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
Dragline
Cool Hand Luke
Major Max Armbruster
The Dirty Dozen
Bellamy
The Flight of the Phoenix
Foreman
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
Joe Patroni
Airport
Andrew Pennington
Death on the Nile
Herman Scobie
Charade
Ben Bowman
The Eiger Sanction
Sgt. Lew Slade
Earthquake
Col. Fairchild
Shenandoah
Cotton
Bolero
Vance
Brain Dead
Abe Fraser
Cahill: United States Marshal
Brick Bazooka (voice)
Small Soldiers
John Tevis
Sands of Oblivion
Red Leary
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
Joe Patroni
Airport '77
John Kinsdale
The Human Factor
Self
Armed and Deadly: The Making of 'The Dirty Dozen'
Captain Ashland
Death Ship
Chris
Guns of the Magnificent Seven
Det. Phil DiNatale
The Boston Strangler
Joe Patroni
Airport 1975
Director
Don't Come Knocking
Bill Crafton
Demonwarp
Hal
The Terror Within
Joe Patroni
The Concorde... Airport '79
Ed Hocken
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult
Leo Krause
Strait-Jacket
Sheriff July Johnson
Bandolero!
Admiral Conway
復活の日
Joe Baker
Another Happy Day
Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez
Lonely are the Brave
Ed Hocken
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
Ed Hocken
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
Father O'Malley
The Delta Force
Curley
The Sons of Katie Elder
Mr. Johnson
Dennis the Menace Strikes Again!
Ray Spruce
Creepshow 2
Mike Harvey
Uninvited
Judge Duke
The Man Who Came Back
Spade Chandler
Radioactive Dreams
Dallas 'Doc' Council
Fools' Parade
Roy McLean
Just Before Dawn
Herkimer 'Hoke' Birdsill
Dirty Dingus Magee
Willard
Mirage
McKay
The Good Guys and the Bad Guys
Arch Ogden
The Ballad of Josie
Sherrif Hanks
Nightmare at Noon
Brakus
The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire
Gen. George S. Patton
Brass Target
Paul R. Cameron
Zig Zag
Anthony Fusqua
Search and Destroy
Mr. Doctor Graves
Wacko
John Little
… tick… tick… tick…
Deke Turner
The Gunfighters
Tick Rand
Savage Dawn
Self
A Natural Born World-Shaker: The Making of 'Cool Hand Luke'
Thomas
Hired to Kill
Chief Talasek
The Double McGuffin
Sam Cornelius
Lost Horizon
Big Lew Cassidy
Steel
Vincent Duplain
Born to Race
Nathan Dillon
The Little Shepherd Of Kingdom Come
Dexter Brisbane
Monster Makers
Heinrich Holzmann
Top Line
'Bear' Suchette
The Bull of the West
Axel P. Johanson
Gaily, Gaily
Dr. Bruckner
Intensive Care
Sheriff Coombs
Hurry Sundown
Captain Omar Kinsman
Mean Dog Blues
George
The Man from the Diners' Club
Farley & Harley Fontenot
Hotwire
Sam Milshaw
Private Road: No Trespassing
Walter 'Cowboy' McAdams
Deliver Us from Evil
General Nelson Miles
The Gambler, Part III: The Legend Continues
Rev. Hughes
Ministry of Vengeance
Himself
The Jupiter Menace
Sam Hadley
A Cry in the Wilderness
Carter McKay
Dallas: War of The Ewings
Seamus Reilly
Liberty
Sammy Ryderbeit
The Pink Jungle
Brad Wilkes
A Great American Tragedy
Rudy
See How They Run
Vince Colby
Escuadrón
Wilson
La bahía esmeralda
Sarge Swanson
Sarge: The Badge or the Cross
Colonel Gregory
In Harm's Way
Matt Burke
The Legend of Lylah Clare
Warden Barles
Hangfire
Charles 'Charley' Riley
The Jesse Owens Story
Aleut Captain
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Ken Shuftan
人間の証明
Bumper Morgan
The Blue Knight
Rudy Van Leuven
International Airport
Ed
The Gambler
George Kennedy
Hollyweird
Parsons
Half Nelson
Father Dave Hagan
Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story
Carter McKay
Dallas: J.R. Returns
George Kennedy / Zeron
Modern Romance
Dr. Peter Gannon
Truce
Henri Le Clerc
McHale's Navy
Big Buck Brayton
What Price Victory
Ed Fiske
Three Bad Men
Passenger Requesting Vodka (uncredited)
View from the Top
(archive footage)
2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift
Tom Bradfield
Distant Justice
John McCready
Driving Me Crazy
Bert
Chattanooga Choo Choo
Army
Men in White
Bahraini Investigator
마유미
Ben
Rigged
Hawk
Gunfight at Black Horses Canyon
The Cops Are Robbers
L.B. Mammoth (voice)
Cats Don't Dance
Rare Breed
Ben Dover
Sonic Boom
Professor Zebediah Jones (segment "The Devil's Due at Midnight")
The Boneyard Collection
Himself
WWE SummerSlam 1994
Self
The Lion Roars Again
Father Samuel Cavanaugh
The Priest Killer
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
122
Gender
Male
Birthday
1925-02-18
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
Also Known As
George Harris Kennedy Jr.