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 t…
Movies & TV Shows
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The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988) — Ed Hocken
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The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991) — Ed Hocken
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Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994) — Ed Hocken
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Small Soldiers (1998) — Brick Bazooka (voice)
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Cool Hand Luke (1967) — Dragline
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The Gambler (2014) — Ed
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Charade (1963) — Herman Scobie
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The Dirty Dozen (1967) — Major Max Armbruster
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Death on the Nile (1978) — Andrew Pennington
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Creepshow 2 (1987) — Ray Spruce
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Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) — Red Leary
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View from the Top (2003) — Passenger Requesting Vodka (uncredited)
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The Delta Force (1986) — Father O'Malley
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Saturday Night Live (1975) — Self - Host
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Bonanza (1959) — Waldo Watson
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The Eiger Sanction (1975) — Ben Bowman
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Airport (1970) — Joe Patroni
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The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) — Bellamy
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Earthquake (1974) — Sgt. Lew Slade
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Airport '77 (1977) — Joe Patroni
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The Sons of Katie Elder (1965) — Curley
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Airport 1975 (1974) — Joe Patroni
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Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) — Foreman
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The Boston Strangler (1968) — Det. Phil DiNatale
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Dallas (1978) — Carter McKay
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Dennis the Menace Strikes Again! (1998) — Mr. Johnson
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The Concorde... Airport '79 (1979) — Joe Patroni
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Cats Don't Dance (1997) — L.B. Mammoth (voice)
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Lonely are the Brave (1962) — Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez
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The Andy Griffith Show (1960) — State Police Detective
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Shenandoah (1965) — Col. Fairchild
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Death Ship (1980) — Captain Ashland
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In Harm's Way (1965) — Colonel Gregory
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Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993) — Self - Guest
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Cahill: United States Marshal (1973) — Abe Fraser
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Just Before Dawn (1981) — Roy McLean
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Don't Come Knocking (2005) — Director
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Wings (1990) — George Kennedy
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Perry Mason (1957) — George Spangler
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Brain Dead (1990) — Vance