George Kennedy

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.

George Kennedy studied at Tarleton State University and Chaminade High School. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is acting. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are Western film. Distinctions recorded are Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.

• Name — George Kennedy • Birth Name — George Harris Kennedy Jr. • Born — 18 February 1925 • Birthplace — New York City, U.S. • Died — 28 February 2016 • Place of death — Middleton, Idaho, U.S. • Occupation — Actor • Years Active — 1956–2014 • Children — 6

Kennedy was born on February 18, 1925, 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 other ancestry was Irish and English. Kennedy made his stage debut at age 2 in a touring company of Bringing Up Father, and by age 7, he was a New York City radio DJ. Kennedy graduated in 1943 from Chaminade High School in Mineola, Long Island, New York. Kennedy enlisted in the United States Army during World War II in 1943. He served 16 years, reaching the rank of captain. Kennedy served in the infantry under George S. Patton, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and earned two Bronze Stars. He re-enlisted after the war, and he was discharged in the late 1950s due to a back injury.

• Illustration — In Sarge, 1971 Kennedy's first screen role came by way of his final Army assignment: as military advisor on the TV sitcom The Phil Silvers Show. When an acting spot as a military policeman opened up, he got the part, calling the experience a "great training ground for me". His film career began in 1961 in The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come. He appeared in several Hollywood movies, including as a sadistic jail guard in the Kirk Douglas modern Western Lonely Are the Brave (1962), a ruthless criminal in the Cary Grant suspense film Charade (1963) and in the Joan Crawford thriller Strait-Jacket (1964). Kennedy was busy in 1965. He appeared with Gregory Peck in the mystery Mirage, with a large cast led by James Stewart in the plane-crash adventure The Flight of the Phoenix, with John Wayne in the war film In Harm's Way, and with Wayne and Dean Martin in the Western The Sons of Katie Elder. He played the character Blodgett in a 1966 episode "Return to Lawrence" of the series The Legend of Jesse James. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Cool Hand Luke (1967) for his performance as 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. Kennedy followed with films such as The Dirty Dozen, Bandolero! and The Boston Strangler. In 1970, he appeared in the disaster film Airport, in which he plays one of its main characters, airline troubleshooter Joe Patroni. He reprises this role in Airport 1975, Airport '77 and The Concorde... Airport '79, the only cast member to appear in each film of the series. • Illustration — As Bumper Morgan in The Blue Knight, 1976 The Airport franchise helped inspire the Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker satire Airplane!, in which the filmmakers hoped to cast Kennedy as the bumbling plane dispatcher. The role went to Lloyd Bridges because Kennedy "couldn't kill off his Airport cash-cow", Jerry Zucker said in 2010. Kennedy co-starred with Clint Eastwood in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot and The Eiger Sanction, and with ensemble casts in the disaster film Earthquake and the Agatha Christie mystery Death on the Nile. He also starred in two television series: Sarge, which aired from 1971 to 1972 and The Blue Knight from 1975 to 1976. Kennedy starred in two Japanese productions, Junya Satō's Proof of the Man in 1977 and Kinji Fukasaku's Virus in 1980. Both films were produced by Haruki Kadokawa and featured extensive international casts and shooting locations. Although Proof of the Man was only released theatrically in Japan and Virus saw a financially unsuccessful truncated cut in the U.S., Kennedy was highly enthusiastic about his involvement. In 1984, Kennedy starred with Bo Derek in the box-office bomb Bolero. His other films during the 1980s included Savage Dawn, The Delta Force and Creepshow 2. He played Captain Ed Hocken in all three entries of The Naked Gun film trilogy (1988, 1991, 1994) alongside Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley and O. J. Simpson. • Illustration — With Karen Black, 2008 In 1990, Kennedy appeared in the Korean film Mayumi directed by Shin Sang-ok. Despite featuring Kennedy, it saw no wide release outside of South Korea and was ultimately a box-office failure. On television, Kennedy starred as Carter McKay in the TV series Dallas (1978–1991), appearing from 1988 to 1991. From the mid-to-late 1990s, he promoted "BreathAsure" antacid tablets in radio and television commercials. Around this time, he reprised his role as McKay in the television films Dallas: J.R. Returns and Dallas: War of the Ewings. In the late 1970s, Kennedy also appeared as a celebrity guest on the game show Match Game. 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 Young and the Restless, playing the character Albert Miller, the biological father to character Victor Newman. In 2005, he made a cameo in the film Don't Come Knocking, playing the director of an ill-fated western. Kennedy made his final film appearance in The Gambler (2014) as Ed, the dying grandfather of Mark Wahlberg's Jim Bennett. His role lasts for less than two minutes during the film's opening scene, wherein Ed (moments before his death) bequeaths the responsibilities of patriarch to a heartbroken Jim.

