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
(2025)
(2014)
The Gambler
as Ed
(2011)
Another Happy Day
as Joe Baker
(2010)
2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift
as (archive footage)
(2008)
The Boneyard Collection
as Professor Zebediah Jones (segment "The Devil's Due at Midnight")
(2008)
The Man Who Came Back
as Judge Duke
(2008)
(2007)
Sands of Oblivion
as John Tevis
(2006)
(2005)
Don't Come Knocking
as Director
(2005)
Truce
as Dr. Peter Gannon
(2005)
Three Bad Men
as Ed Fiske
(2003)
View from the Top
as Passenger Requesting Vodka (uncredited)
(2003)
Monster Makers
as Dexter Brisbane
(1998)
Small Soldiers
as Brick Bazooka (voice)
(1998)
Hollyweird
as George Kennedy
(1998)
Dennis the Menace Strikes Again!
as Mr. Johnson
(1998)
Men in White
as Army
(1998)
Dallas: War of The Ewings
as Carter McKay
(1997)
Cats Don't Dance
as L.B. Mammoth (voice)
(1997)
Bayou Ghost
as Officer Lowe
(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)
Driving Me Crazy
as John McCready
(1991)
Hangfire
as Warden Barles
(1991)
Intensive Care
as Dr. Bruckner
(1990)
Mayumi: Virgin Terrorist
as Bahraini Investigator
(1990)
(1990)
Hired to Kill
as Thomas
(1990)
Brain Dead
as Vance
(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)
Born to Race
as Vincent Duplain
(1988)
Uninvited
as Mike Harvey
(1988)
Counterforce
as Vince Colby
(1988)
What Price Victory
as Big Buck Brayton
(1988)
Nightmare at Noon
as Sherrif Hanks
(1988)
Demonwarp
as Bill Crafton
(1988)
Private Road: No Trespassing
as Sam Milshaw
(1988)
Top Line
as Heinrich Holzmann
(1987)
Creepshow 2
as Ray Spruce
(1987)
The Gunfighters
as Deke Turner
(1987)
The Gambler: The Legend Continues
as General Nelson Miles
(1986)
The Delta Force
as Father O'Malley
(1986)
Radioactive Dreams
as Spade Chandler
(1986)
Liberty
as Seamus Reilly
(1985)
Savage Dawn
as Tick Rand
(1985)
Half Nelson
as Parsons
(1985)
Rigged
as Ben
(1985)
International Airport
as Rudy Van Leuven
(1984)
Bolero
as Cotton
(1984)
Chattanooga Choo Choo
as Bert
(1984)
The Jesse Owens Story
as Charles 'Charley' Riley
(1984)
(1982)
Wacko
as Mr. Doctor Graves
(1982)
The Jupiter Menace
as Himself
(1981)
The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire
as Brakus
(1981)
Modern Romance
as George Kennedy / Zeron
(1981)
Just Before Dawn
as Roy McLean
(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)
Mean Dog Blues
as Captain Omar Kinsman
(1978)
Brass Target
as Gen. George S. Patton
(1977)
Airport '77
as Joe Patroni
(1977)
Proof of the Man
as Ken Shuftan
(1975)
The Blue Knight
as Bumper Morgan
(1975)
The Lion Roars Again
as Self
(1975)
The Eiger Sanction
as Ben Bowman
(1975)
The Human Factor
as John Kinsdale
(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)
Deliver Us from Evil
as Walter 'Cowboy' McAdams
(1973)
Lost Horizon
as Sam Cornelius
(1973)
Cahill: United States Marshal
as Abe Fraser
(1972)
A Great American Tragedy
as Brad Wilkes
(1972)
The Bull of the West
as 'Bear' Suchette
(1971)
Fools' Parade
as Dallas 'Doc' Council
(1971)
The Priest Killer
as Father Samuel Cavanaugh
(1971)
Sarge: The Badge or the Cross
as Sarge Swanson
(1970)
Dirty Dingus Magee
as Herkimer 'Hoke' Birdsill
(1970)
Airport
as Joe Patroni
(1970)
Tick... Tick... Tick...
as John Little
(1970)
Zig Zag
as Paul R. Cameron
(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)
The Pink Jungle
as Sammy Ryderbeit
(1968)
The Ballad of Josie
as Arch Ogden
(1968)
Bandolero!
as Sheriff July Johnson
(1968)
The Legend of Lylah Clare
as Matt Burke
(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)
The Flight of the Phoenix
as Bellamy
(1965)
Shenandoah
as Col. Fairchild
(1964)
Strait-Jacket
as Leo Krause
(1964)
See How They Run
as Rudy
(1964)
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
as Foreman
(1964)
McHale's Navy
as Henri Le Clerc
(1964)
Island of the Blue Dolphins
as Aleut Captain
(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)