Lenny Von Dohlen - Biography
(Press Release from MicroFiche, Sept. 1984)




Miles Harding, a dedicated young architect, whose obsession with his work precludes him from the lighter side of life, is played by twenty-four year old Lenny Von Dohlen. ELECTRIC DREAMS is Lenny's first major starring role in a feature film.

"I was researching a role for a period TV movie when the script of Electric Dreams came to me.'War Game' had just been a big success and my first reaction was that I didnŐt want to do another computer movie. My manager urged my to read it and at once I realized how human ELECTRIC DREAMS was. It was a film with very human emotions in which a computer played a pivotal role," recalled the young actor.

"Something else struck me immediately about Rusty Lemorande's script. How many movies do you see today where the characters are good to each other? Being nice and acting the way we would like to think of ourselves behaving and how life should be, just doesn't seem to make it into films these days. I adored Miles' faith in humanity. He's an idealist and that greatly appealed to me."

Born in Augusta, Georgia and raised in Texas, Lenny's greatest ambition was to go to New York and act on Broadway. "When I was twelve years old, I read all the plays I could lay my hands on and I used to listen to John Gielgud records and try to perfect the accent," he remembers. "I ended up with a pretty strange accent for Texas." After taking part in drama productions in high school and college, at the age of twenty Lenny decided it was time to chase his dream.

Arriving in New York he had the kind of good fortune that most young actor only dream of. Within days he met his manager Dale Davis and began going for auditions. "Dale works completely on instinct," says Lenny. "I guess she had some kind of feeling when we met and right away got me a part as a National Guardman in the television movie, 'Kent State.'"

"There's a strange coincidence that began with my getting the part. After I finished the audition, I passed a woman in the street and suddenly realized it was Ruth Gordon. I heard that same day that I got the part. Exactly the same thing happened on the day I learned I was cast in 'Tender Mercies' with Robert Duvall. And now my first starring role in ELECTRIC DREAMS and I'm playing opposite a computer acted by Bud Court who made his starring debut opposite Ruth Gordon in 'Harold and Maude.' She's become my good luck charm."

Rusty Lemorande, producer/writer, cast Lenny after seeing him in the award-winning film 'Tender Mercies.' "Rusty seeing me as Miles in ELECTRIC DREAMS really gave me faith," says Lenny. "You know how Hollywood likes to type-cast. In Tender Mercies I play a young cowboy and I could have been playing cowboys until Doomsday. But here I was being offered a role where I would be playing somebody who wasn't (illegible) cowboy, but this rather sophisticated young man from a big city, a professional and a romantic. He didnŐt even have a Southern accent."

"I really enjoyed being able to build MileŐs character. I did a lot of research, reading books and visiting architectural firms. At one particular company I saw this fellow hunched over his draughting table, totally oblivious to my being there and I think, to anything else. He was wearing a bow tie and glasses. I modelled Miles mostly on him. I added 'bumbling professor' characteristics to my part and luckily the director Steve Barron and the producers agreed with what I did and thought it made Miles more interesting."

"I also saw a lot of Miles in myself. I just ended a very tumultuous relationship before the start of filming. I was touched by the way Miles tried to grasp what love is and how difficult it is for him to define. Like my character I tend to submerge myself in my work without taking enough time with my personal relationships. Miles never took enough time to explore his feelings before he met Madeline and consequently was not well versed in male/female relationships, being more comfortable with his draughting table."


Prior to ELECTRIC DREAMS, Lenny filmed two television movies, worked in regional theatre and appeared in the off-broadway hit 'Cloud 9.' "Ideally in the future, I would like to alternate between stage and film," he says, and still dreams of the day when he'll star on Broadway.







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