Edgar Kennedy
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1890-04-25
Day of Death
1948-11-09 (58 years old)
Place of Birth
Monterey, California, USA
Edgar Kennedy
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edgar Livingston Kennedy (April 26, 1890 – November 9, 1948) was an American comedic film character actor, known as "Slow Burn". A slow burn is an exasperated facial expression, performed very deliberately; Kennedy embellished this by rubbing his hand over his bald head and across his face, in an attempt to hold his temper. Kennedy is best known for a small role as a lemonade vendor in the Marx Brothers film Duck Soup, as well as the many Hal Roach films he appeared in.
Kennedy became so identified with frustration that practically every studio hired him to play hotheads. He often played dumb cops, detectives, and even a prison warden; sometimes he was a grouchy moving man, truck driver, or blue-collar workman. His character usually lost his temper at least once. In Diplomaniacs, Kennedy presides over an international tribunal, where Wheeler & Woolsey want to do something about world peace. "Well, ya can't do anything about it here", yells Kennedy, "this is a peace conference!" Kennedy, established as the poster boy for frustration, even starred in an instructional film titled The Other Fellow, in which loudmouthed roadhog Edgar always vents his anger on other drivers (each one played by Kennedy as well), little realizing that, to them, he is "the other fellow."
Perhaps his most unusual roles were as a puppeteer in the detective mystery The Falcon Strikes Back and as a philosophical bartender inspired to create exotic cocktails in Harold Lloyd's last film, The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947). He also played comical detectives opposite two titans of acting: John Barrymore in Twentieth Century (1934) and Rex Harrison in Unfaithfully Yours (1948); in the latter, he tells conductor Harrison that "Nobody handles Handel like you handle Handel."
Kennedy died of throat cancer at the Motion Picture Hospital, San Fernando Valley on 9 November 1948. His body was interred at the Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, Los Angeles County, California.
Known For
Acting
(2024)
(1994)
The Our Gang Story
as Officer (archive footage)
(1968)
The Best of Laurel and Hardy
as Officer Kennedy (archive footage)
(1960)
When Comedy Was King
as edited from 'A Pair of Tights' (archive footage)
(1957)
The Golden Age of Comedy
as archive footage
(1949)
My Dream Is Yours
as Uncle Charlie
(1948)
Variety Time
as Edgar Kennedy (footage from 'I'll Build It Myself') (archive footage)
(1948)
Unfaithfully Yours
as Sweeney
(1948)
Contest Crazy
as Edgar
(1948)
Dig That Gold
as Edgar Kennedy
(1948)
Brother Knows Best
as Edgar Kennedy
(1947)
The Sin of Harold Diddlebock
as Jake the Bartender
(1947)
Heaven Only Knows
as Judd
(1947)
Do or Diet
as Edgar
(1946)
Trouble or Nothing
as Edgar
(1946)
Motor Maniacs
as Edgar Kennedy
(1946)
I'll Build It Myself
as Edgar
(1945)
Anchors Aweigh
as Police Captain
(1945)
The Big Beef
as Edgar Kennedy
(1945)
It's Your Move
as Edgar Kennedy
(1945)
You Drive Me Crazy
as Edgar
(1945)
What, No Cigarettes
as Edgar Kennedy
(1945)
Captain Tugboat Annie
as Captain Bullwinkle
(1944)
The Great Alaskan Mystery
as Bosun Higgins
(1944)
It Happened Tomorrow
as Insp. Mulrooney
(1944)
Feather Your Nest
as Edgar
(1944)
Prunes and Politics
as Edgar
(1944)
Radio Rampage
as Edgar
(1943)
The Falcon Strikes Back
as Smiley Dugan
(1943)
Hold Your Temper
as Edgar
(1943)
Inferior Decorator
as Edgar
(1943)
Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher
as Police Chief Murphy
