George Kennedy
120 movies · 45 TV shows
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Feb 18, 1925
- Died
- Feb 28, 2016 (age 91)
- Place of birth
- New York City, New York, USA
- Also known as
- George Harris Kennedy Jr. · جورج کندی
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).
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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.
Profiles IMDb
Known for
-
★ 7.3 The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
1988 · Film
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★ 6.8 The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
1991 · Film
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★ 6.5 Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult
1994 · Film
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★ 6.6 Small Soldiers
1998 · Film
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★ 7.7 Cool Hand Luke
1967 · Film
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★ 6.1 The Gambler
2014 · Film
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★ 7.7 Charade
1963 · Film
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★ 7.6 The Dirty Dozen
1967 · Film
George Kennedy: movies and TV shows
Acting (165)
- 2025
- 2014 The Gambler
as Ed
- 2011 Another Happy Day
as Joe Baker
- 2010 Six Days in Paradise
as Monty Crenshaw
- 2010 2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift
as (archive footage)
- 2008 The Man Who Came Back
as Judge Duke
- 2008 The Boneyard Collection
as Professor Zebediah Jones (segment "The Devil's Due at Midnight")
- 2007 Sands of Oblivion
as John Tevis
- 2005 Don't Come Knocking
as Director
- 2005 Three Bad Men
as Ed Fiske
- 2005 Truce
as Dr. Peter Gannon
- 2003 Monster Makers
as Dexter Brisbane
- 2003 View from the Top
as Passenger Requesting Vodka (uncredited)
- 1998 Men in White
as Army
- 1998 Dennis the Menace Strikes Again!
as Mr. Johnson
- 1998 Small Soldiers
as Brick Bazooka (voice)
- 1998 Dallas: War of The Ewings
as Carter McKay
- 1998 Hollyweird
as George Kennedy
- 1997 Cats Don't Dance
as L.B. Mammoth (voice)
- 1997 Bayou Ghost
as Officer Lowe
- 1996 Dallas: J.R. Returns
as Carter McKay
- 1996
- 1995
- 1994 Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult
as Ed Hocken
- 1994
- 1992 Distant Justice
as Tom Bradfield
- 1992 Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story
as Father Dave Hagan
- 1991 Intensive Care
as Dr. Bruckner
- 1991
- 1991 The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
as Ed Hocken
- 1991 Driving Me Crazy
as John McCready
- 1991 Hangfire
as Warden Barles
- 1990
- 1990 Mayumi: Virgin Terrorist
as Bahraini Investigator
- 1990 Hired to Kill
as Thomas
- 1990
- 1990 Brain Dead
as Vance
- 1989 Ministry of Vengeance
as Rev. Hughes
- 1989 Esmeralda Bay
as Wilson
- 1989 The Terror Within
as Hal
- 1988 The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
as Ed Hocken
- 1988 Uninvited
as Mike Harvey
- 1988 Top Line
as Heinrich Holzmann
- 1988 Nightmare at Noon
as Sherrif Hanks
- 1988 Private Road: No Trespassing
as Sam Milshaw
- 1988 Demonwarp
as Bill Crafton
- 1988 Counterforce
as Vince Colby
- 1988 Born to Race
as Vincent Duplain
- 1988 What Price Victory
as Big Buck Brayton
- 1987 The Gambler: The Legend Continues
as General Nelson Miles
- 1987 Creepshow 2
as Ray Spruce
- 1987 The Gunfighters
as Deke Turner
- 1986 Radioactive Dreams
as Spade Chandler
- 1986 Liberty
as Seamus Reilly
- 1986 The Delta Force
as Father O'Malley
- 1985 Savage Dawn
as Tick Rand
- 1985 International Airport
as Rudy Van Leuven
- 1985 Rigged
as Ben Wheeler
