Oscar-Winning Actor George Kennedy Dies at 91

[Baz]

One of my favorites.....loved him in "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot", "The Dirty Dozen", "Creep Show II", "Cahill US Marshall", and again with Clint in "The Eiger Sanction"....among many others.

LINK

George Kennedy, who won an Academy Award for his bruising performance in "Cool Hand Luke" and later starred in the goofy "Naked Gun" franchise," died Sunday in Idaho. He was 91.

Canyon County Chief Deputy Coroner Steve Rhodes said Kennedy died Sunday at about 4:30 a.m. (6:30 a.m. ET) in a care facility in Middleton. His remains are being given to Cremation Society of Idaho for services.

Cory Schenkel, Kennedy's grandson, told the Associated Press that he died of old age.

[Nostril Cheese]

Hope Lucille was waiting for him above.

Iconic actor. RIP

[herr_oberst]

I always thought he didn't get the recognition he deserved. By that, I mean (in my opinion) he was every bit the skilled actor that someone like George C Scott was, but his iconic role was in Cool Hand Luke, while GCS killed it in Patton, so public perception being what it is....

R.I.P. Mr. Kennedy.

Loved your work.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

I always thought he didn't get the recognition he deserved. By that, I mean (in my opinion) he was every bit the skilled actor that someone like George C Scott was, but his iconic role was in Cool Hand Luke, while GCS killed it in Patton, so public perception being what it is....

R.I.P. Mr. Kennedy.

Loved your work.

As I see it....he didn't have any leading roles in film, like GCS did.

I think he could have pulled it off.....but for some reason he was always in supporting roles.

I don't know why - just the way it was.

That said.....I appreciate actors no matter if leading OR supporting. It is what it is.

[Baz]

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.
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 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. His first notable screen role was a military advisor on the TV sitcom The Phil Silvers Show, where he served as a technical adviser until star Phil Silvers encouraged Kennedy's acting 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. 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.
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. In 1998, he voiced Brick Bazooka for the film Small Soldiers and made a 2003 comeback to television in the soap opera The Young and the Restless. Kennedy resided in Eagle, Idaho and passed away on the morning of February 28, 2016, of natural causes at an assisted living facility in Middleton, Idaho, at the age of 91.

[URY914]

[Baz]

^^ Excellent pic...thanks, Paul!

[rattlsnak]

I remember him mostly from the Airport movies.. RIP..

[Nostril Cheese]

Having the Angels and the Trojans at Dodger Stadium makes this even funnier

[Nostril Cheese]

[Tobra]

Liked him in every single movie he was in, every one. Very under rated.

[impactbumper]

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