George Kennedy
George Kennedy (February 18, 1925 — February 28, 2016) was an American actor. 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.
Known for
The Andy Griffith Show
State Police Detective
Dallas
Carter McKay
The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest
General Axton (voice)
Bonanza
Waldo Watson
Bonanza
Peter Long
Dr. Kildare
Joe Cramer
Dr. Kildare
Sergeant Hensley
The Legend of Jesse James
Blodgett
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
George Martin
Have Gun, Will Travel
Have Gun, Will Travel
Deke - Killer
Have Gun, Will Travel
Big Jim
Have Gun, Will Travel
Sam Tarnitzer
Thriller
John Paterson
Route 66
Perry Mason
George Spangler
Maverick
Daniel Boone
Zach Morgan
The Big Valley
Thatcher
Cheyenne
Lee Nelson
Wings
George Kennedy
Bat Masterson
Sheriff Zeke Armitage
Surfside 6
Peter Gunn
Rawhide
George Wales
Outlaws
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
Self
Ironside
Father Samuel Cavanaugh
77 Sunset Strip
The Asphalt Jungle
Going My Way
Tarzan
Sugarfoot
Ross Kuhn
The Phil Silvers Show
MP Sgt. Kennedy (uncredited)
Grindl
The Oscars
Self
Kraft Mystery Theatre
The Virginian
Jack Marshman
The Virginian
Tom 'Bear' Suchette
The Virginian
Huck Harkness
Riverboat
Gunner Slagle
The Commish
Al Scali
Sarge
Father Samuel Cavanaugh
Santo Bugito
Ralph (voice)
The Great Adventure
Sergeant Muldaney
Lawman
The Rogues
Major Vyx
Gunsmoke
Emil
Gunsmoke
Swarner
Gunsmoke
Bayloe
Gunsmoke
Hug
Gunsmoke
Stark
Gunsmoke
Cyrus
Gunsmoke
Ben Payson
The Blue Knight
Officer Bumper Morgan
The Tall Man
Laredo
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
Ed Hocken
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult
Ed Hocken
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
Ed Hocken
Virus
Admiral Conway
Small Soldiers
Brick Bazooka (voice)
The Gambler
Ed
Charade
Herman Scobie
Cool Hand Luke
Dragline
The Dirty Dozen
Major Max Armbruster
Backstairs at the White House
Pres. Warren G. Harding
The Delta Force
Father O'Malley
Death on the Nile
Andrew Pennington
Earthquake
Sgt. Lew Slade
The Flight of the Phoenix
Bellamy
Airport
Joe Patroni
In Harm's Way
Colonel Gregory
Airport '77
Joe Patroni
Airport 1975
Joe Patroni
Lonely are the Brave
Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
Red Leary
The Sons of Katie Elder
Curley
Creepshow 2
Ray Spruce
Guns of the Magnificent Seven
Chris
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
Foreman
The Boston Strangler
Det. Phil DiNatale
Dennis the Menace Strikes Again!
Mr. Johnson
Shenandoah
Col. Fairchild
The Eiger Sanction
Ben Bowman
Bandolero!
Sheriff July Johnson
Brain Dead
Vance
Don't Come Knocking
Director
Cahill: United States Marshal
Abe Fraser
View from the Top
Passenger Requesting Vodka (uncredited)
The Concorde... Airport '79
Joe Patroni
Cats Don't Dance
L.B. Mammoth (voice)
Uninvited
Mike Harvey
Mirage
Willard
Death Ship
Captain Ashland
Bolero
Cotton
The Terror Within
Hal
Proof of the Man
Ken Shuftan
The Ballad of Josie
Arch Ogden
Another Happy Day
Joe Baker
Strait-Jacket
Leo Krause
Lost Horizon
Sam Cornelius
Brass Target
Gen. George S. Patton
Sands of Oblivion
John Tevis
The Good Guys and the Bad Guys
McKay
The Jesse Owens Story
Charles 'Charley' Riley
Modern Romance
George Kennedy / Zeron
Just Before Dawn
Roy McLean
Gaily, Gaily
Axel P. Johanson
Hurry Sundown
Sheriff Coombs
The Legend of Lylah Clare
Matt Burke
Radioactive Dreams
Spade Chandler
Three Bad Men
Ed Fiske
Hired to Kill
Thomas
Dirty Dingus Magee
Herkimer 'Hoke' Birdsill
The Bull of the West
'Bear' Suchette
Liberty
Seamus Reilly
Fools' Parade
Dallas 'Doc' Council
The Human Factor
John Kinsdale
Wacko
Mr. Doctor Graves
2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift
(archive footage)
The Gambler: The Legend Continues
General Nelson Miles
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Aleut Captain
The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire
Brakus
The Boneyard Collection
Professor Zebediah Jones (segment "The Devil's Due at Midnight")
Savage Dawn
Tick Rand
Chattanooga Choo Choo
Bert
The Man Who Came Back
Judge Duke
Counterforce
Vince Colby
Demonwarp
Bill Crafton
Dallas: J.R. Returns
Carter McKay
Tick... Tick... Tick...
John Little
Hangfire
Warden Barles
A Great American Tragedy
Brad Wilkes
The Man from the Diners' Club
George
WWE SummerSlam 1994
Himself
The Lion Roars Again
Self
Half Nelson
Parsons
Steel
Big Lew Cassidy
Zig Zag
Paul R. Cameron
Private Road: No Trespassing
Sam Milshaw
Hollyweird
George Kennedy
Dallas: War of The Ewings
Carter McKay
Gunfight at Black Horses Canyon
Hawk
A Cry in the Wilderness
Sam Hadley
International Airport
Rudy Van Leuven
McHale's Navy
Henri Le Clerc
Sarge: The Badge or the Cross
Sarge Swanson
Search and Destroy
Anthony Fusqua
Mean Dog Blues
Captain Omar Kinsman
The Cops Are Robbers
Driving Me Crazy
John McCready
Sonic Boom
Ben Dover
The Pink Jungle
Sammy Ryderbeit
Men in White
Army
Hotwire
Farley & Harley Fontenot
Nightmare at Noon
Sherrif Hanks
The Blue Knight
Bumper Morgan
The Double McGuffin
Chief Talasek
The Little Shepherd Of Kingdom Come
Nathan Dillon
See How They Run
Rudy
Top Line
Heinrich Holzmann
Distant Justice
Tom Bradfield
Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story
Father Dave Hagan
The Gunfighters
Deke Turner
Deliver Us from Evil
Walter 'Cowboy' McAdams
Mayumi: Virgin Terrorist
Bahraini Investigator
Truce
Dr. Peter Gannon
Esmeralda Bay
Wilson
Born to Race
Vincent Duplain
Armed and Deadly: The Making of 'The Dirty Dozen'
Self
The Jupiter Menace
Himself
Ministry of Vengeance
Rev. Hughes
What Price Victory
Big Buck Brayton
Rare Breed
A Natural Born World-Shaker: The Making of 'Cool Hand Luke'
Self
Intensive Care
Dr. Bruckner
The Priest Killer
Father Samuel Cavanaugh
Rigged
Ben
The Mike Douglas Show
Self
Monster Makers
Dexter Brisbane
Bayou Ghost
Officer Lowe
Saturday Night Live
Self - Host
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
Der