Person Details

Birthday: 1925-02-18 05:12:16

Death: 2016-02-28 05:12:16

Aliases: George Harris Kennedy Jr.

Gender: Male

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

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 88

TV Involvements: 33


Most Famous Work

Biography

Sandy-haired, tall and burly George Harris Kennedy, Jr. was born in New York City, to Helen A. (Kieselbach), a ballet dancer, and George Harris Kennedy, an orchestra leader and musician. He had German, Irish, and English ancestry. 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.

Most Famous Work

Perry Mason
Average
8

Perry Mason

(1957) George Spangler
The Big Valley
Average
6

The Big Valley

(1965) Thatcher
The Virginian
Average
7

The Virginian

(1962) Huck Harkness
Bonanza
Average
8

Bonanza

(1959) Peter Long
Dallas
Average
6

Dallas

(1978) Carter McKay
Rawhide
Average
7

Rawhide

(1959) George Wales
Daniel Boone
Average
7

Daniel Boone

(1964) Zach Morgan
Spartacus
Average
8

Spartacus

(1960) Rebel Soldier (uncredited)

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
2014 Ed
2011 Joe Baker
2008 Self
Judge Duke
Professor Zebediah Jones (segment "The Devil's Due at Midnight")
2007 John Tevis
2006 Self
2005 Director
Ed Fiske
Dr. Peter Gannon
2003 Dexter Brisbane
Passenger Requesting Vodka (uncredited)
1998 General Vice
Mr. Johnson
Brick Bazooka (voice)
Carter McKay
George Kennedy
1997 L.B. Mammoth (voice)
1996 Carter McKay
General Axton (voice)
1995 Ralph (voice)
1994 Himself
Ed Hocken
1992 Tom Bradfield
Father Dave Hagan
1991 Dr. Bruckner
N/A
Captain Ed Hocken
John McCready
Warden Barles
1990 N/A
Thomas
Bahraini Investigator
N/A
Vance
1989 Rev. Hughes
Wilson
Hal
1988 Capt. Ed Hocken
Mike Harvey
Heinrich Holzmann
Sherrif Hanks
Sam Milshaw
Bill Crafton
Vince Colby
Vincent Duplain
Big Buck Brayton
1987 General Nelson Miles
Ray Spruce
Deke Turner
1986 Spade Chandler
Seamus Reilly
Tick Rand
Father O'Malley
1985 Rudy Van Leuven
Ben
Parsons
1984 N/A
Cotton
Charles 'Charley' Riley
Bert
1982 Himself
Mr. Doctor Graves
1981 Roy McLean
Brakus
George Kennedy / Zeron
1980 Farley & Harley Fontenot
Admiral Conway
Captain Ashland
1979 Big Lew Cassidy
Joe Patroni
Anthony Fusqua
Chief Talasek
Pres. Warren G. Harding
1978 Gen. George S. Patton
Andrew Pennington
Carter McKay
Captain Omar Kinsman
Self / Andrew Pennington
1977 Ken Shuftan
Joe Patroni
1975 John Kinsdale
Self - Host
Ben Bowman
Bumper Morgan
Officer Bumper Morgan
Self
1974 Sgt. Lew Slade
Joe Patroni
Red Leary
Sam Hadley
Ben Dover
1973 Self
Walter 'Cowboy' McAdams
Abe Fraser
Sam Cornelius
1972 Brad Wilkes
'Bear' Suchette
1971 Father Samuel Cavanaugh
Dallas 'Doc' Council
Sarge Swanson
1970 Herkimer 'Hoke' Birdsill
Joe Patroni
Paul R. Cameron
John Little
1969 Axel P. Johanson
McKay
Chris
1968 Sammy Ryderbeit
Det. Phil DiNatale
Matt Burke
Sheriff July Johnson
Arch Ogden
1967 Dragline
Major Max Armbruster
Sheriff Coombs
1966 N/A
1965 Bellamy
Willard
N/A
Thatcher
Blodgett
Curley
Col. Fairchild
Colonel Gregory
1964 Foreman
Rudy
Zach Morgan
Major Vyx
Aleut Captain
Henri Le Clerc
Leo Krause
1963 Herman Scobie
Sergeant Muldaney
N/A
George
1962 N/A
George Martin
Tom 'Bear' Suchette
Huck Harkness
Jack Marshman
Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez
1961 Hawk
Joe Cramer
Sergeant Hensley
N/A
Nathan Dillon
N/A
1960 N/A
N/A
State Police Detective
N/A
John Paterson
N/A
1959 Gunner Slagle
Waldo Watson
Peter Long
George Wales
1958 N/A
Sheriff Zeke Armitage
N/A
N/A
1957 N/A
George Spangler
N/A
1955 Lee Nelson
Emil
Bayloe
Swarner
Cyrus
Stark
Hug
Ben Payson
1953 Self
Year Character Movie/Tv

Join the discussion

Please Log in to comment