- Born
- Died
- James Arthur Dennett, charter member of the Chicago chapter of the Directors Guild of America. Born in New York, March 3, 1934, he moved to Chicago with his mother when he was a child. He grew up on State Street across from Holy Name Cathedral and attended Loyola University.
Trained in the theater, Jim Dennett's organizing skills caught the attention of Chicago's nascent film industry. In 1966 he co-founded the Film Group with Mike Gray and Bill Cottle. The studio produced Howard Alk's award-winning documentaries "American Revolution 2" and "The Murder of Fred Hampton."
In 1972, Dennett began working in Hollywood as an assistant director and production manager on the feature films, "Wavelength," "Stoney Island," "The China Syndrome," and the 1987 ABC-TV series, "Starman."
Dozens of filmmakers around the country credit Dennett as their mentor and many say they owe him their careers. Fellow Chicagoan, Andrew Davis, the director Dennett worked with on "The Fugitive" and other films, says, "He gave me my first job."
- IMDb mini biography by: Randall Robinson
- SpouseNancy Schreiber(January 19, 1957 - October 13, 1984) (her death, 6 children)
- He comes from a documentary film background. His Chicago-based Film Group chronicled the political violence of the 1960s, including the award-winning feature documentaries, American Revolution II and The Murder of Fred Hampton.
- His first show business job was as Floor Manager at Chicagos WGN-TV, then Editor for Coronet Educational Films. Jim went on to be Production Supervisor and 2nd Unit director for the feature film, "The Living Venus", a 104 show TV series, "Its Light Time" followed. Then hundreds of TV commercials, and corporate image films. The turbulent late 60s found Dennett working on the iconic award winning feature documentaries, "American Revolution 2" and "The Murder of Fred Hampton." After moving to Hollywood, Dennett continued producing commercial spots, educations films, television shows and series, documentaries, MOWs and major motion picture features.
- Father of James A. Dennett II, Mark F. Dennett and Preston Dennett.
- Mr. Dennett was a charter member of the Chicago chapter of the Directors Guild of America.
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