Film Snail

George Kennedy

Born · February 18, 1925

Died · February 28, 2016 (91 years old)

Known For: Acting

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

Bio

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.

Known for

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

The Gambler

6.0

2014

Another Happy Day

Joe Baker

5.6

2011

2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift

(archive footage)

6.6

2010

A Natural Born World-Shaker: The Making of 'Cool Hand Luke'

Self

0.0

2008

The Man Who Came Back

Judge Duke

5.0

2008

The Boneyard Collection

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

5.4

2008

Sands of Oblivion

John Tevis

4.6

2007

Armed and Deadly: The Making of 'The Dirty Dozen'

Self

6.0

2006

Don't Come Knocking

Director

6.2

2005

Three Bad Men

Ed Fiske

1.0

2005

Truce

Dr. Peter Gannon

3.7

2005

Monster Makers

Dexter Brisbane

3.0

2003

View from the Top

Passenger Requesting Vodka (uncredited)

5.5

2003

Men in White

Army

3.6

1998

Dennis the Menace Strikes Again!

8.0

1994

Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult

Ed Hocken

6.5

1994

Distant Justice

Tom Bradfield

5.0

1992

Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story

Father Dave Hagan

0.0

1992

Intensive Care

Dr. Bruckner

2.0

1991

The Commish

Al Scali · (1 episode)

7.2

1991

The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear

Ed Hocken

6.8

1991

Driving Me Crazy

John McCready

3.7

1991

Hangfire

Warden Barles

4.2

1991

Wilson

4.4

1989

The Terror Within

Hal

4.3

1989

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

Ed Hocken

7.3

1988

Uninvited

Mike Harvey

4.9

1988

Top Line

Heinrich Holzmann

3.9

1988

Nightmare at Noon

Sherrif Hanks

4.7

1988

Private Road: No Trespassing

Sam Milshaw

4.5

1988

Demonwarp

Bill Crafton

4.2

1988

Counterforce

Vince Colby

4.7

1988

Born to Race

Vincent Duplain

4.9

1988

What Price Victory

Big Buck Brayton

0.0

1988

The Gambler, Part III: The Legend Continues

General Nelson Miles

5.9

1987

Creepshow 2

Ray Spruce

6.3

1987

The Gunfighters

Deke Turner

4.0

1987

Radioactive Dreams

Spade Chandler

5.2

1986

Liberty

Seamus Reilly

0.0

1986

Savage Dawn

Tick Rand

4.4

1986

The Delta Force

Father O'Malley

5.9

1986

International Airport

Rudy Van Leuven

5.0

1985

Rigged

Ben

9.7

1985

Half Nelson

Parsons

0.0

1985

Rare Breed

0.0

1984

Bolero

Cotton

3.3

1984

The Jesse Owens Story

Charles 'Charley' Riley

7.9

1984

Chattanooga Choo Choo

Bert

5.0

1984

The Jupiter Menace

Himself

5.5

1982

Wacko

Mr. Doctor Graves

5.0

1982

Just Before Dawn

Roy McLean

6.0

1981

The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire

Brakus

5.5

1981

Modern Romance

George Kennedy / Zeron

6.8

1981

Hotwire

Farley & Harley Fontenot

5.0

1980

Virus

Admiral Conway

6.3

1980

Death Ship

Captain Ashland

5.2

1980

Steel

Big Lew Cassidy

5.2

1979

The Concorde... Airport '79

Joe Patroni

4.7

1979

Search and Destroy

Anthony Fusqua

6.8

1979

The Double McGuffin

Chief Talasek

5.3

1979

Backstairs at the White House

Pres. Warren G. Harding · (4 episodes)

5.9

1979

Brass Target

Gen. George S. Patton

5.6

1978

Death on the Nile

Andrew Pennington

7.2

1978

Dallas

Carter McKay · (52 episodes)