Kennedy was married four times, to three women. In the 1940s, he married Dorothy Gillooly, who had served in the Women's Army Corps. They were divorced in the 1950s; Dorothy returned to her hometown, Buffalo, New York. In 1959, Kennedy married Norma Wurman, also known as Revel Wurman. The couple had two children. Kennedy and Norma divorced the first time in 1971, remarried in 1973, and divorced a second and final time in 1978. The same year, Kennedy married Joan McCarthy (née Castagna). They remained married until her death in September 2015. The couple adopted three children.

Kennedy was friends with James Stewart, and he provided the voiceover in a mini-tribute to Stewart on TCM. Kennedy was an aviator who enjoyed flying and owned a Cessna 210 and Beechcraft Bonanza. Following his experiences working for the Far East Network in the 1950s while still in the Army and professional involvement with Proof of the Man and Virus, Kennedy maintained a lifelong affinity for Japan and its culture.

Kennedy resided in Eagle, Idaho, at the time of his death. He died on the morning of February 28, 2016, of a heart ailment at an assisted-living facility in Middleton, Idaho, 10 days after his 91st birthday. He had a history of heart disease.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1956–1959 — The Phil Silvers Show — MP Sergeant Kennedy — 14 episodes • 1959 — Cheyenne — Lee Nelson — Episode: "Prisoner of Moon Mesa" • Colt.45 — Hank — Episode: "The Rival Gun" • The Deputy — Tex — Episode: "The Big Four" • Sugarfoot — Sykes — Episode: "The Canary Kid, Inc." • 1960 — Gunsmoke — Emil — Episode: "The Blacksmith" • Route 66 — Thad Skinner — Pilot Episode: "Black November" • Peter Gunn — Karl — Episode: "The Crossbow" • Sugarfoot — Ross Kuhn — Episode: "Funeral at Forty Mile" • Shotgun Slade — Tex — Episode: "The Spanish Box" • Laramie — Gallagher Henchman — Episode: "Duel at Alta Mesa" • Maverick — Deputy Jones — Episode: "Hadley's Hunters" • Lawman — Burt — Episode: "To Capture the West" • Have Gun – Will Travel — Tarnitzer — Episode: "The Legacy" • Lieutenant John Bryson — Episode: "A Head of Hair" • 1961 — Bat Masterson — Sheriff Zeke Armitage — Episode: "The Fourth Man" • Have Gun – Will Travel — Preston — Episode: "The Road" • Deke — Episode: "The Vigil" • Rud Saxon — Episode: "A Proof of Life" • Brother Grace — Episode: "Squatter's Rights" • Gunsmoke — Pat Swooner — Episode: "Big Man" • The Untouchables — Birdie — Episode: "The King of Champagne" • Gunslinger — Sheriff — Episode: "The Buried People" • Bonanza — Peter Long — Episode: "The Infernal Machine" • Gunsmoke — Jake Bayloe — Episode: "Kitty Shot" • 1962 — The Tall Man — Hyram Killgore — Episode: "One for All" • Rawhide — George Wales — Episode: "The Peddler" • Gunsmoke — Hug — Episode: "The Boys" • Have Gun – Will Travel — Big John — Episode: "Don't Shoot the Piano Player" • Going My Way — Mike — Episode: "A Man for Mary" • Death Valley Days — Steamboat Sully — Episode: "Miracle at Whiskey Gulch" • Outlaws — Joe Ferris — Episode: "Farewell Performance" • Tales of Wells Fargo — Hawk — Episode: "Assignment in Gloribee" • 1963 — The Andy Griffith Show — State Police Detective — Episode: "The Big House" • Have Gun – Will Travel — Brother Grace — Episode: "The Eve of St. Elmo" • Dr. Kildare — Joe Cramer — Episode: "To Each His Own Prison" • Perry Mason — George Spangler — Episode: "The Case of the Greek Goddess" • The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters — Angus — Episode: "The Day of the Long Night" • 1963–1964 — McHale's Navy — Big Frenchy — 2 episodes • 1964 — Gunsmoke — Cyrus — Episode: "Crooked Mile" • Bonanza — Waldo Watson — Episode: "The Scapegoat" • The Virginian — Jack Marshman — Episode: "A Gallows for Sam Horn" • Gunsmoke — Warden Stark — Episode: "The Warden" • 1965 — Daniel Boone — Zach Morgan — Episode: "A Rope for Mingo" • Laredo — Jess Moran — Episode: "Pride of the Rangers" • The Virginian — Tom "Bear" Suchette — Episode: "Nobility of Kings" • A Man Called Shenandoah — Mitchell Canady — Episode: "A Special Talent for Killing" • 1966 — Gunsmoke — Ben Payson — Episode: "Harvest" • The Legend of Jesse James — Blodgett — Episode: "Return to Lawrence" • Dr. Kildare — Sergeant Hensley — Episodes: "Mercy or Murder", "Strange Sort of Accident" • The Virginian — Huck Harkness — Episode: "The Trail to Ashley Mountain" • The Big Valley — Jack Thatcher — Episode: "Barbary Red" • 1967 — Tarzan — Crandell — Episode: "Thief Catcher" • 1971 — Ironside — Father Samuel Cavanaugh — Episode: "The Priest Killer" • Sarge — Father Samuel Patrick "Sarge" Cavanaugh (Swanson) — 16 episodes • 1972 — A Great American Tragedy — Brad Wilkes — Television Film • 1973 — Deliver Us from Evil — Cowboy • 1974 — A Cry in the Wilderness — Sam Hadley • 1975 — The Blue Knight — Bumper Morgan — 24 episodes • 1979 — Backstairs at the White House — President Warren G. Harding — Episode: #1.2 • 1981 — Saturday Night Live — Himself/host — Episode: "George Kennedy/Miles Davis" • 1983 — Fantasy Island — Adam Cobb — Episode: "God Child/Curtain Call" • 1984 — The Jesse Owens Story — Charles 'Charley' Riley — Television film • 1986 — Benson — Himself — Episodes: "Reel Murder" parts 1 & 2 • 1988–1991 — Dallas — Carter McKay — 67 episodes • 1994 — Lonesome Dove — Judge J.T. "Rope" Calder — Episode: "Judgement Day" • 1995 — The Commish — Al Scali — Episode: "The Golden Years" • The Gambler Part III: The Legend Continues — General Nelson Miles — Television miniseries • 1996 — Wings — Himself — Episode: "What About Larry?" • The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest — General Axton — Episode: "DNA Doomsday" • Dallas: J.R. Returns — Carter McKay — Television film • 1998 — Dallas: War of the Ewings • 2003 — The Young and the Restless — Albert Miller — 3 episodes • 2004 — The Complete History of U.S. Wars 1700–2004 — Host — 8 episodes • 2007 — Sands of Oblivion — John Tevis — Television film • 2010 — The Young and the Restless — Albert Miller (ghost) — Episode: #1.9553

Kennedy wrote 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.

George Kennedy was recorded at birth as George Harris Kennedy Jr. The authorities additionally record the headings George Harris Kennedy, Jr. And George Harris Kennedy. His recorded language was English. He was the child of George Harris Kennedy, Sr.

George Kennedy is recorded with the occupation military personnel. Recorded with the occupation television actor. Classed in the genre Western film. Recorded as having received Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and star on Hollywood Walk of Fame. Recognition and collections. Kennedy received Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.

• Year — Category — Award — Work — Result • 1967 — Academy Awards — Best Supporting Actor — Cool Hand Luke — rowspan="2" • 1967 — Laurel Awards — Top Male Supporting Performance • 1967 — Golden Globe Awards — Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture — rowspan="3" • 1970 — Airport • 1970 — Laurel Awards — Top Male Supporting Performance

• Illustration — The hand prints of Kennedy in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park • Illustration — George Kennedy's Star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame For his contributions to motion pictures, Kennedy received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6352 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.