Denny Martin Flinn

Denny Martin Flinn (December 21, 1947 – August 24, 2007) was an American actor, dancer, choreographer, stage director, and writer whose career spanned Broadway, film, television, and publishing. He was born and raised in California, spending his early years in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. Flinn studied theatre at San Francisco State University, and while still enrolled there he worked as a dancer in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco. He subsequently relocated to New York City, where he built a career across multiple disciplines in the performing arts.

Flinn's Broadway work as a performer extended from 1972 to 1976. His stage credits include the original production of Sugar (1972) and revivals of Hello, Dolly! (1975) and Pal Joey (1976). Beyond Broadway, he performed in the national tour of Fiddler on the Roof and appeared in the short-lived 1978 musical Barbary Coast. In the 1980s he toured with the national company of A Chorus Line, taking on the roles of both Zack and Greg. His Off-Broadway work included choreographing Six (1971), with music by Charles Strouse, and writing and directing his own musical, Groucho (1979), which starred Lewis J. Stadlen.

Flinn also contributed choreography to film and television productions. He choreographed musical sequences for the films The Deceivers (1988) and Ghost (1990), as well as for the television series Another World and Search for Tomorrow. His most prominent screen credit came as co-writer, alongside Nicholas Meyer, of the screenplay for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). He later authored the Star Trek novel The Fearful Summons (1995).

His published nonfiction included What They Did for Love: The Untold Story Behind the Making of A Chorus Line (1989), a behind-the-scenes account of that landmark production. His research volume Musical! A Grand Tour – the Rise, Glory and Fall of an American Institution (1997) received an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award. He also wrote the mystery novels San Francisco Kills (1990) and Killer Finish (1991), as well as practical guides for writers and performers, including How Not To Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make (1999) and How Not To Audition: Avoiding the Common Mistakes Most Actors Make (2003), the latter co-authored with Ellie Kanner. Flinn died on August 24, 2007, in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, from complications from cancer. He was survived by his wife and two children.