Dean Riesner

• Birth name:

  Dean Franklin Riesner

• Date of Birth:

  18 August 1918 New York City, New York, USA

At the age of five Dean Riesner was a child actor (Dinky Dean) in films such as The Pilgrim with Charles Chaplin. Dean's father, Charles Reisner, directed silent films, which granted the young Dean into the homes of both Chaplin and Buster Keaton.Dean would have continued as a child actor had his mother not told his father, "Let the boy have his childhood". Years later when Dean reached adulthood his father asked him what did he want to do, act, direct, write, etc?Dean chose writing and th... more

At the age of five Dean Riesner was a child actor (Dinky Dean) in films such as The Pilgrim with Charles Chaplin. Dean's father, Charles Reisner, directed silent films, which granted the young Dean into the homes of both Chaplin and Buster Keaton.Dean would have continued as a child actor had his mother not told his father, "Let the boy have his childhood". Years later when Dean reached adulthood his father asked him what did he want to do, act, direct, write, etc?Dean chose writing and thus began the career that coined such lines as "Do you feel lucky? Well, do you punk?" from Dirty Harry and the original, "They'll tie you naked to a chair and get medieval with you" line from Charley Varrick.Later Dean developed the reputation as a script doctor writing uncredited on such titles as High Plains Drifter, Blue Thunder, and The Godfather: Part III. Child actor, screenwriter, good friend; Dean Riesner, even into his eighties, wrote everyday.