Dennis George Mortimer was born on the 5th of April 1952 in Kirkby, Merseyside attending Brookfield Comprehensive School, the same school Liverpool's Phil Thompson also attended, with both footballers later going on to captain teams to European Cup victories. His football career began playing for the all-star Kirkby Boys team, (alongside Kenny Swain and Terry McDermott), when he was spotted by Alf Walton, Coventry's legendary scout. It was a brave thing for a 15 year old to uproot and move 120 miles from home, but the club looked after him well and by the age of 17 he had made his first team debut and soon after skippered the Youth team to the final of the FA Youth Cup. Dennis said, "I grew up in Kirkby and there was always an expectation that if you were a good player that you could be picked up by one of the local clubs on Merseyside. However, Coventry were the club that came in for me. They were a First Division club at the time which was ideal, so it felt like as good a place as any other to start my apprenticeship. I joined at 15 years old and signed professionally at 18." Dennis played 30 games in his second season in Sky Blue, the season Coventry finished sixth. His manager, Gordon Milne, told him he thought Liverpool would come in for him, but they signed his old mate McDermott instead. With his displays attracting the attention of several top clubs, he joined Aston Villa for £175,000 on Christmas Eve 1975. Any misgivings surrounding his move quickly disappeared two days later when over 51,000 fans packed into Villa Park for his debut against West Ham United on Boxing Day. Starting in central midfield alongside Chico Hamilton, he immediately endeared himself to the home crowd and registered a pair of assists as the hosts ran out 4-1 winners.
In 1977 a dour 0-0 draw against Everton at Wembley was dubbed, 'The game that refuses to lay down and die' by commentator John Motson. The teams battled again four days later, this time at Hillsborough when an 89th minute equaliser from Bob Latchford snatched Everton a 1-1 draw and sent the final to a second replay. Four weeks later at Old Trafford saw the third act of an epic final, which had totalled an attendance of over 200,000 across the three games. Everton put up another staunch defensive effort before Little stole in at the back post with 90 seconds left to secure Villa's third League Cup and the first trophy of their captain Dennis Mortimer's career. The next three seasons were a bit of a washout until 1980/81 with Ron Saunders slowly building a team that would send shockwaves through both English and European football. On the eve of the 1980/81 season Peter Withe was signed for £500,000, a club-record fee at the time, and Saunders using just 14 players, with seven members of the side playing every league match, had Villa end a 71-year wait for a First Division title. Even though Saunders tendered his resignation after a dispute with the board during their European campaign the following season, they got on with the job in hand under the watch of Tony Barton, who was promoted to manager. They completed a fairytale run to the final by dispatching Kyiv and Belgian champions Anderlecht. The mighty Bayern Munich, whose attacking stars Uli Hoeneß, Paul Breitner and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge lay in wait at Rotterdam's De Kuip Stadium but Mortimer led the team to victory with a 1–0 win courtesy of Peter Withe's goal. From 1975 to 1985 Dennis made 406 appearances for Villa scoring 36 goals, with his last appearance for the club coming as a second-half substitute in a 2-2 draw against Norwich City at Villa Park on Saturday the 20th of October 1984. After leaving Villa, he moved to Brighton & Hove Albion but was only there a year before returning to the Midlands with Birmingham City. His final stint as a player came with non-league Redditch United, where he served as player-manager during the 1988-89 season. He was capped by England at youth and Under-23 level and captained the England B team but was never capped for the full England team.
Dennis worked for The Professional Football Association as regional director of coaching in the Midlands area from 1996 to 2005 before joining the Birmingham City Football in the Community coaching scheme in 2006–2007. He then joined the Football Association education coaching department in 2008 where he worked until the end of 2015. Dennis Mortimer received an honorary doctorate from the University of Worcester in 2011 for "his outstanding contribution to football."
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