Brian Dennehy, star of the Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman, was taken to the hospital early in the morning on Mar. 14 and will not return to the show until March 17. As a result, the March 16 performance will be cancelled while Dennehy regains his strength. The Sunday matinee was also cancelled.

Sources who saw the March 13 evening performance of Salesman said Dennehy looked weak and flushed. Production spokesman Richard Kornberg told PBOL (Mar. 15), "He did the Saturday night performance, went home still feeling cruddy. He went to St. Claire's on Sunday morning, and they transferred him to St. Vincent because St. Vincent's has the Corinary care. They ran a bunch of tests, and they found Brian had hypertension. They had to do further tests, to make sure it wasn't a minor heart attack -- and it wasn't, it was hypertension."

Kornberg added that Dennehy had wanted to do the March 16 performance, but doctors convinced him to spend another night in the hospital.

Dennehy is the veteran of many films, including "First Blood," "F/X," and "Cocoon," as well as stage productions of Galileo and The Iceman Cometh.

Dennehy has no understudy in Salesman.