provided the voice of Arthur in the first season of the animated series
The Tick
.
[4] Dolenz also played one of Alan Matthews' bandmates in the sitcom
Boy Meets World
, and later joined Davy Jones and Peter Tork in another episode but they did not play themselves.
Dolenz provided the voice of
Two-Face's twin henchmen in the two-part episode "
Two-Face" on
Batman: The Animated Series
.
[5]
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, 2008.2008
In 2005, after the format change at 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.
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. On 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.
Dolenz participated in the 2008-09 season of CMT's "Gone Country", competing against fellow celebrities, Sheila E (who eventually won), Taylor Dayne, George Clinton, and Richard Greico.
Personal life
Dolenz has been married three times and is the father of four daughters. With Samantha Juste,
Ami Bluebell (b. January 8, 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.
Songs written or co-written by Micky Dolenz
- "You and I" (Written by Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones)
- "Savin' My Love for You" (Written by Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones)
- "Zilch" (Written by Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork)
- "Randy Scouse Git" (Written by Micky Dolenz)
- "Band 6" (Written by Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork)
- "Just A Game" (Written by Micky Dolenz)
- "Shorty Blackwell" (Written by Micky Dolenz)
- "Little Girl"* (Written by Micky Dolenz)
- "Bye Bye Baby Bye Bye"* (Written by Micky Dolenz, Klein)
- "Mommy and Daddy" (Written Micky Dolenz)
- "Never Enough" (Written by Micky Dolenz)
- "Unlucky Stars" (Written by Micky Dolenz)
- "Regional Girl" (Written by Micky Dolenz)
- "It's My Life" (Written by Micky Dolenz)
- "Midnight Train" (Written by Micky Dolenz)
- "Goin' Down" (Written Mickey Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Diane Hilderbrand, Michael Nesmith)
References
- {{imdb title|id=0048855|title=Circus Boy}}
- BBC - Comedy - Shows A-Z Index
- Welcome to...Time Travel Is Possible
- tvshowsondvd.com
- bcdb.com