George Kennedy

Acting · 2.1 popularity

Age

101

Movies

126

Born: February 18, 1925 – February 28, 2016
From: New York City, New York, USA

Biography

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.

Works

126 films

Death on the Nile

19787.1

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

19887.3

Small Soldiers

19986.6

The Dirty Dozen

19677.6

The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear

19916.8

Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult

19946.5

Cool Hand Luke

19677.7

The Gambler

20146.0

The Delta Force

19866.0

Airport '77

19775.6

Earthquake

19746.1

Charade

19637.7

Airport 1975

19745.8

Airport

19706.5

Dennis the Menace Strikes Again!

19985.4

Bandolero!

19686.6

Death Ship

19805.1

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot

19746.8

The Flight of the Phoenix

19657.2

The Concorde... Airport '79

19794.7

Creepshow 2

19876.2

Guns of the Magnificent Seven

19695.4

Cats Don't Dance

19977.2

The Eiger Sanction

19756.1

View from the Top

20035.6

Driving Me Crazy

19913.8

The Sons of Katie Elder

19657.0

In Harm's Way

19656.6

Brain Dead

19905.6

2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift

20106.1

The Good Guys and the Bad Guys

19695.5

The Boston Strangler

19686.6

Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte

19647.3

… tick… tick… tick…

19706.7

Lonely are the Brave

19627.4

Don't Come Knocking

20056.2

Virus

19806.3

Cahill: United States Marshal

19736.1

Shenandoah

19656.9

Intensive Care

19914.0

Mirage

19657.1

Bolero

19843.5

The Ballad of Josie

19686.0

Lost Horizon

19735.5

Fools' Parade

19716.7

The Legend of Lylah Clare

19686.0

Demonwarp

19884.2

Savage Dawn

19854.4

The Blue Knight

19757.0

Proof of the Man

19777.8

Just Before Dawn

19816.0

Top Line

19884.5

Another Happy Day

20115.5

The Jesse Owens Story

19848.1

Nightmare at Noon

19884.7

Mayumi: Virgin Terrorist

19906.5

Sands of Oblivion

20074.4

McHale's Navy

19645.3

Strait-Jacket

19646.5

The Man Who Came Back

20084.6

Brass Target

19785.4

Ministry of Vengeance

19893.8

Island of the Blue Dolphins

19646.5

Hurry Sundown

19676.4

Modern Romance

19816.8

Airports

2025

The Jupiter Menace

19826.2

Uninvited

19884.8

The Man from the Diners' Club

19635.9

The Human Factor

19755.8

Dallas: J.R. Returns

19965.7

The Priest Killer

1971

Good Cops, Bad Cops

19904.2

The Boneyard Collection

20085.3

Three Bad Men

20052.5

The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire

19816.0

The Gambler: The Legend Continues

19876.0

The Bull of the West

19725.7

The Double McGuffin

19795.0

Bayou Ghost

199710.0

International Airport

19856.0

A Cry in the Wilderness

19746.5

Radioactive Dreams

19865.4

Armed and Deadly: The Making of 'The Dirty Dozen'

20066.0

Hired to Kill

19904.8

Dirty Dingus Magee

19704.7

Wacko

19825.1

Gunfight at Black Horses Canyon

19615.8

The Terror Within

19894.5

Counterforce

19885.6

The Lion Roars Again

19756.5

Steel

19795.6

Dallas: War of The Ewings

19985.6

Hangfire

19914.7

Liberty

19866.0

See How They Run

19646.0

Sarge: The Badge or the Cross

19718.0

Gaily, Gaily

19694.3

Mean Dog Blues

19784.8

Hotwire

19806.0

A Great American Tragedy

19727.5

Men in White

19983.8

A Rare Breed

19847.0

Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story

199210.0

Half Nelson

1985

Chattanooga Choo Choo

19846.7

Born to Race

19885.5

Six Days in Paradise

2010

Distant Justice

19925.5

Death on the Nile: Making of Featurette

19787.0

Hollyweird

19984.2

Zig Zag

19707.7

The Pink Jungle

19686.9

Monster Makers

20034.0

WWE SummerSlam 1994

19946.7

The Gunfighters

19875.0

Deliver Us from Evil

19737.5

Truce

20055.3

Sonic Boom

19745.6

Esmeralda Bay

19895.2

The Little Shepherd Of Kingdom Come

19614.3

Private Road: No Trespassing

19884.5

Search and Destroy

19797.1

What Price Victory

1988

Rigged

19859.0

A Natural Born World-Shaker: The Making of 'Cool Hand Luke'

2008