George Kennedy
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| George Kennedy | |||||||||||
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 in Charade (1963) |
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| Born | February 18, 1925 New York, New York |
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George Harris Kennedy, Jr.[1] (born February 18, 1925) is an Academy Award-winning American actor who has appeared in over 200 film and television productions. He is perhaps most familiar as Dragline in Cool Hand Luke and Joe Patroni in the Airport series of disaster movies from the 1970s.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Kennedy was born in New York into a show business family. His father, George Harris Kennedy, a musician and orchestra leader, died when Kennedy was four years old.[2] He was raised by his mother, Helen A. (née Kieselbach), a ballet dancer.[1][3] He made his stage debut at the age of two, later becoming a radio performer. Kennedy put aside show business during World War II and spent sixteen years in the United States Army, seeing combat and working in the Armed Forces radio. He was involved with the opening of the first Army Information Office,[4] which provided technical assistance to films and TV shows.[4] After retiring from the military (reportedly because of a back injury), Kennedy found his way back to the entertainment industry.
[edit] Work
Kennedy became a technical advisor for the television series Sergeant Bilko, where his acting career began with a few one-line parts.[4] Kennedy began his film career in 1961 in The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come. He then appeared in several successful films, including 1963's'Charade opposite Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, and James Coburn, 1964's Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte, opposite Bette Davis, and 1965's In Harm's Way, opposite John Wayne. He also made numerous television appearances, on The Andy Griffith Show, Perry Mason, Bonanza, McHale's Navy, and Gunsmoke. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Cool Hand Luke (1967). He followed with films such as The Dirty Dozen, Bandolero! and The Boston Strangler. In 1970 he appeared in the Academy-Award-winning film Airport, in which he played one of the film's lead characters, Joe Patroni. He reprised this role four years later in Airport 1975 and again in two further sequels. In 1984, he starred opposite Bo Derek in the Hollywood disaster Bolero. Kennedy also appeared in the television series The Love Boat in 1984, playing the character Erik Larsen. He then appeared in several less successful films including Savage Dawn, The Delta Force, and Creepshow 2 before appearing in the comedy hit The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! in 1988, playing Captain Ed Hocken. The film had two sequels in which Kennedy co-starred.
On television, Kennedy played Carter McKay in the CBS prime time serial Dallas (1978-1991), appearing from 1988-1991. In the late 1990s, he promoted Breathasure tablets in television commercials with the quote "I never go anywhere without my Breathasure." Around this time he reprised his role as Cater McKay in the television films Dallas: JR Returns and Dallas: War of the Ewings. In 1998, he voiced Brick Bazooka for the film Small Soldiers. He then made several independent films before making a 2003 comeback to television in the soap opera The Young and the Restless, playing the character Albert Miller. In 2005, he made a cameo appearance in the small film Don't Come Knocking, where he played the director of an ill-fated Western.
Kennedy received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to motion pictures, located at 6352 Hollywood Blvd.
[edit] Personal life
Kennedy resides in Eagle, Idaho. He is married to Joan McCarthy and has a daughter, Shaunna, who has struggled with substance abuse. The couple adopted their granddaughter, Taylor,[4] after her mother's incarceration.
