George Kennedy Biography

George Harris Kennedy, Jr. (February 18, 1925 - February 28, 2016) was an American actor who appeared in more than two hundred film and television productions. He is best remembered for portraying "Dragline" opposite Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture.

His eclectic roster of performances also includes Joe Patroni in Airport (for which he received his second Golden Globe nomination) and its three sequels, 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

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. (ne Kieselbach), a ballet dancer. His maternal grandfather was a German immigrant; his ancestry also included Irish and English.

Kennedy made his stage debut at age 2 in a touring company of Bringing Up Father, and by 7 was a New York City radio DJ. Joining the U.S. military during World War II, he spent 16 years in that career until the late 1950s, when a back injury prompted him to find other work. He reached a rank of captain. His first notable screen role was a military advisor on the TV sitcom The Phil Silvers Show, where he served as a technical adviser, a role which Kennedy later described as "a great training ground".

Career

After a brief appearance in the 1960 film Spartacus, his film career began in 1961 in The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come. He appeared in several Hollywood movies, including Charade (1963), Strait-Jacket (1964), Hush"? Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) and In Harm's Way (1965).

He made numerous television appearances on such shows as The Asphalt Jungle, The Andy Griffith Show, Peter Gunn, The Untouchables, Bonanza, Maverick, McHale's Navy, Gunsmoke and Route 66. Kennedy played George Spangler in the 1963 Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Greek Goddess." He portrayed the character "Blodgett" in a 1966 episode "Return to Lawrence" of the ABC western series The Legend of Jesse James. Then came the role for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Cool Hand Luke (1967), that of "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 this role with films such as The Dirty Dozen, Bandolero! and The Boston Strangler. In 1970, he appeared in the Academy Award-winning 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 Airport franchise helped inspire the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker satire Airplane!, in which the filmmakers hoped to cast Mr. Kennedy as the bumbling plane dispatcher. The role went to Lloyd Bridges, because Mr. Kennedy "couldn"?t kill off his Airport cash-cow," Jerry Zucker said in 2010.

Kennedy co-starred with Clint Eastwood in a pair of films, 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.

In 1984, Kennedy starred opposite Bo Derek in the box-office bomb Bolero. He made other minor films including Savage Dawn, The Delta Force, and Creepshow 2 before playing a role in the comedy film The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! in 1988, playing Captain Ed Hocken opposite Leslie Nielsen's comical cop Frank Drebin. There were two sequels in which Kennedy co-starred.

On television, Kennedy starred as Carter McKay in the CBS prime time serial 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 Dallas: J.R. Returns and Dallas: War of the Ewings. In the late 1970s Kennedy also appeared as a celebrity guest on the television 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 soap opera The Young and the Restless, playing the character Albert Miller, the biological father to legendary character Victor Newman. In 2005, he made a cameo appearance in the film Don't Come Knocking, playing the director of an ill-fated western.

Honors

For his contributions to motion pictures, Kennedy has 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.

Personal life

Kennedy was an aviator who enjoyed flying and owned a Cessna 210 and Beechcraft Bonanza.

Kennedy was married four times. He married his first wife, Dorothy Gillooly in the 1940s. He was then married and divorced twice from Norma Wurman, also known as Revel Wurman, with whom he had two children. In 1978 he married Joan McCarthy, who died either in September 2015 . The couple adopted four children, including granddaughter Taylor, whose mother, one of their children, had drug-abuse issues.

