Micky Dolenz

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Micky Dolenz
Born	March 8, 1945 Los Angeles, California

George Michael Dolenz, Jr (Micky Dolenz), (born March 8, 1945), is an American actor, musician, and television and Theatre director He is best known for his role on the 1960s television comedy, The Monkees.

Contents 1 Early career 2 The Monkees 2.1 Post-Monkees 3 Personal life 4 External links

[edit] Early career

He was born in Los Angeles, California the son of George Dolenz, a Hollywood character actor, and his wife Janelle Johnson. He was a delicate child who 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. 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 turn of the 20th 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.

[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 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 and married Samantha Juste, the girl who pretended to put the records on the jukebox on the BBC's "live" pop series, Top of the Pops. Daughter Ami Dolenz, now an actress, was 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 or related labels 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 and Devlin. He also auditioned for the role of Fonzie on the series Happy Days, but lost out to Henry Winkler. He eventually reunited with fellow Monkee Davy Jones and songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart for a record and a lengthy series of tours in 1976 and 1977, but he had bigger success the following year with a stage production of the Harry Nilsson musical The Point! in London.

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], see also IMDB), 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 officially changed his name to Michael Dolenz.

In the early 1980s, Dolenz directed a stage version of Bugsy Malone, casting a then-unknown 14-year-old Catherine Zeta-Jones. [2]

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.

Since 1986, Dolenz has since 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 as a role as the Mayor on the cable TV series Pacific Blue.

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 Mickey's involvement. (An ironic footnote is that "Circus Boy" co-starred Robert Lowery, who played Batman in the 1949 Columbia serial Batman and Robin.) 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 also provided the voice of Arthur in the first season of the animated series The Tick.

In 2005, Dolenz replaced Harry Harrison 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. 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]

In March 2007, it was announced that Micky will be appearing 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.

[edit] Personal life

He has been married three times and is the father of four daughters.

[edit] External links

• Micky Dolenz Official Website
• Coco Dolenz website
• Interview with Micky on The BackStage Pass internet radio show
• 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

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