American actor (1925–2016)
George Harris Kennedy Jr. (February 18, 1925 – February 28, 2016) was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 film and television productions. He played "Dragline" in "Cool Hand Luke" (1967), winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role and being nominated for the corresponding Golden Globe. He received a second Golden Globe nomination for portraying Joe Patroni in "Airport" (1970).
Among other films he had a significant role in 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 was the only actor to appear in all four films in the "Airport" series, reprising the role of Joe Patroni three times. He also played Police Captain Ed Hocken in the "Naked Gun" series of comedy films, and corrupt oil tycoon Carter McKay on the original "Dallas" television series.
Early life, education and military service.
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.
Career.
His first notable screen role was a military policeman on the TV sitcom "The Phil Silvers Show", where he also served as a technical adviser to ensure accuracy for the show's military base setting. Kennedy later described the Silvers show as "a great training ground".
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 played one of its main characters, airline troubleshooter Joe Patroni. He reprised this role in "Airport 1975", "Airport '77" and "The Concorde ... Airport '79", the only cast member to appear in each film of the series.
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.
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" tablets in radio and television commercials. Around this time, he reprised his role as McKay in the television films ' and '. 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.
Personal life.
Marriages and children.
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, son Christopher and daughter Karianna. 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), daughter of John Castagna and former wife of William James McCarthy. They remained married until her death in September 2015. The couple adopted three children, including Shaunna Kennedy, who later developed drug-abuse problems. In 1998, after Shaunna was declared unfit to raise her daughter Taylor, Kennedy and Joan also adopted this grandchild.
Interests.
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 during WWII and professional involvement with "Proof of the Man" and "Virus", Kennedy maintained a lifelong affinity for Japan and its culture.
Illness and death.
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.
Honors.
For his contributions to motion pictures, Kennedy received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6352 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
Writing career.
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".
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