George Kennedy
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.
Cool Hand Luke
(Dragline)
The Dirty Dozen
(Major Max Armbruster)
The Flight of the Phoenix
(Bellamy)
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
(Foreman)
Airport
(Joe Patroni)
Death on the Nile
(Andrew Pennington)
Charade
(Herman Scobie)
The Eiger Sanction
(Ben Bowman)
Earthquake
(Sgt. Lew Slade)
Shenandoah
(Col. Fairchild)
Bolero
(Cotton)
Brain Dead
(Vance)
Cahill: United States Marshal
(Abe Fraser)
Small Soldiers
(Brick Bazooka (voice))
Sands of Oblivion
(John Tevis)
Death on the Nile: Making of Featurette
(Self / Andrew Pennington)
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
(Red Leary)
Airport '77
(Joe Patroni)
The Human Factor
(John Kinsdale)
Armed and Deadly: The Making of 'The Dirty Dozen'
(Self)
Death Ship
(Captain Ashland)
Guns of the Magnificent Seven
(Chris)
The Boston Strangler
(Det. Phil DiNatale)
Airport 1975
(Joe Patroni)
Don't Come Knocking
(Director)
Demonwarp
(Bill Crafton)
The Terror Within
(Hal)
The Concorde... Airport '79
(Joe Patroni)
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult
(Ed Hocken)
Strait-Jacket
(Leo Krause)
Bandolero!
(Sheriff July Johnson)
Virus
(Admiral Conway)
Another Happy Day
(Joe Baker)
Lonely are the Brave
(Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez)
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
(Ed Hocken)
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
(Ed Hocken)
The Delta Force
(Father O'Malley)
The Sons of Katie Elder
(Curley)
Dennis the Menace Strikes Again!
(Mr. Johnson)
Creepshow 2
(Ray Spruce)
Uninvited
(Mike Harvey)
The Man Who Came Back
(Judge Duke)
Radioactive Dreams
(Spade Chandler)
Fools' Parade
(Dallas 'Doc' Council)
Just Before Dawn
(Roy McLean)
Dirty Dingus Magee
(Herkimer 'Hoke' Birdsill)
Mirage
(Willard)
The Good Guys and the Bad Guys
(McKay)
The Ballad of Josie
(Arch Ogden)
Nightmare at Noon
(Sherrif Hanks)
Brass Target
(Gen. George S. Patton)
The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire
(Brakus)
Zig Zag
(Paul R. Cameron)
Search and Destroy
(Anthony Fusqua)
Wacko
(Mr. Doctor Graves)
Tick... Tick... Tick...
(John Little)
The Gunfighters
(Deke Turner)
Savage Dawn
(Tick Rand)
A Natural Born World-Shaker: The Making of 'Cool Hand Luke'
(Self)
Hired to Kill
(Thomas)
The Double McGuffin
(Chief Talasek)
Lost Horizon
(Sam Cornelius)
Steel
(Big Lew Cassidy)
Born to Race
(Vincent Duplain)
The Little Shepherd Of Kingdom Come
(Nathan Dillon)
Monster Makers
(Dexter Brisbane)
Top Line
(Heinrich Holzmann)
The Bull of the West
('Bear' Suchette)
Gaily, Gaily
(Axel P. Johanson)
Intensive Care
(Dr. Bruckner)
Hurry Sundown
(Sheriff Coombs)
Mean Dog Blues
(Captain Omar Kinsman)
The Man from the Diners' Club
(George)
Hotwire
(Farley & Harley Fontenot)
Private Road: No Trespassing
(Sam Milshaw)
Deliver Us from Evil
(Walter 'Cowboy' McAdams)
The Gambler, Part III: The Legend Continues
(General Nelson Miles)
The Jupiter Menace
(Himself)
Ministry of Vengeance
(Rev. Hughes)
A Cry in the Wilderness
(Sam Hadley)
Dallas - War of The Ewings
