George Kennedy

Born: 1925-02-18 in New York City, New York, USA

Died: 2016-02-28

Known For: Acting

Biography

George Kennedy (February 18, 1925 — February 28, 2016) was an American actor. A World War II veteran, Kennedy at one stage in his career cornered the market at playing tough, no-nonsense characters who were either quite crooked or possessed hearts of gold. Kennedy notched up an impressive 200+ appearances in both TV and film, and was well respected within the Hollywood community. He started out in TV westerns in the late 1950s and early 1960s: Have Gun - Will Travel (1957), Rawhide (1959), Maverick (1957), Colt .45 (1957), among others; before scoring minor roles in films including Lonely Are the Brave (1962), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965) and The Flight of the Phoenix (1965). The late 1960s was a very busy period for Kennedy, and he was strongly in favor with casting agents, appearing in Hurry Sundown (1967), The Dirty Dozen (1967) and scoring an Oscar win as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Cool Hand Luke (1967). The disaster film boom of the 1970s was kind to Kennedy, too, and his talents were in demand for Airport(1970) and the three subsequent sequels, as a grizzled cop in Earthquake (1974), plus the buddy/road film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) as vicious bank robber Red Leary. The 1980s saw Kennedy appear in a mishmash of roles, playing various characters; however, Kennedy and Leslie Nielsen surprised everyone with their comedic talents in the hugely successful The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), and the two screen veterans hammed it up again in, The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991), plus Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994). Kennedy remained busy in Hollywood and lent his distinctive voice to the animated Cats Don't Dance (1997) and the children's action film Small Soldiers (1998). A Hollywood stalwart for nearly 50 years, he is one of the most enjoyable actors to watch on screen. His last role was in the film The Gambler (2014), as Mark Wahlberg's character's grandfather. George Kennedy died on February 28, 2016 in Middleton, Idaho.

Filmography

2005

Don't Come Knocking as Director
Truce as Dr. Peter Gannon
Three Bad Men as Ed Fiske

2003

Monster Makers as Dexter Brisbane
View from the Top as Passenger Requesting Vodka (uncredited)

1998

Small Soldiers as Brick Bazooka (voice)
Dallas: War of The Ewings as Carter McKay
Dennis the Menace Strikes Again! as Mr. Johnson
Men in White as Army
Hollyweird as George Kennedy

1997

Cats Don't Dance as L.B. Mammoth (voice)
Bayou Ghost as Officer Lowe

1996

The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest as General Axton (voice)
Dallas: J.R. Returns as Carter McKay

1995

Santo Bugito as Ralph (voice)

1994

Duckman as Movie Director (voice)
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult as Ed Hocken
WWE SummerSlam 1994 as Himself

1992

Distant Justice as Tom Bradfield
Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story as Father Dave Hagan

1991

The Commish as Al Scali
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear as Ed Hocken
Hangfire as Warden Barles
Intensive Care as Dr. Bruckner
Driving Me Crazy as John McCready

1990

Wings as George Kennedy
Mayumi: Virgin Terrorist as Bahraini Investigator
The Cops Are Robbers
Brain Dead as Vance
Hired to Kill as Thomas

1989

Esmeralda Bay as Wilson
The Terror Within as Hal
Ministry of Vengeance as Rev. Hughes

1988

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! as Ed Hocken
Uninvited as Mike Harvey
Counterforce as Vince Colby
Born to Race as Vincent Duplain
Demonwarp as Bill Crafton
Nightmare at Noon as Sherrif Hanks
Private Road: No Trespassing as Sam Milshaw
Top Line as Heinrich Holzmann
What Price Victory as Big Buck Brayton

1987

Creepshow 2 as Ray Spruce
The Gunfighters as Deke Turner
The Gambler: The Legend Continues as General Nelson Miles

1986

Liberty as Seamus Reilly
Radioactive Dreams as Spade Chandler
The Delta Force as Father O'Malley

1985

Savage Dawn as Tick Rand
Half Nelson as Parsons
International Airport as Rudy Van Leuven
Rigged as Ben

1984

Bolero as Cotton
Chattanooga Choo Choo as Bert
The Jesse Owens Story as Charles 'Charley' Riley
Rare Breed

1982

Wacko as Mr. Doctor Graves
The Jupiter Menace as Himself

1981

Modern Romance as George Kennedy / Zeron
The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire as Brakus
Just Before Dawn as Roy McLean

