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Micky Dolenz
George Michael ('Micky') Dolenz Jr. was born in Los Angeles, California in 1945. His father, the character actor George Dolenz, was a native of Trieste (now part of Italy) but emigrated to America to start a new life. He got into acting, starring in Vendetta (1950) and other films before his early death in 1963. Micky's mother Janelle Johnson was an actress who appeared in The Brute Man (1946). Micky has three younger sisters.
It was natural that Micky would take to acting and in 1956 starred in 49 episodes of the TV series Circus Boy. He played an orphan boy, Corky, under the stage name of Mickey Braddock (to avoid any confusion with his father). The show ran for three years during which time Micky combined it with his college work. He was keen to develop musically, and also performed in Los Angeles clubs with his rock and roll band called Micky and the One-Nighters. Dolenz went to the Ulysses S. Grant High School in Los Angeles, and graduated in 1962.
In 1965, Micky Dolenz auditioned for, and won a role in the TV series The Monkees (1966-68), a 58-episode comedy series about a struggling rock band. His co-stars were Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and the Englishman Davy Jones. Dolenz had to learn how to play the drums for the role, initially bluffing his way through filming, but eventually becoming a competent drummer. Micky wore a wig for the first season of The Monkees, as his hair was naturally wavy and didn't fit in with the image of the other three band members. It was Micky's singing voice (either as the lead singer or in tandem with Michael Nesmith) that gave the group its distinctive sound. The show was hugely successful - it won an Emmy and the group sold over 65 million albums. After the series ended, and the band broke up, Dolenz hoped to pursue a solo recording career and released several singles. However, his hoped-for solo career didn't take off.
A spin-off film Head (1966) was made at the time. It flopped at the box office, but has since become a cult classic.
Micky's career drifted for a few years (not helped by drug and alcohol abuse) until he came to London in the 1970s. He stayed in England for many years, becoming a prominent producer & director for the BBC and LWT (London Weekend Television). His directing credits included TV series like Metal Mickey (1980-83) for which he officially changed his name to Michael Dolenz to avoid confusion with the character on set; No Problem (1983); Luna (1983) which he also wrote; From the Top (1985) and Murphy's Mob (1986).
At this time he also wrote and directed a stage adaptation of Bugsy Malone which was staged at Her Majesties Theatre in the West End, with a then unknown 14-year-old Catherine Zeta-Jones in the cast.
Micky Dolenz has appeared in a number of stage productions since 1976 when he played Huckleberry Finn in Tom Sawyer in Sacremento. These include the Count's Kid in Harry Nillson's musical The Point! at London's Mermaid Theatre in 1977, with fellow 'Monkee' Davy Jones; Vince Fontaine in a Broadway production of Grease in 1994 and Pseudolus in a Canadian staging of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
He also played Zoser in the Disney production of the Elton John & Tim Rice musical Aida on its major national tour of the USA in 2003, followed by a run at Broadway's Palace Theatre.
Micky Dolenz's most recent stage role has been as one of the actors to play Wilbur Turnblad in the musical Hairspray which had a three year long run at the Shaftsbury Theatre in the West End before going on a national tour including Nottingham's Theatre Royal, which is where I saw it.
Micky's big screen roles include Vance in The Night of the Strangler (1970); Bart in Deadfall (1993) with Michael Biehn, and gun-store proprietor Derek Allen in Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007).
On TV, Dolenz has appeared in several series - 13 episodes of The Tick (1994-95); 2 episodes of Pacific Blue (1996) and 22 episodes of The Secret Files of the SpyDogs (1998-99). He has also made countless guest appearances as himself on a whole host of different shows (both in Britain and USA) ranging from Top of the Pops in 1967 to the reality TV series Gone Country in 2009.
He has also done much voice-over work, along with directing & appearing in TV ads.
In 1986, a screening of the entire Monkees television series by MTV led to renewed interest in the group. This led to a 20th Anniversary Tour, a greatest hits album and a new LP Pool It! In 1996, The Monkees reunited again for a 30th anniversary tour around the America. Their albums have included The Monkees, More of the Monkees, Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones.
Three members of the original Monkees - Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork, will play a series of concerts throughout the UK in 2011, including the Royal Albert Hall in London.
