George Kennedy - Movies, Bio & Filmography

Meet George Kennedy

★ Acting🎥 125 films📺 66 TV shows📅 1953–2025🔥 2

Also known as: George Harris Kennedy Jr., جورج کندی

Born in New York City, New York, USA

1925-02-18 (age 91 at death)

Died 2016-02-28

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.From Wikipedia
George Harris Kennedy Jr. (February 18, 1925 – February 28, 2016) was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 film and television productions. He played "Dragline" in Cool Hand Luke (1967), winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role and being nominated for the corresponding Golden Globe. He received a second Golden Globe nomination for portraying Joe Patroni in Airport (1970).
Among other films in which he had a significant role are Lonely Are the Brave; Charade; Strait-Jacket, McHale's Navy; Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte;  Mirage; Shenandoah; The Sons of Katie Elder; The Flight of the Phoenix; In Harm's Way; The Dirty Dozen; The Boston Strangler; Guns of the Magnificent Seven; tick… tick… tick…; Cahill U.S. Marshal; Thunderbolt and Lightfoot; The Good Guys and the Bad Guys; Earthquake; The Eiger Sanction and The Delta Force.
Kennedy is the only actor to appear in all four films in the Airport series, reprising the role of Joe Patroni each time. He also portrays Police Captain Ed Hocken in the Naked Gun series of films, and corrupt oil tycoon Carter McKay on the original Dallas television series.

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