George Kennedy
Sandy-haired, tall and burly George Harris Kennedy, Jr. was born in New York City, to Helen A. (Kieselbach), a ballet dancer, and George Harris Kennedy, an orchestra leader and musician. He had German, Irish, and English ancestry. 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.
Known For
Credits
- 2014 · The Gambler as Ed
- 2011 · Another Happy Day as Joe Baker
- 2010 · 2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift as (archive footage)
- 2008 · A Natural Born World-Shaker: The Making of 'Cool Hand Luke' as Self
- 2008 · The Man Who Came Back as Judge Duke
- 2008 · The Boneyard Collection as Professor Zebediah Jones (segment "The Devil's Due at Midnight")
- 2007 · Sands of Oblivion as John Tevis
- 2006 · Armed and Deadly: The Making of 'The Dirty Dozen' as Self
- 2005 · Don't Come Knocking as Director
- 2005 · Three Bad Men as Ed Fiske
- 2005 · Truce as Dr. Peter Gannon
- 2003 · Monster Makers as Dexter Brisbane
- 2003 · View from the Top as Passenger Requesting Vodka (uncredited)
- 1998 · Men in White as Army
- 1998 · Dennis the Menace Strikes Again! as Mr. Johnson
- 1998 · Small Soldiers as Brick Bazooka (voice)
- 1998 · Dallas - War of The Ewings as Carter McKay
- 1998 · Hollyweird as George Kennedy
- 1997 · Cats Don't Dance as L.B. Mammoth (voice)
- 1996 · Dallas: J.R. Returns as Carter McKay
- 1996 · The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest as General Axton (voice)
- 1995 · Santo Bugito as Ralph (voice)
- 1994 · WWE SummerSlam 1994 as Himself
- 1994 · Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult as Ed Hocken
- 1992 · Distant Justice as Tom Bradfield
- 1992 · Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story as Father Dave Hagan
- 1991 · Intensive Care as Dr. Bruckner
- 1991 · The Commish as Al Scali
- 1991 · The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear as Ed Hocken
- 1991 · Driving Me Crazy as John McCready
- 1991 · Hangfire as Warden Barles
- 1990 · The Cops Are Robbers as
- 1990 · Hired to Kill as Thomas
- 1990 · Mayumi: Virgin Terrorist as Bahraini Investigator
- 1990 · Wings as George Kennedy
- 1990 · Brain Dead as Vance
- 1989 · Ministry of Vengeance as Rev. Hughes
- 1989 · Esmeralda Bay as Wilson
- 1989 · The Terror Within as Hal
- 1988 · The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! as Ed Hocken
- 1988 · Uninvited as Mike Harvey
- 1988 · Top Line as Heinrich Holzmann
- 1988 · Nightmare at Noon as Sherrif Hanks
- 1988 · Private Road: No Trespassing as Sam Milshaw
- 1988 · Demonwarp as Bill Crafton
- 1988 · Counterforce as Vince Colby
- 1988 · Born to Race as Vincent Duplain
- 1988 · What Price Victory as Big Buck Brayton
- 1987 · The Gambler, Part III: The Legend Continues as General Nelson Miles
- 1987 · Creepshow 2 as Ray Spruce
- 1987 · The Gunfighters as Deke Turner
- 1986 · Radioactive Dreams as Spade Chandler
- 1986 · Liberty as Seamus Reilly
- 1986 · Savage Dawn as Tick Rand
- 1986 · The Delta Force as Father O'Malley
- 1985 · International Airport as Rudy Van Leuven
- 1985 · Rigged as Ben
- 1985 · Half Nelson as Parsons
- 1984 · Rare Breed as
- 1984 · Bolero as Cotton
- 1984 · The Jesse Owens Story as Charles 'Charley' Riley
- 1984 · Chattanooga Choo Choo as Bert
- 1982 · The Jupiter Menace as Himself
- 1982 · Wacko as Mr. Doctor Graves
- 1981 · Just Before Dawn as Roy McLean
- 1981 · The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire as Brakus
- 1981 · Modern Romance as George Kennedy / Zeron
- 1980 · Hotwire as Farley & Harley Fontenot
- 1980 · Virus as Admiral Conway
- 1980 · Death Ship as Captain Ashland
- 1979 · Steel as Big Lew Cassidy
- 1979 · The Concorde... Airport '79 as Joe Patroni
- 1979 · Search and Destroy as Anthony Fusqua
- 1979 · The Double McGuffin as Chief Talasek
- 1979 · Backstairs at the White House as Pres. Warren G. Harding
- 1978 · Brass Target as Gen. George S. Patton
- 1978 · Death on the Nile as Andrew Pennington
- 1978 · Dallas as Carter McKay
- 1978 · Mean Dog Blues as Captain Omar Kinsman
- 1978 · Death on the Nile: Making of Featurette as Self / Andrew Pennington