(Carter McKay)
Liberty
(Seamus Reilly)
The Pink Jungle
(Sammy Ryderbeit)
A Great American Tragedy
(Brad Wilkes)
See How They Run
(Rudy)
Counterforce
(Vince Colby)
Esmeralda Bay
(Wilson)
Sarge: The Badge or the Cross
(Sarge Swanson)
The Legend of Lylah Clare
(Matt Burke)
The Jesse Owens Story
(Charles 'Charley' Riley)
Hangfire
(Warden Barles)
In Harm's Way
(Colonel Gregory)
Island of the Blue Dolphins
(Aleut Captain)
Proof of the Man
(Ken Shuftan)
The Blue Knight
(Bumper Morgan)
International Airport
(Rudy Van Leuven)
The Gambler
(Ed)
Hollyweird
(George Kennedy)
Half Nelson
(Parsons)
Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story
(Father Dave Hagan)
Dallas: J.R. Returns
(Carter McKay)
Modern Romance
(George Kennedy / Zeron)
Truce
(Dr. Peter Gannon)
McHale's Navy
(Henri Le Clerc)
What Price Victory
(Big Buck Brayton)
Three Bad Men
(Ed Fiske)
View from the Top
(Passenger Requesting Vodka (uncredited))
2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift
((archive footage))
Distant Justice
(Tom Bradfield)
Driving Me Crazy
(John McCready)
Chattanooga Choo Choo
(Bert)
Men in White
(Army)
Mayumi: Virgin Terrorist
(Bahraini Investigator)
Rigged
(Ben)
Gunfight at Black Horses Canyon
(Hawk)
The Cops Are Robbers
Cats Don't Dance
(L.B. Mammoth (voice))
Rare Breed
Sonic Boom
(Ben Dover)
The Boneyard Collection
(Professor Zebediah Jones (segment "The Devil's Due at Midnight"))
WWE SummerSlam 1994
(Himself)
The Lion Roars Again
(Self)
The Andy Griffith Show
(State Police Detective)
The Great Adventure
(Sergeant Muldaney)
77 Sunset Strip
Cheyenne
(Lee Nelson)
Route 66
Wings
(George Kennedy)
Surfside 6
Gunsmoke
(Emil)
Perry Mason
(George Spangler)
The Rogues
(Major Vyx)
The Tall Man
Laredo
Going My Way
Outlaws
Rawhide
(George Wales)
Have Gun, Will Travel
Daniel Boone
(Zach Morgan)
The Virginian
(Jack Marshman)
Thriller
(John Paterson)
Sarge
(Father Samuel Cavanaugh)
Peter Gunn
The Big Valley
(Thatcher)
Tarzan
Grindl
Lawman
Bat Masterson
(Sheriff Zeke Armitage)
Riverboat
(Gunner Slagle)
The Legend of Jesse James
(Blodgett)
Dr. Kildare
(Joe Cramer)
The Oscars
(Self)
The Asphalt Jungle
Kraft Mystery Theatre
Maverick
Saturday Night Live
(Self - Host)
The Blue Knight
(Officer Bumper Morgan)
Dr. Kildare
(Sergeant Hensley)
The Virginian
(Tom 'Bear' Suchette)
Gunsmoke
(Bayloe)
Gunsmoke
(Swarner)
The Virginian
(Huck Harkness)
Gunsmoke
(Hug)
Gunsmoke
(Stark)
Gunsmoke
(Cyrus)
Gunsmoke
(Ben Payson)
Santo Bugito
(Ralph (voice))
Bonanza
(Waldo Watson)
Bonanza
(Peter Long)
The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest
(General Axton (voice))
Have Gun, Will Travel
(Deke - Killer)
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
(Der)
The Phil Silvers Show
(MP Sgt. Kennedy (uncredited))
The Commish
(Al Scali)
Dallas
(Carter McKay)
Ironside
(Father Samuel Cavanaugh)
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
(Self)
Backstairs at the White House
(Pres. Warren G. Harding)
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
(George Martin)
Sugarfoot
(Ross Kuhn)
The Mike Douglas Show
(Self)