6.8

1978

Mean Dog Blues

Captain Omar Kinsman

4.9

1978

Death on the Nile: Making of Featurette

Self / Andrew Pennington

6.3

1978

Proof of the Man

Ken Shuftan

7.4

1977

Airport '77

Joe Patroni

5.6

1977

The Human Factor

John Kinsdale

5.7

1975

Saturday Night Live

Self - Host · (1 episode)

6.9

1975

The Eiger Sanction

Ben Bowman

6.1

1975

The Blue Knight

Bumper Morgan

0.0

1975

The Blue Knight

Officer Bumper Morgan · (24 episodes)

2.0

A Great American Tragedy

Brad Wilkes

6.7

1972

The Bull of the West

'Bear' Suchette

5.3

1972

Sarge

Father Samuel Cavanaugh · (14 episodes)

5.0

1971

Fools' Parade

Dallas 'Doc' Council

6.8

1971

Sarge: The Badge or the Cross

Sarge Swanson

0.0

1971

Dirty Dingus Magee

Herkimer 'Hoke' Birdsill

4.7

1970

Zig Zag

Paul R. Cameron

7.5

1970

Airport

Joe Patroni

6.4

1970

Tick... Tick... Tick...

John Little

6.5

1970

Gaily, Gaily

Axel P. Johanson

4.0

1969

The Good Guys and the Bad Guys

McKay

5.4

1969

Guns of the Magnificent Seven

Chris

5.2

1969

The Pink Jungle

Sammy Ryderbeit

6.1

1968

The Boston Strangler

Det. Phil DiNatale

6.7

1968

The Legend of Lylah Clare

Matt Burke

6.1

1968

Bandolero!

Sheriff July Johnson

6.5

1968

The Ballad of Josie

Arch Ogden

5.7

1968

Cool Hand Luke

Dragline

7.7

1967

The Dirty Dozen

Major Max Armbruster

7.6

1967

Ironside

Father Samuel Cavanaugh · (1 episode)

6.9

1967

Hurry Sundown

Sheriff Coombs

6.4

1967

Tarzan

(1 episode)

6.7

1966

The Flight of the Phoenix

Bellamy

7.2

1965

Mirage

Willard

7.0

1965

Laredo

(1 episode)

6.3

1965

The Big Valley

Thatcher · (1 episode)

6.0

1965

The Legend of Jesse James

Blodgett · (1 episode)

4.8

1965

The Sons of Katie Elder

Curley

7.0

1965

Shenandoah

Col. Fairchild

6.8

1965

In Harm's Way

Colonel Gregory

6.5

1965

Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte

Foreman

7.2

1964

See How They Run

Rudy

7.0

1964

Daniel Boone

Zach Morgan · (1 episode)

6.9

1964

The Rogues

Major Vyx · (1 episode)

7.5

1964

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Aleut Captain

6.2

1964

McHale's Navy

Henri Le Clerc

George

5.0

1963

Going My Way

(1 episode)

5.0

1962

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

George Martin · (1 episode)

7.8

1962

The Virginian

Jack Marshman · (1 episode)

6.4

1962

The Virginian

Tom 'Bear' Suchette · (1 episode)

6.4

1962

The Virginian

Huck Harkness · (1 episode)

6.4

1962

Lonely are the Brave

Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez

7.3

1962

The Mike Douglas Show

Self · (1 episode)

5.1

1961

Gunfight at Black Horses Canyon

Hawk

5.6

1961

Dr. Kildare

Joe Cramer · (2 episodes)

5.4

1961

Dr. Kildare

6.2

1959

Bonanza

7.4

1957

Have Gun, Will Travel

Deke - Killer · (1 episode)

7.4

1957

Cheyenne

Lee Nelson · (1 episode)

5.8

1955

The Phil Silvers Show

MP Sgt. Kennedy (uncredited) · (2 episodes)

Cyrus · (1 episode)

6.5

1955

Gunsmoke

Ben Payson · (1 episode)

6.5

1955

The Oscars

Self · (3 episodes)

7.0

1953