George Kennedy

For other uses, see George Kennedy (disambiguation).

George Kennedy
Publicity photo of George Kennedy, 1975
Born	George Harris Kennedy, Jr. (1925-02-18) February 18, 1925 New York City, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	Chaminade High School in Mineola, New York
Alma mater	Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1927-1943, 1955–present
Spouse	Norma Wurman (1959–1971; divorced) Joan McCarthy (1978–present)
Children	2

George Harris Kennedy, Jr. (born February 18, 1925) is an American actor who has appeared in more than two hundred film and television productions. He is perhaps best known for four of his roles: as the convict "Dragline" in Cool Hand Luke, for which he won an Academy Award; as airline mechanic Joe Patroni in all four of the 1970s Airport disaster films; as Captain Ed Hocken in the Naked Gun series of comedy films; and as corrupt oil tycoon Carter McKay on the original Dallas television series.

Early life

Kennedy was born in New York City, into a show business family. His father, George Harris Kennedy, a musician and orchestra leader, died when Kennedy was four years old. He was raised by his mother, Helen A. (née Kieselbach), a ballet dancer. His maternal grandfather was a German immigrant; his ancestry also includes Irish and English.

Kennedy made his stage debut at the age of two, later becoming a radio performer. Kennedy put aside show business during World War II and served in the United States Army for sixteen years, having seen combat and working in the Armed Forces radio. He was involved with the opening of the first Army Information Office, which provided technical assistance to films and television shows. After retiring from the Army because of a back injury, Kennedy found his way back to the entertainment industry.

Career

Promotional photo of Kennedy for the TV series Sarge, 1971

Kennedy became a technical adviser for the television series The Phil Silvers Show, where after encouragement from Silvers his acting career began with a few one-line parts. After a very brief appearance in the 1960 blockbuster Spartacus, his film career began in 1961 in The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come. He then appeared in several prominent Hollywood movies, including Charade (1963) opposite Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, and James Coburn; "Strait-Jacket" (1964) opposite Joan Crawford and Diane Baker, 1964's Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte, opposite Bette Davis, and in such popular 1965 films as the crash-survivor drama The Flight of the Phoenix with James Stewart and the war story In Harm's Way with John Wayne.

He made numerous television appearances on such programs as The Andy Griffith Show, Peter Gunn, Bonanza, McHale's Navy and Gunsmoke. Kennedy played George Spangler in the 1963 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Greek Goddess." He portrayed the character "Blodgett" in a 1966 episode "Return to Lawrence" of the ABC western series The Legend of Jesse James, starring Christopher Jones in the title role. He also appeared on The Match Game as one of the panelists.

Then came a career-changing performance as Kennedy won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Cool Hand Luke (1967). He played "Dragline", a chain-gang convict who at first resents the new prisoner in camp played by Paul Newman, then comes to idolize the rebellious Luke.

He followed with films such as The Dirty Dozen, Bandolero! and The Boston Strangler. In 1970, he appeared in the Academy Award-winning disaster story Airport in which he played one of its key characters, airline troubleshooter Joe Patroni. He reprised this role in Airport 1975 and in two sequels.

Continuing to work with some of the biggest names in the business, Kennedy co-starred with Clint Eastwood in a pair of films, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot and The Eiger Sanction and with an ensemble cast including Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner in the disaster film Earthquake. He was part of an all-star cast in the Agatha Christie mystery Death on the Nile in 1978, joining the likes of David Niven, Peter Ustinov, Angela Lansbury and Bette Davis.

Kennedy as Bumper Morgan in The Blue Knight, 1976

In 1984, Kennedy starred opposite Bo Derek in the box-office bomb Bolero. He made other minor films including Savage Dawn, The Delta Force, and Creepshow 2 before connecting in the comedy hit The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! in 1988, playing Captain Ed Hocken opposite Leslie Nielsen's comical cop Frank Drebin. There were two sequels in which Kennedy co-starred.

On television, Kennedy starred as Carter McKay in the CBS prime time serial Dallas (1978–1991), appearing from 1988-1991. In the late 1990s, he promoted Breathasure tablets in television commercials with the quote, "I never go anywhere without my Breathasure." Around this time, he reprised his role as McKay in the television films Dallas: JR Returns and Dallas: War of the Ewings. In 1996, he played himself on Wings. He was asked to reprise his role from Airport (much to his annoyance) by Brian Hackett (Steven Weber).

In 1998, he voiced Brick Bazooka for the film Small Soldiers. He then made several independent films before making a 2003 comeback to television in the soap opera The Young and the Restless, playing the character Albert Miller, the biological father to legendary character Victor Newman. In 2005, he made a cameo appearance in the small film Don't Come Knocking, playing the director of an ill-fated western.

Honors

The handprints of George Kennedy in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

Kennedy received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to motion pictures, located at 6352 Hollywood Blvd.

Writing career

Kennedy has written three books. In 1983, he wrote the murder mystery Murder On Location, set on a film shoot. A second novel, Murder on High, was released in 1984. In 2011, he wrote his autobiography, Trust Me.