- 1977 · Proof of the Man as Ken Shuftan
- 1977 · Airport '77 as Joe Patroni
- 1975 · The Human Factor as John Kinsdale
- 1975 · Saturday Night Live as Self - Host
- 1975 · The Eiger Sanction as Ben Bowman
- 1975 · The Blue Knight as Officer Bumper Morgan
- 1975 · The Blue Knight as Bumper Morgan
- 1975 · The Lion Roars Again as Self
- 1974 · Earthquake as Sgt. Lew Slade
- 1974 · Airport 1975 as Joe Patroni
- 1974 · Thunderbolt and Lightfoot as Red Leary
- 1974 · A Cry in the Wilderness as Sam Hadley
- 1974 · Sonic Boom as Ben Dover
- 1973 · The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts as Self
- 1973 · Deliver Us from Evil as Walter 'Cowboy' McAdams
- 1973 · Cahill: United States Marshal as Abe Fraser
- 1973 · Lost Horizon as Sam Cornelius
- 1972 · A Great American Tragedy as Brad Wilkes
- 1972 · The Bull of the West as 'Bear' Suchette
- 1971 · Sarge as Father Samuel Cavanaugh
- 1971 · Fools' Parade as Dallas 'Doc' Council
- 1971 · Sarge: The Badge or the Cross as Sarge Swanson
- 1970 · Dirty Dingus Magee as Herkimer 'Hoke' Birdsill
- 1970 · Zig Zag as Paul R. Cameron
- 1970 · Airport as Joe Patroni
- 1970 · Tick... Tick... Tick... as John Little
- 1969 · Gaily, Gaily as Axel P. Johanson
- 1969 · The Good Guys and the Bad Guys as McKay
- 1969 · Guns of the Magnificent Seven as Chris
- 1968 · The Pink Jungle as Sammy Ryderbeit
- 1968 · The Boston Strangler as Det. Phil DiNatale
- 1968 · The Legend of Lylah Clare as Matt Burke
- 1968 · Bandolero! as Sheriff July Johnson
- 1968 · The Ballad of Josie as Arch Ogden
- 1967 · Cool Hand Luke as Dragline
- 1967 · The Dirty Dozen as Major Max Armbruster
- 1967 · Ironside as Father Samuel Cavanaugh
- 1967 · Hurry Sundown as Sheriff Coombs
- 1966 · Tarzan as
- 1965 · The Flight of the Phoenix as Bellamy
- 1965 · Mirage as Willard
- 1965 · Laredo as
- 1965 · The Big Valley as Thatcher
- 1965 · The Legend of Jesse James as Blodgett
- 1965 · The Sons of Katie Elder as Curley
- 1965 · Shenandoah as Col. Fairchild
- 1965 · In Harm's Way as Colonel Gregory
- 1964 · Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte as Foreman
- 1964 · See How They Run as Rudy
- 1964 · Daniel Boone as Zach Morgan
- 1964 · The Rogues as Major Vyx
- 1964 · Island of the Blue Dolphins as Aleut Captain
- 1964 · McHale's Navy as Henri Le Clerc
- 1964 · Strait-Jacket as Leo Krause
- 1963 · Charade as Herman Scobie
- 1963 · Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre as Der
- 1963 · The Great Adventure as Sergeant Muldaney
- 1963 · Grindl as
- 1963 · The Man from the Diners' Club as George
- 1962 · Going My Way as
- 1962 · The Alfred Hitchcock Hour as George Martin
- 1962 · The Virginian as Jack Marshman
- 1962 · The Virginian as Tom 'Bear' Suchette
- 1962 · The Virginian as Huck Harkness
- 1962 · Lonely are the Brave as Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez
- 1961 · Gunfight at Black Horses Canyon as Hawk
- 1961 · Dr. Kildare as Joe Cramer
- 1961 · Dr. Kildare as Sergeant Hensley
- 1961 · Kraft Mystery Theatre as
- 1961 · The Little Shepherd Of Kingdom Come as Nathan Dillon
- 1961 · The Asphalt Jungle as
- 1960 · Route 66 as
- 1960 · Surfside 6 as
- 1960 · The Andy Griffith Show as State Police Detective
- 1960 · Outlaws as
- 1960 · Thriller as John Paterson
- 1960 · The Tall Man as
- 1959 · Riverboat as Gunner Slagle
- 1959 · Bonanza as Waldo Watson
- 1959 · Bonanza as Peter Long
- 1959 · Rawhide as George Wales
- 1958 · 77 Sunset Strip as
- 1958 · Bat Masterson as Sheriff Zeke Armitage
- 1958 · Lawman as
- 1958 · Peter Gunn as
- 1957 · Maverick as
- 1957 · Perry Mason as George Spangler
- 1957 · Sugarfoot as Ross Kuhn
- 1957 · Have Gun, Will Travel as
- 1957 · Have Gun, Will Travel as Deke - Killer
- 1955 · Cheyenne as Lee Nelson
- 1955 · The Phil Silvers Show as MP Sgt. Kennedy (uncredited)
- 1955 · Gunsmoke as Emil
- 1955 · Gunsmoke as Bayloe
- 1955 · Gunsmoke as Swarner
- 1955 · Gunsmoke as Hug
- 1955 · Gunsmoke as Stark
- 1955 · Gunsmoke as Cyrus
- 1955 · Gunsmoke as Ben Payson
- 1953 · The Oscars as Self