In 1993, Dolenz (with co-writer Mark Bego) published his autobiography called I'm a Believer: My Life of Monkees Music and Madness.
The Monkees were given their star on the Hollywood 'Walk of Fame' in 1989.
Micky Dolenz has been married three times. He met his first wife Samantha Juste when he was appearing on Top of the Pops in 1966, and she was the English girl who pretended to put the records on the juke box. They married in 1967, had a daughter Ami (b.1969) who later became an actress, but divorced in 1975. He married his second English wife Trina Dow in 1977. They had three daughters Charlotte (b.1981), Emily (b.1983), and (b.1984), all born in England, before their divorce in 1991. Dolenz married his third wife, the American Donna Quinter, in 2002.
It was natural that Micky would take to acting and in 1956 starred in 49 episodes of the TV series Circus Boy. He played an orphan boy, Corky, under the stage name of Mickey Braddock (to avoid any confusion with his father). The show ran for three years during which time Micky combined it with his college work. He was keen to develop musically, and also performed in Los Angeles clubs with his rock and roll band called Micky and the One-Nighters. Dolenz went to the Ulysses S. Grant High School in Los Angeles, and graduated in 1962.
In 1965, Micky Dolenz auditioned for, and won a role in the TV series The Monkees (1966-68), a 58-episode comedy series about a struggling rock band. His co-stars were Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and the Englishman Davy Jones. Dolenz had to learn how to play the drums for the role, initially bluffing his way through filming, but eventually becoming a competent drummer. Micky wore a wig for the first season of The Monkees, as his hair was naturally wavy and didn't fit in with the image of the other three band members. It was Micky's singing voice (either as the lead singer or in tandem with Michael Nesmith) that gave the group its distinctive sound. The show was hugely successful - it won an Emmy and the group sold over 65 million albums. After the series ended, and the band broke up, Dolenz hoped to pursue a solo recording career and released several singles. However, his hoped-for solo career didn't take off.
A spin-off film Head (1966) was made at the time. It flopped at the box office, but has since become a cult classic.
Micky's career drifted for a few years (not helped by drug and alcohol abuse) until he came to London in the 1970s. He stayed in England for many years, becoming a prominent producer & director for the BBC and LWT (London Weekend Television). His directing credits included TV series like Metal Mickey (1980-83) for which he officially changed his name to Michael Dolenz to avoid confusion with the character on set; No Problem (1983); Luna (1983) which he also wrote; From the Top (1985) and Murphy's Mob (1986).
At this time he also wrote and directed a stage adaptation of Bugsy Malone which was staged at Her Majesties Theatre in the West End, with a then unknown 14-year-old Catherine Zeta-Jones in the cast.
Micky Dolenz has appeared in a number of stage productions since 1976 when he played Huckleberry Finn in Tom Sawyer in Sacremento. These include the Count's Kid in Harry Nillson's musical The Point! at London's Mermaid Theatre in 1977, with fellow 'Monkee' Davy Jones; Vince Fontaine in a Broadway production of Grease in 1994 and Pseudolus in a Canadian staging of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
He also played Zoser in the Disney production of the Elton John & Tim Rice musical Aida on its major national tour of the USA in 2003, followed by a run at Broadway's Palace Theatre.
Micky Dolenz's most recent stage role has been as one of the actors to play Wilbur Turnblad in the musical Hairspray which had a three year long run at the Shaftsbury Theatre in the West End before going on a national tour including Nottingham's Theatre Royal, which is where I saw it.
Micky's big screen roles include Vance in The Night of the Strangler (1970); Bart in Deadfall (1993) with Michael Biehn, and gun-store proprietor Derek Allen in Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007).
On TV, Dolenz has appeared in several series - 13 episodes of The Tick (1994-95); 2 episodes of Pacific Blue (1996) and 22 episodes of The Secret Files of the SpyDogs (1998-99). He has also made countless guest appearances as himself on a whole host of different shows (both in Britain and USA) ranging from Top of the Pops in 1967 to the reality TV series Gone Country in 2009.
He has also done much voice-over work, along with directing & appearing in TV ads.
