Portrait of George Kennedy

George Kennedy

Acting

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.

Born: February 18, 1925

Place of Birth: New York City, New York, USA

Filmography

2014
2011
Another Happy Day

as Joe Baker

2010
2008
2008
The Boneyard Collection

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

2007
Sands of Oblivion

as John Tevis

2005
2005
Three Bad Men

as Ed Fiske

2005
Truce

as Dr. Peter Gannon

2003
Monster Makers

as Dexter Brisbane

2003
View from the Top

as Passenger Requesting Vodka (uncredited)

1998
1998
Small Soldiers

as Brick Bazooka (voice)

1998
1998
Hollyweird

as George Kennedy

1997
Cats Don't Dance

as L.B. Mammoth (voice)

1997
Bayou Ghost

as Officer Lowe

1996
Dallas: J.R. Returns

as Carter McKay

1996
The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest

as General Axton (voice)

1995
Santo Bugito

as Ralph (voice)

1994
1994
Duckman

as Movie Director (voice)

1992
Distant Justice

as Tom Bradfield

1992
1991
Intensive Care

as Dr. Bruckner

1991
The Commish

as Al Scali

1991
Driving Me Crazy

as John McCready

1991
Hangfire

as Warden Barles

1990
Mayumi: Virgin Terrorist

as Bahraini Investigator

1990
Hired to Kill

as Thomas

1990
Wings

as George Kennedy

1990
Brain Dead

as Vance

1989
Ministry of Vengeance

as Rev. Hughes

1989
Esmeralda Bay

as Wilson

1988
Uninvited

as Mike Harvey

1988
Top Line

as Heinrich Holzmann

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
What Price Victory

as Big Buck Brayton

1987
The Gambler: The Legend Continues

as General Nelson Miles

1987
Creepshow 2

as Ray Spruce

1987
The Gunfighters

as Deke Turner

1986
Radioactive Dreams

as Spade Chandler

1986
Liberty

as Seamus Reilly

1986
The Delta Force

as Father O'Malley

1985
Savage Dawn

as Tick Rand

1985
International Airport

as Rudy Van Leuven

1985
Rigged

as Ben

1985
Half Nelson

as Parsons

1984
Bolero

as Cotton

1984
The Jesse Owens Story

as Charles 'Charley' Riley

1982
1982
Wacko

as Mr. Doctor Graves

1981
Just Before Dawn

as Roy McLean

1981
Modern Romance

as George Kennedy / Zeron

1980
Hotwire

as Farley & Harley Fontenot

1980
Virus

as Admiral Conway

1980
Death Ship

as Captain Ashland

1979
Steel

as Big Lew Cassidy

1979
1979
Search and Destroy

as Anthony Fusqua

1979
The Double McGuffin

as Chief Talasek

1979
Backstairs at the White House

as Pres. Warren G. Harding

1978
Brass Target

as Gen. George S. Patton

1978
Death on the Nile

as Andrew Pennington

1978
Dallas

as Carter McKay

1978
Mean Dog Blues

as Captain Omar Kinsman

1977
Proof of the Man

as Ken Shuftan

1977
Airport '77

as Joe Patroni

1975
The Human Factor

as John Kinsdale

1975
Saturday Night Live

as Self - Host

1975
The Eiger Sanction

as Ben Bowman

1975
The Blue Knight

as Officer Bumper Morgan

1975
The Blue Knight

as Bumper Morgan

1974
Earthquake

as Sgt. Lew Slade

1974
Airport 1975

as Joe Patroni

1974
1974
Sonic Boom

as Ben Dover

1973
Deliver Us from Evil

as Walter 'Cowboy' McAdams

1973
Lost Horizon

as Sam Cornelius

1972
1972
The Bull of the West

as 'Bear' Suchette

1971
Sarge

as Samuel Cavanaugh

1971
The Priest Killer

as Father Samuel Cavanaugh

1971
Fools' Parade

as Dallas 'Doc' Council

1971
1970
Dirty Dingus Magee

as Herkimer 'Hoke' Birdsill

1970
Zig Zag

as Paul R. Cameron

1970
Airport

as Joe Patroni

1970
1969
Gaily, Gaily

as Axel P. Johanson

1968
The Pink Jungle

as Sammy Ryderbeit

1968
The Boston Strangler

as Det. Phil DiNatale

1968
1968
Bandolero!

as Sheriff July Johnson

1968
The Ballad of Josie

as Arch Ogden

1967
Cool Hand Luke

as Dragline

1967
The Dirty Dozen

as Major Max Armbruster

1967
Ironside

as Father Samuel Cavanaugh

1967
Hurry Sundown

as Sheriff Coombs

1966
1965
Mirage

as Willard

1965
1965
The Big Valley

as Thatcher

1965
Shenandoah

as Col. Fairchild

1965
In Harm's Way

as Colonel Gregory

1964
1964
Daniel Boone

as Zach Morgan

1964
The Rogues

as Major Vyx

1964
1964
McHale's Navy

as Henri Le Clerc

1964
Strait-Jacket

as Leo Krause

1963
Charade

as Herman Scobie

1963
The Great Adventure

as Sergeant Muldaney

1962
1962
The Virginian

as Jack Marshman

1962
The Virginian

as Tom 'Bear' Suchette

1962
The Virginian

as Huck Harkness

1962
Lonely are the Brave

as Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez

1961
Dr. Kildare

as Joe Cramer

1961
Dr. Kildare

as Sergeant Hensley

1961
Gunslinger

as Sheriff

1960
Surfside 6

as Gabe Buchanan

1960
The Andy Griffith Show

as State Police Detective

1960
Thriller

as John Paterson

1959
Riverboat

as Gunner Slagle

1959
Bonanza

as Waldo Watson

1959
Bonanza

as Peter Long

1959
Rawhide

as George Wales

1958
Bat Masterson

as Sheriff Zeke Armitage

1958
1957
Perry Mason

as George Spangler

1957
Sugarfoot

as Ross Kuhn

1957
Sugarfoot

as Sykes

1957
Have Gun, Will Travel

as Deke - Killer

1957
1957
Have Gun, Will Travel

as Sam Tarnitzer

1955
The Phil Silvers Show

as Kennedy (uncredited)

1955
Cheyenne

as Lee Nelson

1955
Gunsmoke

as Emil

1955
Gunsmoke

as Bayloe

1955
Gunsmoke

as Swarner

1955
Gunsmoke

as Hug

1955
Gunsmoke

as Stark

1955
Gunsmoke

as Cyrus

1955
Gunsmoke

as Ben Payson

1953
The Oscars

as Self

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