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 a European-American businessman, entrepreneur, A World War II veteran, actor, adviser, radio dj, and author. 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
Three Bad Men as Ed Fiske
Truce as Dr. Peter Gannon

2003

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

1998

Small Soldiers as Brick Bazooka (voice)
Dennis the Menace Strikes Again! as Mr. Johnson
Dallas: War of The Ewings as Carter McKay
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

1993

Late Night with Conan O'Brien as Self - Guest

1992

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

1991

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

1990

Wings as George Kennedy
Good Cops, Bad Cops
Hired to Kill as Thomas
Brain Dead as Vance
Mayumi: Virgin Terrorist as Bahraini Investigator

1989

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

1988

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

1987

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

1986

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

1985

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

1984

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

1982

Wacko as Mr. Doctor Graves
The Jupiter Menace as Himself

1981

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

1980

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

1979

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

1978

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

1977

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

1975

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

1974

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

1973

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts as Self
Cahill: United States Marshal as Abe Fraser
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

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

1970

Airport as Joe Patroni
Dirty Dingus Magee as Herkimer 'Hoke' Birdsill
… tick… tick… tick… as John Little
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 Legend of Lylah Clare as Matt Burke
The Pink Jungle as Sammy Ryderbeit

1967

Ironside as Father Samuel Cavanaugh
Cool Hand Luke as Dragline
The Dirty Dozen as Major Max Armbruster
The Ballad of Josie as Arch Ogden
Hurry Sundown as Sheriff Coombs

1966

Tarzan

1965

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

1964

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

1963

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

1962

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

1961

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

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
Maverick as Deputy Jones
Have Gun, Will Travel
Sugarfoot as Ross Kuhn

1955

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

1953

The Oscars as Self