
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.
Movie | The Gambler | Ed | 2014-12-25 |
Movie | Another Happy Day | Joe Baker | 2011-11-18 |
Movie | The Boneyard Collection | Professor Zebediah Jones (segment "The Devil's Due at Midnight") | 2008-01-01 |
Movie | Sands of Oblivion | John Tevis | 2007-07-28 |
Movie | Armed and Deadly: The Making of 'The Dirty Dozen' | Himself | 2006-01-01 |
Movie | Three Bad Men | Ed Fiske | 2005-01-01 |
Movie | Truce | Dr. Peter Gannon | 2005-01-01 |
Movie | View from the Top | Passenger Requesting Vodka (uncredited) | 2003-03-21 |
Movie | Monster Makers | Dexter Brisbane | 2003-10-26 |
Movie | Dallas - War of The Ewings | Carter McKay | 1998-04-23 |
Movie | Men in White | General Vice | 1998-08-16 |
Movie | Small Soldiers | Brick Bazooka | 1998-07-10 |
Movie | Dennis the Menace Strikes Again! | Mr. Johnson | 1998-07-14 |
Movie | Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult | Ed Hocken | 1994-03-18 |
Movie | WWE SummerSlam 1994 | Himself | 1994-08-29 |
Movie | Distant Justice | Tom Bradfield | 1992-12-01 |
Movie | Intensive Care | Dr. Bruckner | 1991-10-31 |
Movie | Hangfire | 1991-01-11 | |
Movie | The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear | Captain Ed Hocken | 1991-06-28 |
Series | The Commish | Unknown | 1991-09-28 |
Movie | Brain Dead | Vance | 1990-01-16 |
Movie | Mayumi: Virgin Terrorist | Bahraini Investigator | 1990-06-09 |
Series | Wings | Unknown | 1990-04-19 |
Movie | Hired to Kill | Thomas | 1990-11-10 |
Movie | The Cops Are Robbers | 1990-12-09 | |
Movie | Esmeralda Bay | Wilson | 1989-05-18 |
Movie | The Terror Within | Hal | 1989-01-20 |
Movie | Ministry of Vengeance | Rev. Hughes | 1989-11-03 |
Movie | Counterforce | 1988-02-05 | |
Movie | Born to Race | Vincent Duplain | 1988-01-29 |
Movie | What Price Victory | Big Buck Brayton | 1988-01-18 |
Movie | Demonwarp | Bill Crafton | 1988-03-01 |
Movie | Top Line | Heinrich Holzmann | 1988-08-16 |
Movie | Private Road: No Trespassing | Sam Milshaw | 1988-06-15 |
Movie | Nightmare at Noon | Sherrif Hanks | 1988-09-28 |
Movie | Uninvited | Mike Harvey | 1988-08-24 |
Movie | The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! | Capt. Ed Hocken | 1988-12-02 |
Movie | Creepshow 2 | Ray Spruce | 1987-05-01 |
Movie | The Gunfighters | Deke Turner | 1987-01-01 |
Movie | Kenny Rogers as The Gambler, Part III: The Legend Continues | General Nelson Miles | 1987-11-22 |
Movie | Rigged | Ben | 1986-05-06 |
Movie | The Delta Force | Father O'Malley | 1986-02-14 |
Movie | Radioactive Dreams | Spade Chandler | 1986-09-19 |
Movie | Savage Dawn | Tick Rand | 1985-01-01 |
Movie | Half Nelson | 1985-03-24 | |
Movie | International Airport | Rudy Van Leuven | 1985-05-25 |
Movie | The Jesse Owens Story | Charles 'Charley' Riley | 1984-07-09 |
Movie | Chattanooga Choo Choo | Bert | 1984-05-18 |
Movie | Bolero | Cotton | 1984-08-31 |
Movie | Wacko | Mr. Doctor Graves | 1982-11-12 |
Movie | The Jupiter Menace | Himself | 1982-11-19 |
Movie | Modern Romance | Himself and Zeron | 1981-03-13 |
Movie | Just Before Dawn | Roy McLean | 1981-10-14 |
Movie | The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire | Brakus | 1981-04-12 |
Movie | Death Ship | Captain Ashland | 1980-03-07 |
Movie | Virus | Admiral Conway | 1980-06-26 |
Movie | Hotwire | Farley & Harley Fontenot | 1980-09-01 |
Movie | The Double McGuffin | Chief Talasek | 1979-06-01 |
Series | Backstairs at the White House | President Warren G. Harding | 1979-01-29 |
Movie | Search and Destroy | Anthony Fusqua | 1979-07-05 |
Movie | The Concorde... Airport '79 | Capt. Joe Patroni | 1979-08-17 |
