Brian Dennehy film where he's poisoned by a toothbrush

Brian Dennehy goes into what I seem to recall was a trailer, and proceeds to brush his teeth. Shortly after he starts to brush he's overcome with pain and keels over and dies, presumably from some sort of poison on the toothbrush, or perhaps in the toothpaste.


I've not found any info on this so I'm afraid it was some forgettable made-for-TV movie. I saw it in the early-to-mid 90s at the latest, so it came out before that.


Thanks in advance if you know, this has wracked my brain for many years!

By trailer do you mean trailer house or a camper trailer?

And could his pain and death could be contributed to a heart attack? Did you learn he was poisoned later in the movie?

Brian Dennehy gets poisoned in the made for TV movie Pride and Extreme Prejudice (1989) but not with a toothbrush. Are you sure it was Brian Dennehy, and not someone who looked like him? Brian Keith looks kind of like him.

I seem to remember it being a trailer home. However, it was not surrounded by other ones, which leaves the possibility open that it was a camper trailer. His death was clearly from whatever was on/in the toothbrush/toothpaste. Unfortunately I don't remember anything else from the rest of the movie.

I can add a little more detail from another person asking about this same scene elsewhere online, who also believes it was Dennehy. Apparently he rips open his stomach. I don't remember that part, so take it with a grain of salt. They also mentioned the possibility of cows being poisoned by anthrax in the movie but again, I don't recall that. I had the impression that he was murdered, and was very intentional.

It was definitely Dennehy. At the time he was unmistakeable after knowing him from First Blood and Cocoon.

It wasn't Brian Dennehy. It was Hoyt Axton. And the movie was Endangered Species.

Yep.

Well, this is embarrassing! After some more digging, I now realize that I was way off, as well as the other person I found that thought it was Dennehy. It was Hoyt Axton, of Gremlins fame.

It was the 1982 film entitled Endangered Species. It happened in a house, not a trailer, although there were a number of trailers in the film, which is probably what confused me.

His mouth started bleeding, but he didn't die right away. That happens a few minutes later, after getting progressively worse. He didn't rip his stomach open, it explodes open on its own after he gets out of a car and stands in the middle of the road.

The part about cows was accurate, in that the movie revolves around cattle mutilations. Apparently he knew too much about the source of the mutilations and is taken out with a bioweapon by a government kill squad.

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it!

Thanks so much! You had already responded as I was still writing my response.

Glad I was able to help. I remember they filmed this around Longmont, Colorado when I lived like 17 miles away. I also remember it was a big deal at the time.

EDIT: I guess I didn't actually help since you had already figured it out. Anyway, someone would have gotten it. The folks around here are hell on wheels when it comes to movie knowledge.