(1943)
The Girl from Monterrey
as Doc Hogan, Fight Promoter
(1943)
Crazy House
as Judge
(1943)
Hitler's Madman
as Nepomuk - the Hermit
(1943)
Air Raid Wardens
as Joe Bledsoe
(1943)
Hot Foot
as Edgar
(1942)
In Old California
as Kegs McKeever
(1942)
Private Snuffy Smith
as Sgt. Ed Cooper
(1942)
Cooks and Crooks
as Edgar
(1942)
There's One Born Every Minute
as Mayor Moe Carson
(1942)
Pardon My Stripes
as Warden Bingham
(1942)
Duck Soup
as Edgar
(1942)
Hillbilly Blitzkrieg
as Sgt. Homer Gatling
(1942)
Rough on Rents
as Edgar Kennedy
(1941)
An Apple in His Eye
as Edgar Kennedy
(1941)
A Quiet Fourth
as Edgar
(1941)
Blondie in Society
as Dr. Glenn
(1941)
I'll Fix It
as Edgar
(1941)
Gangs Of The City
as Biff
(1941)
Westward Ho-Hum
as Edgar
(1940)
Drafted in the Depot
as Edgar Kennedy
(1940)
Margie
as Chauncey
(1940)
Li'l Abner
as Cornelius Cornpone
(1940)
A Trailer Tragedy
as Edgar Kennedy
(1940)
Mutiny in the County
as Edgar Kennedy
(1940)
'Taint Legal
as Edgar
(1940)
Who Killed Aunt Maggie?
as Sheriff Gregory
(1940)
Remedy for Riches
as George Browning
(1940)
Sandy Gets Her Man
as Fire Chief Galvin
(1940)
Dr. Christian Meets the Women
as George Browning
(1940)
The Quarterback
as Pops
(1940)
Sandy Is a Lady
as Officer Rafferty
(1940)
Sunk by the Census
as Edgar
(1939)
Little Accident
as Paper Hanger
(1939)
Everything's on Ice
as Joe Barton
(1939)
It's a Wonderful World
as Lieutenant Miller
(1939)
Laugh It Off
as Judge John J. McGuinnis
(1939)
Charlie McCarthy, Detective
as Inspector Dailey
(1939)
Baby Daze
as Edgar Kennedy
(1939)
Clock Wise
as Edgar
(1939)
Kennedy the Great
as Edgar Kennedy
(1939)
Maid to Order
as Edgar
(1938)
Ears of Experience
as Edgar
(1938)
The Black Doll
as Sheriff Renick
(1938)
Hollywood Hotel
as Callaghan
(1938)
Scandal Street
as Daniel Webster Smith
(1938)
A Clean Sweep
as Edgar
(1938)
Hey! Hey! USA
as Bugs Leary
(1938)
Beaux and Errors
as Edgar Kennedy
(1938)
Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus
as Arthur Bailey
(1937)
Double Wedding
as Spike
(1937)
True Confession
as Darsey
(1937)
A Star Is Born
as Pop Randall
(1937)
When's Your Birthday?
as Mr. Basscombe
(1937)
Bad Housekeeping
as Edgar
(1937)
Super-Sleuth
as Police Lt. Garrison
(1937)
Tramp Trouble
as Edgar
(1937)
Edgar & Goliath
as Edgar
(1937)
Dumb's the Word
as Edgar Kennedy
(1937)
The Other Fellow
as Four Roles
(1936)
Mad Holiday
as Donovan
(1936)
Robin Hood of El Dorado
as Sheriff Judd
(1936)
San Francisco
as Sheriff
(1936)
Three Men on a Horse
as Harry, the Bartender
(1936)
Fatal Lady
as Rudolf Hochstetter
(1936)
Small Town Girl
as Captain Mack
(1936)
Vocalizing
as Edgar Kennedy
(1936)
Gasoloons
as Edgar Kennedy
(1936)
Yours for the Asking
as Bicarbonate
(1936)
Dummy Ache
as Edgar
(1936)
Will Power
as Edgar Kennedy
(1935)
Living on Velvet
as Counterman
(1935)
A Night at the Biltmore Bowl
as Edgar Kennedy
(1935)
Little Big Shot
as Onderdonk
(1935)
The Bride Comes Home
as Henry
(1935)
In Love at 40
as Edgar Kennedy
(1935)
Woman Wanted
as Sweeney
(1935)
Rendezvous at Midnight
as Mahoney
(1935)
$1,000 a Minute
as Police Officer McCarthy
(1935)
The Cowboy Millionaire
as Willy 'Persimmon' Bates
(1935)
Brick-a-Brac
as Edgar
(1935)
Edgar Hamlet
as Edgar
(1934)
Twentieth Century
as Oscar McGonigle
(1934)
The Marines Are Coming
as Sgt. Buck Martin
(1934)
We're Rich Again
as Healy, Process Server
(1934)
The Silver Streak
as O'Brien
(1934)
Murder on the Blackboard
as Detective Donahue
(1934)
Wrong Direction
as Edgar, Movie Director
(1934)
Kid Millions
as Herman Wilson
(1934)
Heat Lightning
as Herbert - the Husband
(1934)
Gridiron Flash
as Officer Thurston
(1934)
Money Means Nothing
as Herbert Green
(1934)
King Kelly of the U.S.A.