Movie | Steel | Big Lew Cassidy | 1979-10-21 |
Movie | Death on the Nile: Making of Featurette | himself | 1978-01-01 |
Movie | Mean Dog Blues | Captain Omar Kinsman | 1978-03-03 |
Movie | Brass Target | Gen. George S. Patton | 1978-12-22 |
Series | Dallas | Carter McKay | 1978-04-02 |
Movie | Death on the Nile | Andrew Pennington | 1978-09-29 |
Movie | Airport '77 | Joe Patroni | 1977-03-11 |
Movie | Proof of the Man | Ken Shuftan | 1977-10-08 |
Movie | The 'Human' Factor | John Kinsdale | 1975-01-01 |
Series | The Blue Knight | 1975-05-09 | |
Series | Saturday Night Live | Unknown | 1975-10-11 |
Movie | The Eiger Sanction | Ben Bowman | 1975-05-21 |
Movie | A Cry in the Wilderness | Sam Hadley | 1974-03-26 |
Movie | Thunderbolt and Lightfoot | Red Leary | 1974-05-23 |
Movie | Airport 1975 | Joe Patroni | 1974-10-18 |
Movie | Earthquake | Sgt. Lew Slade | 1974-11-15 |
Movie | Lost Horizon | Sam Cornelius | 1973-03-17 |
Movie | Cahill U.S. Marshal | Fraser | 1973-07-11 |
Movie | Deliver Us from Evil | Walter 'Cowboy' McAdams | 1973-09-11 |
Movie | The Bull Of The West | 'Bear' Suchette | 1972-05-04 |
Movie | A Great American Tragedy | Brad Wilkes | 1972-10-18 |
Movie | Fools' Parade | Dallas 'Doc' Council | 1971-08-18 |
Movie | … tick… tick… tick… | John Little | 1970-01-09 |
Movie | Airport | Joe Patroni | 1970-03-05 |
Movie | Zig Zag | Paul R. Cameron | 1970-05-01 |
Movie | Dirty Dingus Magee | Herkimer 'Hoke' Birdsill | 1970-11-18 |
Movie | Gaily, Gaily | Johanson | 1969-12-16 |
Movie | Bandolero! | Sheriff July Johnson | 1968-06-01 |
Movie | The Legend of Lylah Clare | Matt Burke (uncredited) | 1968-08-21 |
Movie | The Pink Jungle | Sammy Ryderbeit | 1968-10-16 |
Movie | The Boston Strangler | Det. Phil DiNatale | 1968-10-08 |
Movie | Hurry Sundown | Sheriff Coombs | 1967-02-09 |
Movie | The Ballad of Josie | Arch Ogden | 1967-01-01 |
Movie | The Dirty Dozen | Major Max Armbruster | 1967-06-15 |
Movie | Cool Hand Luke | Dragline | 1967-06-22 |
Movie | Shenandoah | Col. Fairchild | 1965-06-03 |
Movie | In Harm's Way | Colonel Gregory | 1965-04-05 |
Series | The Legend of Jesse James | Unknown | 1965-09-13 |
Movie | The Sons of Katie Elder | Curley | 1965-06-23 |
Series | The Big Valley | Unknown | 1965-09-15 |
Movie | The Flight of the Phoenix | Bellamy | 1965-12-15 |
Movie | Mirage | Willard | 1965-10-29 |
Series | Laredo | Unknown | 1965-09-16 |
Movie | Strait-Jacket | Leo Krause | 1964-01-19 |
Movie | Island of the Blue Dolphins | Aleut Captain | 1964-09-10 |
Movie | See How They Run | Rudy | 1964-10-07 |
Series | Daniel Boone | Unknown | 1964-09-24 |
Movie | The Man from the Diners' Club | George | 1963-04-17 |
Series | Grindl | Unknown | 1963-09-15 |
Movie | Charade | Herman Scobie | 1963-12-05 |
Movie | Lonely Are the Brave | Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez | 1962-05-24 |
Series | Going My Way | Unknown | 1962-10-03 |
Movie | The Little Shepherd Of Kingdom Come | Nathan Dillon | 1961-06-01 |
Series | Kraft Mystery Theatre | Unknown | 1961-06-14 |
Movie | Gunfight at Black Horses Canyon | Hawk | 1961-10-17 |
Series | Dr. Kildare | Unknown | 1961-09-27 |
Series | The Tall Man | Unknown | 1960-09-10 |
Movie | Spartacus | Rebel Soldier (uncredited) | 1960-10-13 |
Series | Thriller | Unknown | 1960-09-13 |
Series | Riverboat | Unknown | 1959-09-13 |
Series | Lawman | Unknown | 1958-10-05 |
Series | Bat Masterson | Unknown | 1958-10-08 |
Series | Have Gun – Will Travel | Unknown | 1957-09-14 |
Series | Perry Mason | Unknown | 1957-09-21 |
Series | Gunsmoke | Unknown | 1955-09-10 |
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