- 1985 Half Nelson
as Parsons
- 1984
- 1984 Bolero
as Cotton
- 1984 The Jesse Owens Story
as Charles 'Charley' Riley
- 1984 Chattanooga Choo Choo
as Bert
- 1982 Wacko
as Mr. Doctor Graves
- 1981 Just Before Dawn
as Roy McLean
- 1981 The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire
as Brakus
- 1981 Modern Romance
as George Kennedy / Zeron
- 1980 Hotwire
as Farley & Harley Fontenot
- 1980 Virus
as Admiral Conway
- 1980 Death Ship
as Captain Ashland
- 1979 Steel
as Big Lew Cassidy
- 1979 The Concorde... Airport '79
as Joe Patroni
- 1979 Search and Destroy
as Anthony Fusqua
- 1979 The Double McGuffin
as Chief Talasek
- 1979
- 1978 Brass Target
as Gen. George S. Patton
- 1978 Death on the Nile
as Andrew Pennington
- 1978
- 1978 Mean Dog Blues
as Captain Omar Kinsman
- 1977 Proof of the Man
as Ken Shuftan
- 1977 Airport '77
as Joe Patroni
- 1975 The Human Factor
as John Kinsdale
- 1975 The Eiger Sanction
as Ben Bowman
- 1975 The Blue Knight
as Bumper Morgan
- 1975
- 1974 Earthquake
as Sgt. Lew Slade
- 1974 Airport 1975
as Joe Patroni
- 1974 Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
as Red Leary
- 1974 A Cry in the Wilderness
as Sam Hadley
- 1974 Sonic Boom
as Ben Dover
- 1973 Deliver Us from Evil
as Walter 'Cowboy' McAdams
- 1973 Cahill: United States Marshal
as Abe Fraser
- 1973 Lost Horizon
as Sam Cornelius
- 1972 A Great American Tragedy
as Brad Wilkes
- 1972 The Bull of the West
as 'Bear' Suchette
- 1971 The Priest Killer
as Father Samuel Cavanaugh
- 1971 Fools' Parade
as Dallas 'Doc' Council
- 1971 Sarge: The Badge or the Cross
as Sarge Swanson
- 1971
- 1970 Dirty Dingus Magee
as Herkimer 'Hoke' Birdsill
- 1970 Zig Zag
as Paul R. Cameron
- 1970 Airport
as Joe Patroni
- 1970 … tick… tick… tick…
as John Little
- 1969 Gaily, Gaily
as Axel P. Johanson
- 1969 The Good Guys and the Bad Guys
as McKay
- 1969 Guns of the Magnificent Seven
as Chris
- 1968 The Pink Jungle
as Sammy Ryderbeit
- 1968 The Boston Strangler
as Det. Phil DiNatale
- 1968 The Legend of Lylah Clare
as Matt Burke
- 1968 Bandolero!
as Sheriff July Johnson
- 1967 The Ballad of Josie
as Arch Ogden
- 1967 Cool Hand Luke
as Dragline
- 1967 The Dirty Dozen
as Major Max Armbruster
- 1967
- 1967 Hurry Sundown
as Sheriff Coombs
- 1966
- 1965 The Flight of the Phoenix
as Bellamy
- 1965 Mirage
as Willard
- 1965
- 1965
- 1965
- 1965 The Sons of Katie Elder
as Curley
- 1965 Shenandoah
as Col. Fairchild
- 1965 In Harm's Way
as Colonel Gregory
- 1964 Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
as Foreman
- 1964 See How They Run
as Rudy
- 1964
- 1964
- 1964 Island of the Blue Dolphins
as Aleut Captain
- 1964 McHale's Navy
as Henri Le Clerc
- 1964 Strait-Jacket
as Leo Krause
- 1963 Charade
as Herman Scobie
- 1963
- 1963
- 1963 The Man from the Diners' Club
as George
- 1962
- 1962
- 1962
- 1962 Lonely are the Brave
as Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez
- 1961 Gunfight at Black Horses Canyon
as Hawk
- 1961
- 1961
- 1961 The Little Shepherd Of Kingdom Come
as Nathan Dillon
- 1961
- 1961
- 1960
- 1960
- 1960
- 1960
- 1960
- 1960
- 1959
- 1959
- 1959
- 1958
- 1958
- 1958
- 1958
- 1957
- 1957
- 1957
- 1957
- 1955
- 1955
- 1955
Talk shows and appearances (13)
- 2008
- 2006
- 1994
- 1993 Late Night with Conan O'Brien
1 episode
- 1982
- 1978
- 1975 Saturday Night Live
1 episode
- 1975
- 1973 The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
1 episode
- 1963 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1 episode
- 1962 The Merv Griffin Show
1 episode
- 1961 The Mike Douglas Show
1 episode
- 1953 The Oscars
3 episodes