Life of Brian
Brian Dennehy Bridge, Derby
January 2026
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of going to a place to take a few pictures for the purposes of this website and stumbling upon something else that deserves its own page here on CTMQ.
I live for these moments.
Derby Canal
When I went to snap a few pictures of the Derby Canal from a tiny little 20-foot bridge that spans it, I learned that I was standing on The Brian Dennehy Bridge.
That’s right, move over star of big and little screen Ted Knight, with your fancy bridge up in Plymouth. Move over star of stage and screen Ernest Borgnine with your little park in Hamden. Star of stage and screen Brian Dennehy and his teeny tiny bridge in Derby is here to make itself known.
RIP
Dennehy was born in Bridgeport in 1938 and died in 2020 in New Haven at the age of 81. But he had a lot of Connecticut experience in between those dates. Okay, some Connecticut experience. Part of his formative years were spent living on Mount Pleasant Street in Derby from 1945 to 1948. In Derby he was a Cub Scout in Cub Pack 3. He also lived in Shelton growing up. (He apparently was living in Woodstock, CT when he died as well.)
Importantly, in 1948 he performed in the Scouts’ annual variety show in the basement of the United Methodist Church on Elizabeth Street across from the Derby Green. Wait? That’s it? That’s his Derby acting history?
Yes. “Dennehy got his start in show business by performing “Be a Good Scout” in the 1948 version of the annual Gang Show produced by the Troop 3 Scouts.” It’s okay to laugh at this, right? The man was 9. (The man also returned to Derby a few times to glad-hand and such, so that’s cool.) He served in the Marines, attended Columbia and then got his MFA in dramatic arts from Yale.
The Brian Dennehy Bridge is within view of BAD SONS Beer Company and the iconic Dew Drop Inn. I’d bet Mr. Dennehy would have liked both spots very much. The road name of the bridge is Abattoir Road. I bet he’d have liked that too, assuming he knew what an abattoir is. Hey, degrees from Columbia and Yale, he better have known what an abattoir is!
(It’s a slaughterhouse.)
I never would have known about this important Connecticut landmark if not for a recent Derby campaign to put a bunch of tiny little plaques all over town. The bridge was actually named for Dennehy in 2005, a full 15 years before his death. But there was nothing – NOTHING! – noting the bridge’s significance for almost two decades! Dennehy was in First Blood! Cocoon! Tommy Boy! How dare Derby!
When this was brought up to the Board of Aldermen, they were beside themselves. And so, finally, in 2023 the little bridge got its little sign that I just happened to notice while standing on the bridge to take a picture of the frozen canal because I’m a dork who likes old canals that still exist though are no longer used in any practical sense.
Oh, and I read the little plaques whenever I see them. That’s key.
CTMQ’s Bridges
CTMQ’s Statuary, Memorials, Monuments, & Plaques
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