as Happy Moran
(1934)
A Blasted Event
as Edgar
(1934)
All of Me
as Guard (uncredited)
(1934)
Flirting with Danger
as Jimmie Pierson
(1934)
Poisoned Ivory
as Edgar Kennedy
(1934)
Love on a Ladder
as Edgar
(1933)
Scarlet River
as Sam Gilroy
(1933)
Cross Fire
as Ed Wimpy
(1933)
Quiet Please!
as Edgar Kennedy
(1933)
Son of the Border
as Windy
(1933)
Duck Soup
as Street Vendor
(1933)
King for a Night
as Cop
(1933)
Professional Sweetheart
as Kelsey
(1933)
Tillie and Gus
as Judge
(1933)
Diplomaniacs
as Chairman - Peace Conference
(1933)
What Fur
as Edgar
(1933)
(1933)
A Merchant of Menace
as Edgar
(1933)
(1932)
The Penguin Pool Murder
as Officer Donovan
(1932)
(1932)
Rockabye
as Water Wagon Driver (uncredited)
(1932)
Hold 'Em Jail
as Warden Elmer Jones
(1932)
Carnival Boat
as Baldy
(1932)
Westward Passage
as Elmer
(1932)
Giggle Water
as Edgar
(1932)
Little Orphan Annie
as Daddy Warbucks
(1932)
Fish Feathers
as Edgar Kennedy
(1932)
(1931)
Quick Millions
as Cop (uncredited)
(1931)
High Gear
as Cop
(1931)
Love Fever
as Thelma's Last Rescuer
(1931)
Bad Company
as Buffington-Doorman
(1931)
(1931)
Next Door Neighbors
as Howard J. Green
(1930)
The Ghosts
as Kennedy
(1930)
Shivering Shakespeare
as Kennedy the Cop (uncredited)
(1930)
Bigger and Better
as Uncle Ed Sutton
(1930)
Doctor's Orders
as Mary's Father / Gertie's Uncle
(1930)
Looser Than Loose
as Night Club Patron
(1930)
The Real McCoy
as Cicero the Cop
(1930)
The First Seven Years
as Kennedy the Cop (uncredited)
(1930)
Dollar Dizzy
as Quimby the Lawyer
(1930)
Moonlight and Monkey Business
as Detective
(1930)
Fifty Million Husbands
as Officer Kennedy
(1930)
Night Owls
as Officer Kennedy
(1930)
The Head Guy
as Station Master Kennedy (uncredited)
(1930)
When the Wind Blows
as Kennedy the Cop (uncredited)
(1930)
The Gas Station
as Detective
(1930)
Girl Shock
as Fiancee's Father
(1930)
The Big Kick
as Detective
(1930)
Ladies Last
as Man in Phone Booth
(1930)
(1930)
All Teed Up
as Thelma's Father (uncredited)
(1929)
Moan & Groan, Inc.