1980

Death Ship as Captain Ashland
Virus as Admiral Conway
Hotwire as Farley & Harley Fontenot

1979

The Concorde... Airport '79 as Joe Patroni
Steel as Big Lew Cassidy
The Double McGuffin as Chief Talasek
Backstairs at the White House as Pres. Warren G. Harding
Search and Destroy as Anthony Fusqua

1978

Dallas as Carter McKay
Brass Target as Gen. George S. Patton
Death on the Nile as Andrew Pennington
Mean Dog Blues as Captain Omar Kinsman

1977

Airport '77 as Joe Patroni
Proof of the Man as Ken Shuftan

1975

Saturday Night Live as Self - Host
The Human Factor as John Kinsdale
The Eiger Sanction as Ben Bowman
The Blue Knight as Bumper Morgan
The Blue Knight as Officer Bumper Morgan
The Lion Roars Again as Self

1974

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot as Red Leary
Earthquake as Sgt. Lew Slade
A Cry in the Wilderness as Sam Hadley
Sonic Boom as Ben Dover
Airport 1975 as Joe Patroni

1973

Cahill: United States Marshal as Abe Fraser
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts as Self
Lost Horizon as Sam Cornelius
Deliver Us from Evil as Walter 'Cowboy' McAdams

1972

The Bull of the West as 'Bear' Suchette
A Great American Tragedy as Brad Wilkes

1971

Fools' Parade as Dallas 'Doc' Council
The Priest Killer as Father Samuel Cavanaugh
Sarge: The Badge or the Cross as Sarge Swanson
Sarge as Samuel Cavanaugh

1970

Dirty Dingus Magee as Herkimer 'Hoke' Birdsill
… tick… tick… tick… as John Little
Airport as Joe Patroni
Zig Zag as Paul R. Cameron

1969

Guns of the Magnificent Seven as Chris
The Good Guys and the Bad Guys as McKay
Gaily, Gaily as Axel P. Johanson

1968

Bandolero! as Sheriff July Johnson
The Boston Strangler as Det. Phil DiNatale
The Pink Jungle as Sammy Ryderbeit
The Ballad of Josie as Arch Ogden
The Legend of Lylah Clare as Matt Burke

1967

Ironside as Father Samuel Cavanaugh
Hurry Sundown as Sheriff Coombs
The Dirty Dozen as Major Max Armbruster
Cool Hand Luke as Dragline

1966

Tarzan

1965

The Big Valley as Thatcher
Laredo
The Sons of Katie Elder as Curley
Shenandoah as Col. Fairchild
Mirage as Willard
In Harm's Way as Colonel Gregory
The Flight of the Phoenix as Bellamy
The Legend of Jesse James as Blodgett

1964

Daniel Boone as Zach Morgan
Strait-Jacket as Leo Krause
See How They Run as Rudy
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte as Foreman
The Rogues as Major Vyx
Island of the Blue Dolphins as Aleut Captain
McHale's Navy as Henri Le Clerc

1963

Charade as Herman Scobie
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre as Der
The Great Adventure as Sergeant Muldaney
The Man from the Diners' Club as George
Grindl

1962

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour as George Martin
The Virginian as Jack Marshman
The Merv Griffin Show as Self
Lonely are the Brave as Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez
Going My Way

1961

The Mike Douglas Show as Self
Dr. Kildare as Joe Cramer
Gunfight at Black Horses Canyon as Hawk
The Little Shepherd Of Kingdom Come as Nathan Dillon
The Asphalt Jungle
Kraft Mystery Theatre
Gunslinger as Sheriff

1960

The Andy Griffith Show as State Police Detective
Route 66
Thriller as John Paterson
Surfside 6 as Gabe Buchanan
Outlaws
The Tall Man

1959

Bonanza as Waldo Watson
Rawhide as George Wales
Riverboat as Gunner Slagle

1958

Lawman
Bat Masterson as Sheriff Zeke Armitage
77 Sunset Strip
Peter Gunn

1957

Perry Mason as George Spangler
Have Gun, Will Travel
Maverick
Sugarfoot as Ross Kuhn

1955

Cheyenne as Lee Nelson
Gunsmoke as Emil
The Phil Silvers Show as Kennedy (uncredited)

1953

The Oscars as Self