Trivia

Appeared in three movies with Tom Cruise: Risky Business, The Color of Money, and Cocktail. In the latter he had the biggest role playing Tom's uncle.

Has appeared in most films by director Andrew Davis

Is undeniably all Casting Directors first thought when they need a "Chicago" type role or Cop role filled. His second job according to IMDB was in a TV Show that was short lived. It was set in Chicago! Since he "has" a Chicago accent it would be the first thought for any casting agent. He has been typecast ever since. Also he has played a Chicago Cop more than any other actor not in a regular reoccurring role. This includes his fourth role and most best known in Risky Business starring Tom Cruise. (1983) Other notable Cop roles in the best known "The Fugitive with Harrison Ford And Tommy Lee Jones, The Package With Jones again and Gene Hackman, an episode of the popular T.J. Hooker with William Shatner, Also a series regular on Crime Story with "the other Chicago type" Dennis Farina who himself is a real Chicago Cop (retired). Other notable cop roles came in the, TV Movie and Series Angel Street, A retired Chicago cop in TV Series Early Edition, Another TV Series Special Unit , plus are other roles too numerous to mention. All in all he has played a Chicago Cop in 5 contiguous Decades. (1979-2012 as of 4/2016) Of curiosity, while Dennis Farina did play a Cop in, 'Law and Order SVU' in New York, oddly in Dean's visit to the New York Cop show, "NYPD Blue". He did not play a cop in his reoccurring role!.

He was nominated for a 1996 Joseph Jefferson Award for Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play for "Supple in Combat" at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois.

Was considered for the role of George Ward in The Fighter (2010).

In addition to playing Chicago and New York cops, Ron Dean also played a Seattle cop (as one of Martin's buddies) in three episodes of Frasier: You Can't Tell a Crook By His Cover (1994), Retirement is Murder (1995) and Where Every Bloke Knows Your Name (1998).

Brother of Lynn Pope.

Ron Dean's career as an actor is a second chance story in a life that was derailed at a young age.He had a troubled childhood marked by petty crime and bouts in state reform schools. In 1955, when he was 16, Mr. Dean escaped from the lockup of a North Side police station, found a gun in the desk drawer of the lockup watchman's desk and, when confronted, fatally shot Chicago Police Officer Albert Brown, according to reports that appeared in the Sun-Times. When police asked why he shot Brown, Mr. Dean replied "I don't know. He came at me and I shot him," according to a Chicago Sun-Times story. Dean pleaded guilty to murdering Brown and served 12 years in prison.