George Kennedy
Age: N/A | From: New York City, New York, USA
Person Details
Birthday:
Aliases: George Harris Kennedy Jr.
Gender: Male
Place of birth: New York City, New York, USA
Homepage:
Movie Involvements: 88
TV Involvements: 35
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
Dallas
(1978) Carter McKay
Have Gun, Will Travel
(1957) Deke - Killer
Perry Mason
(1957) George Spangler
Ironside
(1967) Father Samuel Cavanaugh
Bonanza
(1959) Peter Long
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
(1962) George Martin
Daniel Boone
(1964) Zach Morgan
The Virginian
(1962) Huck HarknessActing
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Ed | |
| 2011 | Joe Baker | |
| 2010 | archival footage | |
| 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 | Army | |
| 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 | |
| Al Scali | ||
| Captain Ed Hocken | ||
| John McCready | ||
| Warden Barles | ||
| 1990 | N/A | |
| Thomas | ||
| Bahraini Investigator | ||
| George Kennedy | ||
| 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 | ||
| Officer Bumper Morgan | ||
| 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 | |
| Paul R. Cameron | ||
| Joe Patroni | ||
| 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 | ||
| Father Samuel Cavanaugh | ||
| 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 | |
| Der | ||
| Sergeant Muldaney | ||
| N/A | ||
| George | ||
| 1962 | N/A | |
| George Martin | ||
| Jack Marshman | ||
| Tom 'Bear' Suchette | ||
| Huck Harkness | ||
| 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 | ||
| Deke - Killer | ||
| 1955 | Lee Nelson | |
| MP Sgt. Kennedy (uncredited) | ||
| Emil | ||
| Bayloe | ||
| Swarner | ||
| Hug | ||
| Stark | ||
| Cyrus | ||
| Ben Payson | ||
| 1953 | Self | |
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
