George Kennedy

Known for ActingBorn 1925-02-18Died 2016-02-28New York City, New York, USA

George Kennedy (February 18, 1925 — 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.Read more

Movies & web series

Bayou Ghost

Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story

The Great Adventure

Rigged

The Jesse Owens Story

The Lion Roars Again

Sarge: The Badge or the Cross

The Rogues

Proof of the Man

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

Cool Hand Luke

Zig Zag

Charade

Perry Mason

The Dirty Dozen

The Andy Griffith Show

Deliver Us from Evil

Late Night with Conan O'Brien

A Great American Tragedy

Sarge

Cats Don't Dance

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

Duckman

Bonanza

The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest

The Commish

Lonely are the Brave

Santo Bugito

Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte

Search and Destroy

Have Gun, Will Travel

Death on the Nile

Kraft Mystery Theatre

The Flight of the Phoenix

Rare Breed

Rawhide

Death on the Nile: Making of Featurette

The Sons of Katie Elder

The Blue Knight

WWE SummerSlam 1994

Wings

The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear

Mirage

Saturday Night Live

77 Sunset Strip

Daniel Boone

Dallas

Shenandoah