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George Kennedy

George Kennedy

Birthday: 1925-02-18 | Place of Birth: New York City, New York, USA

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.

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

2014
The Gambler

as    Ed

2011
Another Happy Day

as    Joe Baker

2008
The Boneyard Collection

as    Professor Zebediah Jones (segment "The Devil's Due at Midnight")

2007
Sands of Oblivion

as    John Tevis

2005
Truce

as    Dr. Peter Gannon

1998
Dallas - War of The Ewings

as    Carter McKay

1998
Dennis the Menace Strikes Again!

as    Mr. Johnson

1997
Cats Don't Dance

as    L.B. Mammoth (voice)

1994
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult

as    Ed Hocken

1991
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear

as    Captain Ed Hocken

1991
Intensive Care

as    Dr. Bruckner

1991
Driving Me Crazy

as    John McCready

1990
Hired to Kill

as    Thomas

1990
Brain Dead

as    Vance

1989
The Terror Within

as    Hal

1989
Esmeralda Bay

as    Wilson

1988
Demonwarp

as    Bill Crafton

1988
1988
Top Line

as    Heinrich Holzmann

1988
Uninvited

as    Mike Harvey

1988
Private Road: No Trespassing

as    Sam Milshaw

1988
Nightmare at Noon

as    Sherrif Hanks

1988
Counterforce

as    Vince Colby

1988
Born to Race

as    Vincent Duplain

1987
The Gunfighters

as    Deke Turner

1987
The Gambler, Part III: The Legend Continues

as    General Nelson Miles

1987
Creepshow 2

as    Ray Spruce

1986
The Delta Force

as    Father O'Malley

1986
Radioactive Dreams

as    Spade Chandler