Dennis Dugan is an American actor and director who has directed a number of financially successful comedies. In the nineties, he directed such films as "Problem Child" and "Ninja from Beverly Hills", and in the two thousandth he was remembered for his collaboration with actor Adam Sandler. Examples of such collaboration are the comedies Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008), Classmates (2010), Jack and Jill (2011).
early years
Dennis Dugan was born in Wheaton, Illinois, USA on September 5, 1946. His mother's name was Marion, and his father's name was Charles Dugan (he was an insurance agent by profession). The family was large - Dennis had three siblings (one older and two younger).
For a time he was educated at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago. Dennis began his serious acting career in New York in 1969. However, three years later, in 1972, he moved to Hollywood and began to play episodic characters in various television series and television shows.
In the second half of the seventies, his roles became more prominent. For example, in one of the episodes of the famous TV series "My name is Colombo" (more specifically, in the 1976 series "The Last Salute to the Commander"), Dugan played a novice detective - Sergeant Theodore Albinsky.
During the same period, he gained some popularity as a film actor. In particular, viewers of those years could remember him from the films "Harry and Walter Go to New York" (1976) and "Alien from Space and King Arthur" (1979).
In the eighties, Dennis appeared, among other things, in four episodes of the Moonlight Detective Agency (quite famous in Russia) television series, where he played the husband of the main character Maddie Hayes (played by Sybil Shepherd). he is also involved in this project as a TV director, who directed the final episode of the final season (the episode was called "Lunar Eclipse").
Dugan's work from 1990 to the present day
In 1990, Dennis Dugan made his directorial debut in cinema - he directed the comedy "Difficult Child". The plot of the plot here is very simple: Ben and Flo, who cannot have their own children, take a seven-year-old boy from an orphanage. But it soon turns out that this little boy has a lively character, and he is able to bring his adoptive parents a lot of problems …
And although this comedy was not very popular with critics, the audience received it very warmly - with a budget of $ 10 million, it grossed about seven times more. Moreover, the film had two more sequels - "Problem Child 2" and "Problem Child 3". However, Dugan had nothing to do with them. In the first half of the nineties, he was engaged in other projects - in 1992 he directed the comedy "Half-witted", and in 1994 the comedy "Shaggy Dog" (it was shown only on TV).
During the same period, Dennis Dugan showed himself as a director in the previously mentioned TV series "Colombo". In 1993 he was entrusted with the shooting of the series "Butterfly in Grays". In this episode, Colombo is investigating the murder of a journalist, and the main suspect here is the journalist's colleague, a well-known radio host …
In 1996, Dennis Dugan worked on the comedy Lucky Gilmore, starring comedian Adam Sandler. At the box office, the film grossed four times its budget, and this marked the beginning of a long-term collaboration between two creative people.
In 1997, Dugan directed the wonderful comedy The Ninja of Beverly Hills. It told about a fat and clumsy guy who considers himself a great ninja, as a result of which he constantly finds himself in funny situations.
Two years later, in 1999, Dugan's second film starring Adam Sandler, Big Daddy, appeared. And although the film's box office was well over $ 200 million, Adam Sandler's performance in it received extremely negative reviews from critics - he even received the Golden Raspberry as the worst actor.
In 2001, Dugan directed Bitch, and in 2003 he directed the action comedy National Security.
Three years later, in 2006, the comedy "Bench" was released, and it was another collaboration between Adam Sandler and Dennis Dugan. Dugan was the director here as usual, and Adam Sandler was the producer and writer. It is also worth adding that such actors as Rob Schneider, John Heider and David Spade appeared in the main roles here.
After that, Dugan shot several more comedies - "Don't Mess with the Zohan", "Chuck and Larry: Fire Wedding", "Pretend to be My Wife", "Classmates", "Such Different Twins." And, in fact, all these films were simply crushed by critics - they were scolded for poor acting, low-quality jokes, primitive and outdated humor, etc.
The case with "Such different twins" was especially revealing. On the Rotten Tomatoes portal, this picture received only 3% of positive reviews. Not only that, at the 2011 Golden Raspberry Anti-Awards, So Different Twins won all ten nominations, including Worst Film of the Year. Adam Sandler portrayed in this film two characters who are, as it were, twins - a guy named Jack and a girl named Jill. As a result, he was given two "Golden Raspberries" - in the nominations "Worst male role" and "Worst female role". Of course, Dugan was also noted at this ceremony - he received an anti-award in the nomination "Worst Director of the Year".
But this did not stop him from making another film with Adam Sandler - "Classmates 2" (this is the sequel to the 2010 comedy film). This film also received negative reviews from professionals, but, as usual, paid off well (raised about $ 240 million).
In total, Dugan's films have earned more than $ 1 billion worldwide.
Personal life
Dennis Dugan first married in 1973 to actress Joyce Van Patten. This marriage lasted fourteen years, that is, until 1987.
The second wife of the director was Sharon O'Connor, he still lives with her. Moreover, Sharon is also Dennis Dugan's business partner. Together they formed the production company Art Echo.
Sharon and Dennis also have a son named Kelly. There is information that he now plays in the major American league baseball for the Chicago Dogs team.