In 1986, a screening of the entire Monkees television series by MTV led to renewed interest in the group. This led to a 20th Anniversary Tour, a greatest hits album and a new LP Pool It! In 1996, The Monkees reunited again for a 30th anniversary tour around the America. Their albums have included The Monkees, More of the Monkees, Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones.
Three members of the original Monkees - Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork, will play a series of concerts throughout the UK in 2011, including the Royal Albert Hall in London.
In 1993, Dolenz (with co-writer Mark Bego) published his autobiography called I'm a Believer: My Life of Monkees Music and Madness.
The Monkees were given their star on the Hollywood 'Walk of Fame' in 1989.
Micky Dolenz has been married three times. He met his first wife Samantha Juste when he was appearing on Top of the Pops in 1966, and she was the English girl who pretended to put the records on the juke box. They married in 1967, had a daughter Ami (b.1969) who later became an actress, but divorced in 1975. He married his second English wife Trina Dow in 1977. They had three daughters Charlotte (b.1981), Emily (b.1983), and (b.1984), all born in England, before their divorce in 1991. Dolenz married his third wife, the American Donna Quinter, in 2002.
George Michael ('Micky') Dolenz Jr. was born in Los Angeles, California in 1945. His father, the character actor George Dolenz, was a native of Trieste (now part of Italy) but emigrated too
to America to start a new life. He got into acting, starr
starring in Vendetta (1950) and other films before his early death in 1963. Micky's mother Janelle Johnson was an actress who appeared in The Brute Man (1946). Micky has three younger sisters.
It was natural that Micky would take to acting and in 1956 he starred in 49 episodes of the TV series Circus Boy. He played an orphan boy, Corky
George Dolenz
Janelle Johnson
Micky Dolenz as a boy
Corky, using the stage name of Mickey Braddock (to avoid any confusion with his father). Corky is principally the water boy for Bimbo, a baby elephant, but he also takes part in the general behind-the-scenes life of the travelling circus. The show co-starred Noah Beery Jr. as Uncle Joey the clown, Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams as head canvasman Pete and Robert Lowery as circus owner Big Tim Champion. It ran for nearly three years during which time Micky combined it with his college work.
Micky as Corky, the Circus Boy
Circus Boy comic
Circus Boy annual
Noah Beery Jr & Micky in Circus Boy
Whilst still at the Ulysses S. Grant High School in Los Angeles, from where he graduated in 1962, Micky wask
was keen to develop musically. At this time, he also performed in various clubs in the city with his rock and roll band called Micky and the One-Nighters.
In 1965, Micky Dolenz auditioned for, and won, a role in the TVs
TV series The Monkees (1966-68), a 58-episode comedy series about a struggling rock band. His co-stars were Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and the Englishman Davy Jones. Dolenz had to learn how to play the drums for the role, initially bluffing his way through filming, but eventually becoming a competent drummer.
Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Davy Jones &
Peter Tork as the rock band The Monkees
The Monkees' drummer Micky Dolenz
Micky wore a wig for the first season of The Monkees, as his hair was naturally wavy and didn't fit in with the image of the
the other three band members. It was Micky's singing voice (either as the lead singer or in tandem with Michael Nesmith) that gave theg
the group its distinctive sound. The show was hugely successful - it won an Emmy and the group sold over 65 million albums.
Micky Dolenz in The Monkees
The Monkees in 1967 with their Emmy Award
After the series ended, and the band broke up, Dolenz hoped to pursue a solo recording career and released several singles. However, his hoped-for solo career didn't take off.
Micky Dolenz in The Monkees
A spin-off film Head (1966) was made at the time. Despite the success of the TV series, it unexpectedly flopped at the box office, but has since become a cult classic.
Jones in a scene from the TV series The Monkees
Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz & Davy
Micky's career drifted for a few years (not helped by drug and alcohol
Micky Dolenz in Head
alcohol abuse) until he came to London in the 1970s. He stayed in England for many years, becom
becoming a prominent producer & director for the BBC and LWT (London Weekend Television). His directing credits included TV series like Metal Mickey (1980-83) for which he officially changed his name to Michael Dolenz to avoid confusion with the character on set; No Problem (1983); Luna (1983) which he also wrote; From the Top (1985) and Murphy's Mob (1986).