Personal life

Kennedy resides in Eagle in Ada County in southwestern Idaho. He is married to Joan McCarthy and has a daughter, Shaunna. The couple adopted their granddaughter, Taylor, after the incarceration of the child's mother.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1960	Spartacus	Hakan Küçük(Hakunin)	uncredited
1961	The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come	Nathan Dillon
1962	Lonely are the Brave	Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez
1963	The Silent Witness	Gus Jordan
	The Man from the Diner's Club	George
	Charade	Herman Scobie
1964	McHale's Navy	Henri Le Clerc
	Island of the Blue Dolphins	Aleut Captain
	Strait-Jacket	Leo Krause
	Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte	Foreman
1965	Mirage	Willard
	In Harm's Way	Colonel Gregory
	The Flight of the Phoenix	Mike Bellamy
	Shenandoah	Col. Fairchild
	The Sons of Katie Elder	Curley
1967	The Dirty Dozen	Major Max Armbruster
	Hurry Sundown	Sheriff Coombs
	Cool Hand Luke	Dragline	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Laurel Award for Male Supporting Performance Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
	The Ballad of Josie	Arch Ogden
1968	The Pink Jungle	Sammy Ryderbeit
	The Legend of Lylah Clare	Matt Burke	uncredited
	The Boston Strangler	Phil DiNatale
	Bandolero!	Sheriff Johnson
1969	The Good Guys and the Bad Guys	Big John McKay
	Gaily, Gaily	Johanson
	Guns of the Magnificent Seven	Chris
1970	...tick...tick...tick...	John Little
	Airport	Joe Patroni	Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated - Laurel Award for Male Supporting Performance
	Zigzag	Paul R. Cameron
	Dirty Dingus Magee	Herkimer 'Hoke' Birdsill
1971	Fools' Parade	'Doc' Council
1973	Lost Horizon	Sam Cornelius
	Cahill U.S. Marshal	Abe Fraser
1974	Sonic Boom	A Man In The Wilderness	Short Film
	A Cry in the Wilderness	Sam Hadley	TV movie
	Thunderbolt and Lightfoot	Red Leary
	Airport 1975	Joe Patroni
	Earthquake	Sgt. Lew Slade
1975	The Eiger Sanction	Ben Bowman
	The 'Human' Factor	John Kinsdale
1977	Airport '77	Joe Patroni
	Ningen no shōmei	Ken Shuftan
1978	Mean Dog Blues	Captain Omar Kinsman
	Brass Target	Gen. George S. Patton
	Death on the Nile	Andrew Pennington
1979	The Concorde ... Airport '79	Capt. Joe Patroni
	The Double McGuffin	Chief Talasek
	Search and Destroy	Anthony Fusqua
	Steel	Big Lew Cassidy
1980	Virus	Admiral Conway
	Death Ship	Ashland
	Hotwire	Farley & Harley Fontenot
1981	Just Before Dawn	Roy McLean
	Modern Romance	Himself
1983	Wacko	Mr. Doctor Graves
1984	A Rare Breed	Nathan Hill
	Chattanooga Choo Choo	Bert
	Bolero	Cotton
1985	Radioactive Dreams	Spade Chandler
	Savage Dawn	Tick Rand
1986	The Delta Force	Father O'Malley
	Rigged
1987	Creepshow 2	Ray Spruce	segment "Old Chief Wood'nhead"
1988	Top Line	Heinrich Holzmann	released as Alien Terminator
	Born to Race	Vincent Duplain
	Nightmare at Noon	Sheriff Hanks
	Uninvited	Mike Harvey
	Escuadrón	Vince Colby
	The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!	Capt. Ed Hocken
	Demonwarp	Bill Crafton
1989	Ministry of Vengeance	Rev. Hughes
	La Bahía esmeralda	Wilson
	The Terror Within	Hal
1990	Brain Dead	Vance
	Hired to Kill	Thomas
	Mayumi
1991	Intensive Care	Dr. Bruckner
	Hangfire	Warden
	Driving Me Crazy	McCready
	The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear	Captain Ed Hocken
1992	Distant Justice	Tom Bradfield
1994	River of Stone
	Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult	Captain Ed Hocken
1997	Bayou Ghost	Officer Lowe
	Cats Don't Dance	L.B. Mammoth	voice
1998	Small Soldiers	Brick Bazooka	voice
	Dennis the Menace Strikes Again	Grandpa Johnson
2003	View from the Top	Passenger Requesting Vodka	uncredited
2005	Three Bad Men	Ed Fiske
	Truce	Dr. Peter Gannon
	Don't Come Knocking	Director
2007	Sands of Oblivion	John Tevis
2008	The Man Who Came Back	Judge Duke
2011	Another Happy Day	Joe

Television series

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1960	"Gunsmoke" The Blacksmith	Emil	S06E02
1961	Bat Masterson	Sherriff	Episode: The Fourth Man
1961	Have Gun Will Travel	Tarnitzer	Episode: THE LEGACY
1961	The Untouchables	Birdie	s2E5
1962	The Tall Man	Hyram Killgore	"One for All"
1962	Going My Way	Mike	"A Man for Mary"
1963	Perry Mason	George Spangler	"The Case of the Greek Goddess"
1963	The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters	Angus	"The Day of the Long Night"
1964	Bonanza	Waldo	1 episode "The Scapegoat"
1964	Gunsmoke	Warden Stryker	1 episode "The Warden"
1966	Gunsmoke	Ben Payson	1 episode
1971	Sarge	Father Samuel Patrick "Sarge" Cavanaugh (Swanson)	16 episodes
1975	The Blue Knight	Bumper Morgan	24 episodes
1979	Backstairs at the White House	President Warren G. Harding	1 episode
1981	Saturday Night Live	Himself-Guest host	1 episode	1988–1991; 1996; 1998	Dallas	Carter McKay	67 episodes + 2 TV Movies
1996	Wings	Himself	1 episode
2003	The Young and the Restless	Albert Miller	3 episodes
2010	The Young and the Restless	Albert Miller (ghost)	1 episode

External links

• George Kennedy at IMDb
• George Kennedy at AllMovie