Hollywood director revels in Fallbrook life

He’s worked with some of Hollywood’s hottest celebrities and directed dozens of episodes of the most popular television shows of all time, yet it’s Fallbrook that has captured Dennis Donnelly’s heart.

“The town of Fallbrook is my little piece of Heaven,” said Donnelly, who moved here from Los Angeles in 2004. Driving throughout the countryside, especially in DeLuz, fishing by invitation in private lakes, and shopping for groceries is what this prolific film industry veteran finds most appealing these days.

“I strongly believe in supporting the local business infrastructure,” said Donnelly, who added with a laugh, “I’m thinking about running for Honorary Mayor in the future, but I’m currently supporting Steve [Slaughter] at Major Market!”

Donnelly first heard about Fallbrook from Adam 12 star Martin Milner. Milner had moved to Fallbrook in the early 70s while filming episodes of the popular television show under Donnelly’s direction.

“Martin just raved about the town of Fallbrook that he had moved to,” said Donnelly. “I had never heard of it before then.”

Since Donnelly will celebrate his 70th birthday on Aug. 24, it was the perfect time to discuss his significant career with him and hear interesting bits from a “real” Hollywood insider.

Donnelly started in the business in 1964 at the age of 22 as a second assistant director, became a director in 1971, and continued in the industry until his retirement as a seasoned director and production manager in 1997.

“My first career goal was to direct my first show by age 29 and I did; I always tried to set my goals high,” explained Donnelly.

Television shows Donnelly worked on heavily included Adam 12, Emergency, Charlie’s Angels, Hawaii Five-O (the original), Hart to Hart, The A-Team, Simon & Simon, Falcon Crest, and They Came from Outer Space. He also directed multiple episodes for Dragnet, Hunter, Vega$, Flying High, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, Project U.F.O., The Amazing Spider-Man, and many others.

After working extensively on a wide variety of shows, Donnelly answered very quickly when asked which program was his favorite.

“That’s easy, Charlie’s Angels; I sure loved doing that show,” he said, with a smile. When asked to expand on why he enjoyed that project, Donnelly said, “Three reasons come to mind.” That was no doubt a fond reference to actresses Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith, and Farrah Fawcett. He chuckled before taking a serious turn.

“One of the main reasons was because I was working with a producer who wrote all of his own scripts,” explained Donnelly. “He also offered to let me read the scripts well in advance because he was so well prepared, which was practically unheard of in the industry.”

“Charlie’s Angels was also my favorite because they were just fun shows to do,” he added.

If the Angels were his favorite, it seemed only reasonable to ask Donnelly which show he considered the most difficult to work on.

“The A-Team was the most difficult due to the production team,” he said. “I was lucky to have the script for the episode the day before I shot.”

While many in the industry warned him not to work for Dragnet, Adam-12, and Emergency producer Jack Webb, Donnelly happily accepted the jobs Webb offered him.

“He really helped give me my start,” Donnelly said of Webb. “He was very innovative at using close-ups before they became popular. Jack always ran a very quiet set; he pretended to be mad all the time to keep the set quiet.”

Donnelly’s second favorite show was They Came from Outer Space, a science fiction comedy series.

“It was always funny on the set with those actors; you couldn’t have more fun than this,” he said. “Also we did most of the filming on the beach at Malibu, which was great.”

Donnelly also directed The Toolbox Murders (original version), which Stephen King gave the ranking of #4 on his all-time list of scariest movies for Halloween.

As far as individual actors and actresses that he most admired, Donnelly was again quick to answer.

“Ray Milan was an incredible actor; as a big star he did an episode on Charlie’s Angels playing Jaclyn Smith’s father. I also worked with him on Hart to Hart. He was always very well prepared on the set.”

When it came to actresses, it was Jane Wyman that garnered his greatest respect.

“She was always well prepared and worked to find solutions to potential problems beforehand. I worked with her on Charlie’s Angels and then she insisted they hire me to direct episodes of Falcon Crest.”

Out of the long list of work he did, it seemed only plausible that there was an actor Donnelly wasn’t too enamored of.

“That would be Fred Dryer (Hunter),” he admitted. “I could not stand him. He thought he was still a football hero and was very difficult to work with.”

The only location work that he wasn’t fond of was in Mexico City filming two 80-hour novellas in 1995 and 1996.

“Mexico City was a scary place; very dangerous,” said Donnelly.

On a happier note, discussing the series Hawaii Five-O with Donnelly provided a unique opportunity to compare the original series with the new version that launched in 2010.

Donnelly called working on the original series with Jack Lord and James MacArthur “absolute fun,” and said he thoroughly enjoyed working with the local crew members in Oahu.

“The Hawaii Five-O crew was full of great relationships,” said Donnelly.” We had our sound stage in Pearl City and I worked on the original pilot as well as the series.”

When asked if he had watched the new Hawaii Five-O, Donnelly grinned and said “I have to tell you, I resisted. But, when I watched an episode for the first time, I was hooked!” He admitted he is quite a fan of today’s show featuring Alex O’Loughlin, Scott Caan and Daniel Dae Kim.

“The changes in the characters are really interesting and the nice thing is that in this series they have more than one character who can think,” he said, with a laugh. “That was very different compared to the role Jack Lord had in the original series.”

Working in the television industry was nothing unusual to Donnelly, as he was the fourth generation in his family to make a career in it.

“My father, Paul, was the head of production for Universal Television and vice president of MCA; my brother Kevin was a producer, stuntman, and aerial photographer; and my sister, Debra and brother, Tim were actors.” In addition his great-grandfather (John Wilkes), grandfather (Pat O’Malley), and aunt (Kathleen O’Malley) were actors.

Donnelly eventually closed his career in Hollywood with a smile and began searching for a quiet, rural town to move his family to.

Eight years later, living a happy retired life with his family in Fallbrook, Donnelly said, “I still have fun though; I just got a call from the Charlie’s Angels Fan Club a couple of days ago.”

Donnelly resides with his wife, Deborah, and twin sons, Paul and Patrick. Daughter Caitlin Lelacheur also lives here.

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