as Kennedy the Cop (uncredited)
(1929)
Unaccustomed as We Are
as Officer Kennedy
(1929)
Stepping Out
as Diner's Owner
(1929)
The Big Squawk
as Orchestra Leader
(1929)
Going Ga-Ga
as Cop
(1929)
Crazy Feet
as Policeman
(1929)
Hurdy Gurdy
as Officer Ed Kennedy
(1929)
(1929)
A Pair of Tights
as Marion's Boyfriend's Boss
(1929)
(1929)
Trent's Last Case
as Inspector Murch
(1929)
Perfect Day
as Uncle Edgar
(1929)
They Had to See Paris
as Ed Eggers (uncredited)
(1929)
Bacon Grabbers
as Collis P. Kennedy
(1929)
Welcome Danger
as SFPD Desk Sergeant (uncredited)
(1929)
Angora Love
as Landlord
(1929)
(1929)
Great Gobs!
as 2nd Sailor
(1929)
Dad's Day
as Michael Kennedy
(1929)
Madame Q
as Judge Kennedy
(1928)
(1928)
Should Married Men Go Home?
as Golfer (uncredited)
(1928)
(1928)
(1928)
Leave 'Em Laughing
as Cop
(1928)
Limousine Love
as The Husband, Mr Glenders
(1928)
The Family Group
as A Photographer
(1928)
The Boy Friend
as The Cop
(1928)
Dumb Daddies
as The Cop
(1928)
Two Tars
as Motorist
(1928)
The Finishing Touch
as Cop (as Ed Kennedy)
(1928)
(1928)
(1928)
(1928)
(1927)
The Gay Old Bird
as Chauffeur
(1927)
The Wrong Mr. Wright
as Trayguard
(1927)
The Chinese Parrot
as Maydorf
(1927)
Finger Prints
as O.K. McDuff (as Ed Kennedy)
(1926)
The Better 'Ole
as Corporal Austin
(1926)
Going Crooked
as Detective
(1926)
My Old Dutch
as Bill Sproat
(1926)
Oh! What a Nurse!
as Eric Johnson
(1926)
Across the Pacific
as Cpl. Ryan
(1925)
The Trouble With Wives
as Detective (as Edward Kennedy)
(1925)
Paths to Paradise
as Detective (uncredited)
(1925)
The Golden Princess
as Gewilliker Hay
(1924)
Wall Street Blues
as The Crook
(1924)
Racing for Life
as Tom Grady
(1924)
The Night Message
as Lem Beeman
(1924)
(1924)
The Battling Fool
as Dan O'Leary (as Ed Kennedy)
(1923)
The Little Girl Next Door
as Hank Hall
(1923)
(1923)
Something for Nothing
as Ptomaine Tommy
(1922)
(1921)
Puppets of Fate
as Mike Reynolds
(1921)
The Guide
as An American Tourist
(1920)
(1920)
(1919)
Yankee Doodle in Berlin
as German Prison Guard (uncredited)
(1919)
Hearts and Flowers
as Pete
(1918)
(1917)
The Late Lamented
as Art Gallery Operator
(1917)
Whose Baby?
as The Detective
(1916)
His Bitter Pill
as Diamond Dan - Jim's Rival
(1916)
A Scoundrel's Toll
as Peter X. Bush - Streetcar Superintendent
(1916)
Madcap Ambrose
as A City Chap
(1916)
Bombs!
as Tony Peanutty - Italian Ward Leader
(1916)
The Stolen Triumph
as Edwin Rowley, Jr.