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Spartacus | Rebel soldier | uncredited |
| 1961 | The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come | Nathan Dillon | |
| 1962 | The Silent Witness | Gus Jordan | |
| Lonely are the Brave | Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez | ||
| 1963 | The Man from the Diner's Club | George | |
| Charade | Herman Scobie | ||
| 1964 | McHale's Navy | Henri Le Clerc | |
| Island of the Blue Dolphins | Aleut Captain | ||
| Strait-Jacket | Leo Krause | ||
| Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte | Foreman | ||
| 1965 | Mirage | Willard | |
| In Harm's Way | Colonel Gregory | ||
| The Flight of the Phoenix | Mike Bellamy | ||
| Shenandoah | Col. Fairchild | ||
| The Sons of Katie Elder | Curley | ||
| 1967 | The Dirty Dozen | Major Max Armbruster | |
| Hurry Sundown | Sheriff Coombs | ||
| Cool Hand Luke | Dragline | Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture |
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| The Ballad of Josie | Arch Ogden | ||
| 1968 | The Pink Jungle | Sammy Ryderbeit | |
| The Legend of Lylah Clare | Matt Burke | uncredited | |
| The Boston Strangler | Phil DiNatale | ||
| Bandolero! | Sheriff Johnson | ||
| 1969 | The Good Guys and the Bad Guys | Big John McKay | |
| Gaily, Gaily | Johanson | ||
| Guns of the Magnificent Seven | Chris | ||
| 1970 | Dirty Dingus Magee | Herkimer 'Hoke' Birdsill | |
| ...tick...tick...tick... | John Little | ||
| Airport | Joe Patroni | Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture | |
| 1971 | Fools' Parade | 'Doc' Council | |
| 1973 | Lost Horizon | Sam Cornelius | |
| Cahill U.S. Marshal | Abe Fraser | ||
| 1974 | Sonic Boom | ||
| Thunderbolt and Lightfoot | Red Leary | ||
| Airport 1975 | Joe Patroni | ||
| Earthquake | Sgt. Lew Slade | ||
| 1975 | The Eiger Sanction | Ben Bowman | |
| The 'Human' Factor | John Kinsdale | ||
| 1977 | Airport '77 | Joe Patroni | |
| Ningen no shômei | Ken Shuftan | ||
| 1978 | Mean Dog Blues | Captain Omar Kinsman | |
| Brass Target | Gen. George S. Patton | ||
| Death on the Nile | Andrew Pennington | ||
| 1979 | The Concorde: Airport '79 | Capt. Joe Patroni | |
| The Double McGuffin | Chief Talasek | ||
| Search and Destroy | Anthony Fusqua | ||
| Steel | Big Lew Cassidy | ||
| 1980 | Virus | Admiral Conway | |
| Death Ship | Ashland | ||
| Hotwire | Farley & Harley Fontenot | ||
| 1981 | Just Before Dawn | Roy McLean | |
| 1983 | Wacko | Mr. Doctor Graves | |
| 1984 | A Rare Breed | Nathan Hill | |
| Chattanooga Choo Choo | Bert | ||
| Bolero | Cotton | Nominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor | |
| 1985 | Radioactive Dreams | Spade Chandler | |
| Savage Dawn | Tick Rand | ||
| 1986 | The Delta Force | Father O'Malley | |
| Rigged | |||
| 1987 | Creepshow 2 | Ray Spruce | segment "Old Chief Wood'nhead" |
| 1988 | Top Line | Heinrich Holzmann | |
| Born to Race | Vincent Duplain | ||
| Nightmare at Noon | Sheriff Hanks | ||
| Uninvited | Mike Harvey | ||
| Escuadrón | Vince Colby | ||
| The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! | Capt. Ed Hocken | ||
| Demonwarp | Bill Crafton | ||
| 1989 | Ministry of Vengeance | Rev. Hughes | |
| La Bahía esmeralda | Wilson | ||
| The Terror Within | Hal | ||
| 1990 | Brain Dead | Vance | |
| Hired to Kill | Thomas | ||
| Mayumi | |||
| 1991 | Intensive Care | Dr. Bruckner | |
| Hangfire | Warden | ||
| Driving Me Crazy | McCready | ||
| The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear | Captain Ed Hocken | ||
| 1992 | Distant Justice | Tom Bradfield | |
| 1994 | River of Stone | ||
| Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult | Captain Ed Hocken | ||
| 1997 | Bayou Ghost | Officer Lowe | |
| Cats Don't Dance | L.B. Mammoth | voice | |
| 1998 | Small Soldiers | Brick Bazooka | voice |
| 2003 | View from the Top | Passenger Requesting Vodka | uncredited |
| 2005 | Three Bad Men | Ed Fiske | |
| Truce | Dr. Peter Gannon | ||
| Don't Come Knocking | Director | ||
| 2008 | The Man Who Came Back | Judge Duke |
[edit] Television series
| Year | Title | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Sarge | Sarge Swanson | |
| 1975 | The Blue Knight | Bumper Morgan | 6 episodes |
| 1988-1991 | Dallas | Carter McKay | 18 episodes |
| 1996 | Wings | Himself | 1 episode |
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Walter Matthau for The Fortune Cookie |
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor 1967 for Cool Hand Luke |
Succeeded by Jack Albertson for The Subject Was Roses |
[edit] References
- ^ a b George Kennedy genealogy. Rootsweb.com.
- ^ Interview with George Kennedy Actor & Movie Star. Healthy Hearing.com. 21 March 2005.
- ^ George Kennedy Biography. Film Reference.com.
- ^ a b c d George Kennedy. Hollywood.com.
[edit] External links
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kennedy, George |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1925-2-18 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York, New York |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