Death

Kennedy resided in Eagle, Idaho at the time of his death. He died on the morning of February 28, 2016, of lung cancer at an assisted living facility in Middleton, Idaho, at the age of 91. Prior to his death, he had a history of heart problems.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1960	Spartacus	Rebel soldier	</ref> }}
1961	The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come	Nathan Dillon	CinemaScope film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen.
1962	Lonely Are the Brave	Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez	Film adaptation of the Edward Abbey novel The Brave Cowboy and directed by David Miller.
1963	The Man from the Diner's Club	George	Comedy film directed by Frank Tashlin.
	Charade	Herman Scobie	Romantic comedy/mystery film directed by Stanley Donen.
1964	McHale's Navy	Henri Le Clerc	Based on the 1962-1966 black and white television sitcom of the same name and directed by Edward Montagne.
	Island of the Blue Dolphins	Aleut Captain	Drama film directed by James B. Clark.
	Strait-Jacket	Leo Krause	Thriller film directed and co-produced by William Castle.
	Hush"? Hush, Sweet Charlotte	Foreman	Psychological thriller film directed and produced by Robert Aldrich.
1965	Mirage	Willard	Thriller film directed by Edward Dmytryk and based on the novel Fallen Angel written by Howard Fast under the pseudonym Walter Ericson.
	In Harm's Way	Colonel Gregory	Epic war film produced and directed by Otto Preminger.
	The Flight of the Phoenix	Mike Bellamy	Drama film produced & directed by Robert Aldrich and based on the 1964 novel The Flight of the Phoenix by Elleston Trevor.
	Shenandoah	Col. Fairchild	American Civil War film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen.
	The Sons of Katie Elder	Curley	Western film directed by Henry Hathaway.
1967	The Dirty Dozen	Major Max Armbruster	American war film directed by Robert Aldrich.
	Hurry Sundown	Sheriff Coombs	Drama film produced and directed by Otto Preminger.
	Cool Hand Luke	Dragline	Prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg.
	The Ballad of Josie	Arch Ogden	Comedy western film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen.
1968	The Pink Jungle	Sammy Ryderbeit	Thriller film directed by Delbert Mann.
	The Boston Strangler	Phil DiNatale	Neo-noir film based on the true story of the Boston Strangler and the book by Gerold Frank and directed by Richard Fleischer.
	Bandolero!	Sheriff Johnson	estern directed by Andrew V. McLaglen.
1969	The Good Guys and the Bad Guys	Big John McKay	Western film directed by Burt Kennedy.
	Gaily, Gaily	Johanson	</ref> }}
	Guns of the Magnificent Seven	Chris Adams	</ref> }}
1970	...tick...tick...tick...	John Little	Crime drama directed by Ralph Nelson.
	Airport	Joe Patroni	Drama film directed and written by George Seaton and based on Arthur Hailey's 1968 novel of the same name.
	Zig Zag	Paul R. Cameron	</ref> Also released as False Witness. }}
	Dirty Dingus Magee	Herkimer "Hoke" Birdsill	Anti- western film directed and produced by Burt Kennedy.
1971	Fools' Parade	"Doc" Council
1973	Lost Horizon	Sam Cornelius
	Cahill U.S. Marshal	Abe Fraser
1974	Thunderbolt and Lightfoot	Red Leary
	Airport 1975	Joe Patroni
	Earthquake	Sgt. Lew Slade
1975	The Eiger Sanction	Ben Bowman
	The "Human" Factor	John Kinsdale
1977	Airport '77	Joe Patroni
	Ningen no sh?mei	Ken Shuftan
1978	Mean Dog Blues	Captain Omar Kinsman
	Brass Target	Gen. George S. Patton
	Death on the Nile	Andrew Pennington
1979	Steel	Big Lew Cassidy
	The Concorde ... Airport '79	Capt. Joe Patroni
	Search and Destroy	Anthony Fusqua
	The Double McGuffin	Chief Talasek
1980	Virus	Admiral Conway
	Death Ship	Ashland
1981	Just Before Dawn	Roy McLean
	Modern Romance	Himself
1982	Wacko	Mr. Doctor Graves
	The Jupiter Menace	Himself	A documentary[sic] that examines the theory that the world is doomed and nothing can be done about it.
1984	Chattanooga Choo Choo	Bert
	Bolero	Cotton
1985	Radioactive Dreams	Spade Chandler
	Savage Dawn	Tick Rand
1986	The Delta Force	Father O'Malley
1987	Creepshow 2	Ray Spruce	segment "Old Chief Wood'nhead"
	The Gunfighters	Deke Turner
1988	Born to Race	Vincent Duplain
	Uninvited	Mike Harvey
	Counterforce	Vince Colby
	The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!	Capt. Ed Hocken
	Demonwarp	Bill Crafton
1989	The Terror Within	Hal
1990	Brain Dead	Vance
	Hired to Kill	Thomas
1991	Intensive Care	Dr. Bruckner
	Driving Me Crazy	McCready
	The Naked Gun 2: The Smell of Fear	Captain Ed Hocken
1992	Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story	Father Dave
1994	Naked Gun 33?: The Final Insult	Captain Ed Hocken
1997	Cats Don't Dance	L.B. Mammoth	voice
1998	Small Soldiers	Brick Bazooka	voice
	Dennis the Menace Strikes Again	Grandpa Johnson
2005	Don't Come Knocking	Director
2007	Sands of Oblivion	John Tevis
2008	The Man Who Came Back	Judge Duke
2011	Another Happy Day	Joe
2014	The Gambler	Ed

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1956-1959	The Phil Silvers Show	MP Sgt. Kennedy
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"
	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"
		Lt. John Bryson	episode: "A Head of Hair"
1961	Bat Masterson	Sherriff	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"
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"
1963-64	McHale's Navy	Big Frenchy	episodes: "French Leave for McHale", and "The Return of Big Frenchy"
1964	Gunsmoke	Cyrus	episode: "Crooked Mile"
	Bonanza	Waldo	episode: "The Scapegoat"
	The Virginian	Jack Marshman	episode: "A Gallows for Sam Horn"
	Gunsmoke	Warden Stryker	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	Sgt. Hensley	episodes: "Mercy or Murder", and "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
	Sarge	Father Samuel Patrick "Sarge" Cavanaugh (Swanson)	16 episodes
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-Guest host	1 episode, 10/17/81
1983	Fantasy Island	Adam Cobb	episode: "God Child/Curtain Call"
1988-1991	Dallas	Carter McKay	67 episodes
1994	Lonesome Dove	Judge J.T. "Rope" Calder	episode: "Judgement Day"
1995	The Gambler Part III: The Legend Continues	General Nelson Miles	Miniseries
1996	Wings	Himself	1 episode
	The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest	General Axton	episode: "DNA Doomsday"
	Dallas: J.R. Returns	Carter McKay	Made-for-TV-Movie
1998	Dallas: War of the Ewings	Carter McKay	Made-for-TV-Movie
2003	The Young and the Restless	Albert Miller	episodes: #1.7762, #1.7763, and #1.7764
2010		Albert Miller (ghost)	episode: #1.9553

Awards and nominations

Year	Category	Award	Work	Role	Result	ref
1968	Academy Award	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor	Cool Hand Luke	Dragline
	Laurel Award	Male Supporting Performance
	Golden Globe Award	Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1971	Golden Globe Award	Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture	Airport	Joe Patroni
	Laurel Award	Male Supporting Performance