(1915)
The Great Vacuum Robbery
as 2nd Thief
(1915)
Wished on Mabel
as Cop
(1915)
Fatty and Mabel at the San Diego Exposition
as 1st Street Crowd Participant (uncredited)
(1915)
Mabel’s Wilful Way
as Fatty's Pal
(1915)
Fatty’s Reckless Fling
as Neighbor
(1915)
That Little Band Of Gold
as Diner / Man in Audience (uncredited)
(1915)
His Luckless Love
as The Maid's Boyfriend
(1915)
Fatty's New Role
as Handout-Giver (uncredited)
(1915)
Miss Fatty's Seaside Lovers
as Suitor
(1915)
Fatty's Tintype Tangle
as Edgar
(1915)
Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day
as The cafe waiter (uncredited)
(1915)
Fatty’s Plucky Pup
as Shell Game Operator
(1914)
His Favorite Pastime
as Tough Guy in Bar
(1914)
The Noise of Bombs
as Police Chief
(1914)
Mabel at the Wheel
as Spectator in Grandstand (uncredited)
(1914)
The Rounders
as (uncredited)
(1914)
Mabel's Busy Day
as Tough Hot Dog Customer (uncredited)
(1914)
Making a Living
as Wreck Bystander (uncredited)
(1914)
Rebecca's Wedding Day
as The Groom
(1914)
(1914)
Ambrose's First Falsehood
as Café Proprietor
(1914)
The Knockout
as Cyclone Flynn (uncredited)
(1914)
Gentlemen of Nerve
as Policeman
(1914)
Cruel, Cruel Love
as Butler
(1914)
Leading Lizzie Astray
as The Slicker's Chauffeur
(1914)
Tillie's Punctured Romance
as Restaurant Owner / Banks' Butler (uncredited)
(1914)
Getting Acquainted
as Policeman (uncredited)
(1914)
Tango Tangles
as Dance Hall Manager (uncredited)
(1914)
A Film Johnnie
as Director (uncredited)
(1914)
Twenty Minutes of Love
as Lover
(1914)
(1914)
Caught in a Cabaret
as Cafe Proprietor (uncredited)
(1914)
An Incompetent Hero
as Fatty's Neighbor
(1914)
Dough and Dynamite
as Striking Baker
(1914)
The Star Boarder
as Landlady's Husband (uncredited)
(1914)
The Love Thief
as The Rival
(1914)
He Loved the Ladies
as The Wife's Brother
(1914)
A Thief Catcher
as Crook (uncredited)
(1914)
'Curses!' They Remarked
as Ethel's Former Boyfriend
(1914)
A Bath House Beauty
as Jealous Boyfriend
(1914)
A Flirt's Mistake
as Rajah
(1914)
Love and Bullets
as The Trouble Mender
(1914)
The Sky Pirate
as The Sky Pirate
(1913)
Bangville Police
as 3rd Deputy
(1913)
(1913)
A Quiet Little Wedding
as Wedding Guest
(1913)
(1913)
Mother's Boy
as Mug
(1913)
Love and Rubbish
as 1st Cop
(1913)
The Rural Third Degree
as Cop
(1913)
The Gangsters
as Henchman
(1913)
The Gusher
as Cop (uncredited)
(1913)
A Muddy Romance
as Water Policeman
(1913)
The Speed Kings
as Laughing Spectator
(1913)
Fatty Joins the Force
as Jealous Cop
(1913)
(1913)
Safe in Jail
as 1st Crook
(1913)
The Riot
as Cop
(1913)
Zuzu, the Band Leader
as Caesar - Zuzu's Rival
(1913)
Mabel's New Hero
as Cop
(1913)
Peeping Pete
as The Cop
(1913)
The Bowling Match
as Bowling Alley Operator
(1913)
A Ride for a Bride
as Mustached Man
(1913)
Mabel's Dramatic Career
as Audience Member / Cop in Movie
(1913)
Algy on the Force
as Cop
(1913)
Rastus and the Game Cock
as Spectator
Crew
(2024)
Laurel & Hardy: Year Two
Director
(1930)
Bigger and Better
Director
(1930)
The golf player
Director
(1930)
The golfer
Director
(1930)
All Teed Up
Director
(1930)
Fifty Million Husbands
Director
(1928)
You're Darn Tootin'
Director
(1928)
From Soup to Nuts
Director
(1925)
The Marriage Circus
Director
(1924)
Three Foolish Weeks
Director
(1922)
Step Lively, Please
Director