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George Kennedy
Acting
Biography
George Kennedy (February 18, 1925 â February 28, 2016) was a European-American businessman, entrepreneur, A World War II veteran, actor, adviser, radio dj, and author. 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 KatâŚ
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George Kennedy (February 18, 1925 â February 28, 2016) was a European-American businessman, entrepreneur, A World War II veteran, actor, adviser, radio dj, and author. 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.
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BODY OF WORK
George Kennedy's Filmography
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Airports
The Gambler
as Ed
Another Happy Day
as Joe Baker
Six Days in Paradise
as Monty Crenshaw
2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift
as (archive footage)
A Natural Born World-Shaker: The Making of 'Cool Hand Luke'
as Self
The Man Who Came Back
as Judge Duke
The Boneyard Collection
as Professor Zebediah Jones (segment "The Devil's Due at Midnight")
Sands of Oblivion
as John Tevis
Armed and Deadly: The Making of 'The Dirty Dozen'
as Self
Don't Come Knocking
as Director
Three Bad Men
as Ed Fiske
Truce
as Dr. Peter Gannon
Monster Makers
as Dexter Brisbane
View from the Top
as Passenger Requesting Vodka (uncredited)
Men in White
as Army
Dennis the Menace Strikes Again!
as Mr. Johnson
Small Soldiers
as Brick Bazooka (voice)
Dallas: War of The Ewings
as Carter McKay
Hollyweird
as George Kennedy
Cats Don't Dance
as L.B. Mammoth (voice)
Bayou Ghost
as Officer Lowe
Dallas: J.R. Returns
as Carter McKay
WWE SummerSlam 1994
as Himself
Naked Gun 33â : The Final Insult
as Ed Hocken
Distant Justice
as Tom Bradfield
Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story
as Father Dave Hagan
Intensive Care
as Dr. Bruckner
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
as Ed Hocken
Driving Me Crazy
as John McCready
Hangfire
as Warden Barles
Good Cops, Bad Cops
Mayumi: Virgin Terrorist
as Bahraini Investigator
Hired to Kill
as Thomas
Brain Dead
as Vance
Ministry of Vengeance
as Rev. Hughes
Esmeralda Bay
as Wilson
The Terror Within
as Hal
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
as Ed Hocken
Uninvited
as Mike Harvey
Top Line
as Heinrich Holzmann
Nightmare at Noon
as Sherrif Hanks
Private Road: No Trespassing
as Sam Milshaw
Demonwarp
as Bill Crafton
Counterforce
as Vince Colby
Born to Race
as Vincent Duplain
What Price Victory
as Big Buck Brayton
The Gambler: The Legend Continues
as General Nelson Miles
Creepshow 2
as Ray Spruce
The Gunfighters
as Deke Turner
Radioactive Dreams
as Spade Chandler
Liberty
as Seamus Reilly
The Delta Force
as Father O'Malley
Savage Dawn
as Tick Rand
International Airport
as Rudy Van Leuven
Rigged
as Ben Wheeler
Half Nelson
as Parsons
A Rare Breed
Bolero
as Cotton
The Jesse Owens Story
as Charles 'Charley' Riley
Chattanooga Choo Choo
as Bert
The Jupiter Menace
as Himself
Wacko
as Mr. Doctor Graves
Just Before Dawn
as Roy McLean
The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire
as Brakus
Modern Romance
as George Kennedy / Zeron
Hotwire
as Farley & Harley Fontenot
Virus
as Admiral Conway
Death Ship
as Captain Ashland
Steel
as Big Lew Cassidy
The Concorde... Airport '79
as Joe Patroni
Search and Destroy
as Anthony Fusqua
The Double McGuffin
as Chief Talasek
Brass Target
as Gen. George S. Patton
Death on the Nile
as Andrew Pennington
No Poster
Death on the Nile: Making of Featurette
as Self
Mean Dog Blues
as Captain Omar Kinsman
Proof of the Man
as Ken Shuftan
Airport '77
as Joe Patroni
The Human Factor
as John Kinsdale
The Eiger Sanction
as Ben Bowman
The Blue Knight
as Bumper Morgan
No Poster
The Lion Roars Again
as Self
Earthquake
as Sgt. Lew Slade
Airport 1975
as Joe Patroni
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
as Red Leary
A Cry in the Wilderness
as Sam Hadley
Sonic Boom
as Ben Dover
Deliver Us from Evil
as Walter 'Cowboy' McAdams
Cahill: United States Marshal
as Abe Fraser
Lost Horizon
as Sam Cornelius
A Great American Tragedy
as Brad Wilkes
The Bull of the West
as 'Bear' Suchette
The Priest Killer
as Father Samuel Cavanaugh
Fools' Parade
as Dallas 'Doc' Council
Sarge: The Badge or the Cross
as Sarge Swanson
Dirty Dingus Magee
as Herkimer 'Hoke' Birdsill
Zig Zag
as Paul R. Cameron
Airport
as Joe Patroni
⌠tick⌠tick⌠tickâŚ
as John Little
Gaily, Gaily
as Axel P. Johanson
The Good Guys and the Bad Guys
as McKay
Guns of the Magnificent Seven
as Chris
The Pink Jungle
as Sammy Ryderbeit
The Boston Strangler
as Det. Phil DiNatale
The Legend of Lylah Clare
as Matt Burke
Bandolero!
as Sheriff July Johnson
The Ballad of Josie
as Arch Ogden
Cool Hand Luke
as Dragline
The Dirty Dozen
as Major Max Armbruster
Hurry Sundown
as Sheriff Coombs
The Flight of the Phoenix
as Bellamy
Mirage
as Willard
The Sons of Katie Elder
as Curley
Shenandoah
as Col. Fairchild
In Harm's Way
as Colonel Gregory
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
as Foreman
See How They Run
as Rudy
Island of the Blue Dolphins
as Aleut Captain
McHale's Navy
as Henri Le Clerc
Strait-Jacket
as Leo Krause
Charade
as Herman Scobie
The Man from the Diners' Club
as George
Lonely are the Brave
as Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez
Gunfight at Black Horses Canyon
as Hawk
The Little Shepherd Of Kingdom Come
as Nathan Dillon