George Kennedy
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1925-02-18
Day of Death
2016-02-28 (91 years old)
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
George Kennedy
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.
Known For
Acting
(2014)
The Gambler
as Ed
(2011)
Another Happy Day
as Joe Baker
(2010)
2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift
as (archive footage)
(2008)
The Man Who Came Back
as Judge Duke
(2008)
The Boneyard Collection
as Professor Zebediah Jones (segment "The Devil's Due at Midnight")
(2008)
(2007)
Sands of Oblivion
as John Tevis
(2006)
(2005)
Three Bad Men
as Ed Fiske
(2005)
Don't Come Knocking
as Director
(2005)
Truce
as Dr. Peter Gannon
(2003)
View from the Top
as Passenger Requesting Vodka (uncredited)
(2003)
Monster Makers
as Dexter Brisbane
(1998)
Small Soldiers
as Brick Bazooka (voice)
(1998)
Dennis the Menace Strikes Again!
as Mr. Johnson
(1998)
Dallas: War of The Ewings
as Carter McKay
(1998)
Men in White
as Army
(1998)
Hollyweird
as George Kennedy
(1997)
Cats Don't Dance
as L.B. Mammoth (voice)
(1996)
Dallas: J.R. Returns
as Carter McKay
(1994)
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult
as Ed Hocken
(1994)
WWE SummerSlam 1994
as Himself
(1992)
Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story
as Father Dave Hagan
(1992)
Distant Justice
as Tom Bradfield
(1991)
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
as Ed Hocken
(1991)
Hangfire
as Warden Barles
(1991)
Driving Me Crazy
as John McCready
(1991)
Intensive Care
as Dr. Bruckner
(1990)
Brain Dead
as Vance
(1990)
Hired to Kill
as Thomas
(1990)
(1990)
Mayumi: Virgin Terrorist
as Bahraini Investigator
(1989)
Esmeralda Bay
as Wilson
(1989)
The Terror Within
as Hal
(1989)
Ministry of Vengeance
as Rev. Hughes
(1988)
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
as Ed Hocken
(1988)
Uninvited
as Mike Harvey
(1988)
Nightmare at Noon
as Sherrif Hanks
(1988)
Demonwarp
as Bill Crafton
(1988)
Counterforce
as Vince Colby
(1988)
Born to Race
as Vincent Duplain
(1988)
Private Road: No Trespassing
as Sam Milshaw
(1988)
What Price Victory
as Big Buck Brayton
(1988)
Top Line
as Heinrich Holzmann
(1987)
Creepshow 2
as Ray Spruce
(1987)
The Gambler, Part III: The Legend Continues
as General Nelson Miles
(1987)
The Gunfighters
as Deke Turner
(1986)
The Delta Force
as Father O'Malley
(1986)
Liberty
as Seamus Reilly
(1986)
Radioactive Dreams
as Spade Chandler
(1985)
Savage Dawn
as Tick Rand
(1985)
Half Nelson
as Parsons
(1985)
International Airport
as Rudy Van Leuven
(1985)
Rigged
as Ben
(1984)
Bolero
as Cotton
(1984)
The Jesse Owens Story
as Charles 'Charley' Riley
(1984)
(1984)
Chattanooga Choo Choo
as Bert
(1982)
Wacko
as Mr. Doctor Graves
(1982)
The Jupiter Menace
as Himself
(1981)
Just Before Dawn
as Roy McLean
(1981)
Modern Romance
as George Kennedy / Zeron
(1981)
The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire
as Brakus
(1980)
Virus
as Admiral Conway
(1980)
Death Ship
as Captain Ashland
(1980)
Hotwire
as Farley & Harley Fontenot
(1979)
The Concorde... Airport '79
as Joe Patroni
(1979)
Steel
as Big Lew Cassidy
(1979)
The Double McGuffin
as Chief Talasek
(1979)
Search and Destroy
as Anthony Fusqua
(1978)
Death on the Nile
as Andrew Pennington
(1978)
Brass Target
as Gen. George S. Patton
(1978)
Mean Dog Blues
as Captain Omar Kinsman
(1977)
Airport '77
as Joe Patroni
(1977)
Proof of the Man
as Ken Shuftan
(1975)
The Eiger Sanction
as Ben Bowman
(1975)
The Human Factor
as John Kinsdale
(1975)
The Blue Knight
as Bumper Morgan
(1975)
The Lion Roars Again
as Self
(1974)
Earthquake
as Sgt. Lew Slade
(1974)
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
as Red Leary
(1974)
Airport 1975
as Joe Patroni
(1974)
Sonic Boom
as Ben Dover
(1974)
A Cry in the Wilderness
as Sam Hadley
(1973)
Cahill: United States Marshal
as Abe Fraser
(1973)
Lost Horizon
as Sam Cornelius
(1973)
Deliver Us from Evil
as Walter 'Cowboy' McAdams
(1972)
The Bull of the West
as 'Bear' Suchette
(1972)
A Great American Tragedy
as Brad Wilkes
(1971)
Fools' Parade
as Dallas 'Doc' Council
(1971)
Sarge: The Badge or the Cross
as Sarge Swanson
(1971)
The Priest Killer
as Father Samuel Cavanaugh
(1970)
Airport
as Joe Patroni
(1970)
Dirty Dingus Magee
as Herkimer 'Hoke' Birdsill
(1970)
Zig Zag
as Paul R. Cameron
(1970)
Tick... Tick... Tick...
as John Little
(1969)
Guns of the Magnificent Seven
as Chris
(1969)
The Good Guys and the Bad Guys
as McKay
(1969)
Gaily, Gaily
as Axel P. Johanson
(1968)
The Boston Strangler
as Det. Phil DiNatale
(1968)
Bandolero!
as Sheriff July Johnson
(1968)
The Legend of Lylah Clare
as Matt Burke
(1968)
The Ballad of Josie
as Arch Ogden
(1968)
The Pink Jungle
as Sammy Ryderbeit
(1967)
The Dirty Dozen
as Major Max Armbruster
(1967)
Cool Hand Luke
as Dragline
(1967)
Hurry Sundown
as Sheriff Coombs
(1965)
The Sons of Katie Elder
as Curley
(1965)
In Harm's Way
as Colonel Gregory
(1965)
Mirage
as Willard
(1965)
Shenandoah
as Col. Fairchild
(1965)
The Flight of the Phoenix
as Bellamy
(1964)
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
as Foreman
(1964)
Strait-Jacket
as Leo Krause
(1964)
Island of the Blue Dolphins
as Aleut Captain
(1964)
McHale's Navy
as Henri Le Clerc
(1964)
See How They Run
as Rudy
(1963)
Charade
as Herman Scobie
(1963)
The Man from the Diners' Club
as George
(1962)
Lonely are the Brave
as Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez
(1961)
The Little Shepherd Of Kingdom Come
as Nathan Dillon
(1961)