Dolenz directed the children's TV series
At this time he also wrote and directed a stage adaptation of Bugsy Malone which was staged at Her Majesty's Theatree
Theatre in the West End, with a then-unknown 14-year-old Catherine Zeta-Jones in the cast.
Metal Mickey
Micky Dolenz has appeared in a number of stage productions
Original recording of The Point!
Micky Dolenz as Zoser in Aida
Micky Dolenz's most recent stage role has been as one of the actors
since 1976 when he played Huckleberry Finn in Tom Sawyer in Sacremento. These include the Count's Kid in Harry Nilsson's musical The Point! at London's Mermaid Theatre in 1977, with fellow 'Monkee' Davy Jones; Vince Fontaine in a Broadway production of Grease in 1994 and Pseudolus in a Canadian staging
staging of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Dolenz also played Zoser in the Disney production of the Elton John & Tim Rice musi
musical Aida on its major national tour of the USA in 2003, followed by a run at Broadway's Palace Theatre.
actors to play Wilbur Turnblad in the musical Hairspray which hada
had a three year long run at the Shaftsbury Theatre in the West End
End before going on a national tour including Nottingham's Theatre Royal
As Wilbur Turnblad
in Hairspray
On TV, Dolenz has appeared in several series - 13 episodes
Micky's big screen roles include Vance in The Night of the Strangler (1970); Bart in Deadfall (1993) with Michael Biehn, and gun-store proprietor Derek Allen in Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007).
Royal, which is where I saw it.
episodes of The Tick (1994-95); 2 episodes of Pacific Blue (1996) and 22 episodes of The Secret Files of the SpyDogs (1998-99). He has also made countless guest appearances as himself on a whole host of different shows, both in Britain and USA, ranging from Top of the Pops in 1967 to the reality TV series Gone Country in 2009. He has also done much voice-over work, along with directing & appearing in TV ads.
The Night of the Strangler
Chuck Patterson & Micky Dolenz in
Micky Dolenz as Derek Allen
in Halloween
Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork & Davy Jones on
The Monkees' 20th Anniversary Tour in 1986
In 1986, a repeat of the entire Monkees television series by MTV led to renewed interest in the group. This led to a 20th Anniversary Tour, a greatest hits album and a new LP called Pool It! In 1996, they Monke
reunited again for a 30th anniversary tour around the America. Their album titles include The Monkees, More of the Monkees, Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.
Micky Dolenz
Some of the many albums recorded by The Monkees
In 2011, three members of the original Monkees - Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork, will play a series of concerts at venues throughout the UK, including London's Royal Albert Hall.
In 2010, Dolenz released his tribute album King for a Day featuring 14 songs from American songwriter Carole King.
King for a Day album
The Monkees were given their star on the Hollywood 'Walk of Fame' in 1989.
In 1993, Dolenz (along with co-writer Mark Bego) published
Micky Dolenz in 2008
The Monkees with their 'Walk of Fame' star
Dolenz biography I'm a Believer
Micky Dolenz has been married three
published his autobiography called I'm a Believer.
Ami Dolenz
Trina Dow
Micky Dolenz & Samantha Juste
Micky Dolenz & Donna Quinter
three times. He met his first wife Samantha Juste when he was appearing on Top of the Pops in 1966, and she was the English girl
girl who pretended to put the records on the juke box. They married in 1967, had a daughter Ami (b.1969) who later became an actress, but divorced in 1975. He married his second English wife Trina Dow in 1977. They had three daughters Charlotte (b.1981), Emily (b.1983), and Georgia(b.1984), all born in England, before they divorced in 1991. Dolenz married his third wife, the American Donna Quinter, in 2002.
The Monkees albums
Circus Boy comic
VIDEO
The Monkees - I'm a Believer (official music video)
Micky Dolenz has signed my Hairspray programme
I met Micky Dolenz after I had seen him in the musical Hairspray at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham, in March 2011. He was excellent as Wilbur Turnblad, and the whole show was thoroughly enjoyable.
Micky signed my programme, and then let me have my photo taken with him.