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Deney Terrio | |
|---|---|
| Born | Denis George Mahan (1950-06-15)June 15, 1950 (age 74) |
| Occupation(s) | Choreographer,television personality,actor |
Denis George Mahan (born June 15, 1950), better known asDeney Terrio, is an Americanchoreographer and hosted thetelevision musical variety seriesDance Fever from 1979 to 1987.[1]
Raised inTitusville, Florida,[2] Terrio achieved fame as the dance coach and choreographer forJohn Travolta in the movieSaturday Night Fever (1977). During his heyday withDance Fever, he appeared in a number of films, includingThe Idolmaker (1980),Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982),A Night in Heaven (1983) andKnights of the City (1986), and guest starred on popular television series of the time, includingThe Love Boat. Throughout the 1990s, he toured nightclubs, performing with Motion and judging dance contests.
Terrio has appeared on severalVH1 specials and co-hosted the 2004PBS specialGet Down Tonight: The Disco Explosion, which featured many popular disco artists from the 1970s and actressKaren Lynn Gorney. During the show, Terrio and Gorney danced toTavares’ live performance of "More Than a Woman", as Gorney had with Travolta inSaturday Night Fever.
Terrio hosted his owndisco radio show,Saturday Night Dance Party, on theSirius Satellite Radio network, and is a choreographer and competitor at regionalDancing with the Stars competitions.
In 1991, Terrio suedMerv Griffin, the producer ofDance Fever, forsexual harassment;[3] theUS$11.3 million case was later dismissed.[4]In 2015, Terrio sued the toy companyHasbro in a federal court for creating an animated gecko and toy figurine named Vinnie Terrio, alleging that his publicity rights were violated by the gecko and figurine.[5] In February 2016, Terrio and Hasbro settled his claims out of court.[6]
In the stand-up comedy specialEddie Murphy Raw (1987), Murphy makes a joke referencing an encounter with Terrio, prompting his father to inquire as to why he was with Terrio in the first place.
Terrio was referred to in theSteve Martin movieDirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), in which Martin's character, a con man and hustler named Freddy Benson, poses as a disabled veteran as part of a plan to extract money from a rich woman. In order to induce her pity, Benson claims that he lost use of his legs after he found his girlfriend having sex with Terrio.
In the final episode of season 1 ofModern Family, Claire tells Phil he looks like Deney Terrio. Jay incorrectly replies that Terrio was a 1970s disco dancer from Ohio.
Terrio was also referenced in season 2 ofBlack Dynamite when he teamed up with funk-soul musicianJames Brown to compete against Black Dynamite and Cream Corn.