George Kennedy

George Harris Kennedy Jr. was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 film and television productions. He played "Dragline" in Cool Hand Luke, 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.
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.

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., 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.

Acting career

Kennedy's first notable screen role was a military policeman on the TV sitcom The Phil Silvers Show, for which 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, a ruthless criminal in the Cary Grant suspense film Charade and in the Joan Crawford thriller Strait-Jacket.
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 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.
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 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, 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 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 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. 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. They remained married until her death in September 2015. The couple adopted three children.

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.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1961	The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come	Nathan Dillon	directed by Andrew V. McLaglen
1962	Lonely Are the Brave	Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez	directed by David Miller
1962	The Silent Witness	Gus Jordan
1963	The Man from the Diners' Club	George	directed by Frank Tashlin
1963	Charade	Herman Scobie	directed by Stanley Donen
1964	Strait-Jacket	Leo Krause	directed and co-produced by William Castle
1964	McHale's Navy	Henri Le Clerc	based on the 1962–1966 sitcom of the same name and directed by Edward Montagne
1964	Island of the Blue Dolphins	Aleut Captain	directed by James B. Clark
1964	Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte	Foreman	directed and produced by Robert Aldrich
1965	In Harm's Way	Colonel Gregory	produced and directed by Otto Preminger
1965	Mirage	Willard	directed by Edward Dmytryk and based on the novel Fallen Angel written by Howard Fast under the pseudonym Walter Ericson
1965	Shenandoah	Colonel Fairchild	directed by Andrew V. McLaglen
1965	The Sons of Katie Elder	Curley	directed by Henry Hathaway
1965	The Flight of the Phoenix	Mike Bellamy	produced and directed by Robert Aldrich and based on the 1964 novel The Flight of the Phoenix by Elleston Trevor
1967	Hurry Sundown	Sheriff Coombs	produced and directed by Otto Preminger
1967	The Dirty Dozen	Major Max Armbruster	directed by Robert Aldrich
1967	Cool Hand Luke	Dragline	directed by Stuart Rosenberg
1967	The Ballad of Josie	Arch Ogden	directed by Andrew V. McLaglen
1968	Bandolero!	Sheriff July Johnson	directed by Andrew V. McLaglen
1968	The Pink Jungle	Sammy Ryderbeit	directed by Delbert Mann
1968	The Legend of Lylah Clare	Matt Burke	uncredited
1968	The Boston Strangler	Det. Phil DiNatale	based on the true story of the Boston Strangler and the book by Gerold Frank; directed by Richard Fleischer
1969	Guns of the Magnificent Seven	Chris Adams	directed by Paul Wendkos
1969	The Good Guys and the Bad Guys	Big John McKay	directed by Burt Kennedy
1969	Gaily, Gaily	Axel P. Johanson	directed by Norman Jewison and based on the autobiographical novel by Ben Hecht
1970	...tick...tick...tick...	John Little	directed by Ralph Nelson
1970	Airport	Joe Patroni	directed by George Seaton and based on Arthur Hailey's 1968 novel of the same name
1970	Zig Zag	Paul R. Cameron	directed by Richard A. Colla
1970	Dirty Dingus Magee	Herkimer "Hoke" Birdsill	directed and produced by Burt Kennedy
1971	Fools' Parade	Dallas "Doc" Council	directed by Andrew McLaglen
1973	Lost Horizon	Sam Cornelius	directed by Charles Jarrott
1973	Cahill U.S. Marshal	Abe Fraser	directed by Andrew V. McLaglen
1974	Thunderbolt and Lightfoot	Red Leary	written and directed by Michael Cimino
1974	Airport 1975	Joe Patroni	directed by Jack Smight
1974	Earthquake	Sergeant Lew Slade	directed and produced by Mark Robson
1975	The Eiger Sanction	Ben Bowman	based on the novel of the same name by Trevanian and directed by and starring Clint Eastwood
1975	The "Human" Factor	John Kinsdale	directed by Edward Dmytryk
1977	Airport '77	Joe Patroni	directed by Jerry Jameson
1977	Proof of the Man	Ken Shuftan	directed by Junya Satō
1978	Mean Dog Blues	Captain Omar Kinsman	directed by Mel Stuart
1978	Death on the Nile	Andrew Pennington	based on the novel of the same name, directed by John Guillermin, and adapted by Anthony Shaffer
1978	Brass Target	General George S. Patton	based on the novel The Algonquin Project by Frederick Nolan and directed by John Hough
1979	Search and Destroy	Anthony Fusqua	directed by William Fruet
1979	The Double McGuffin	Chief Talasek	directed by Joe Camp
1979	Steel	Big Lew Cassidy	directed by Steve Carver
1979	The Concorde... Airport '79	Captain Joe Patroni	directed by David Lowell Rich
1980	Death Ship	Captain Ashland	directed by Alvin Rakoff
1980	Virus	Admiral Conway	directed by Kinji Fukasaku and based on a 1964 novel written by Sakyo Komatsu.
1980	Hotwire	Farley & Harley Fontenot
1981	Just Before Dawn	Roy McLean	directed by Jeff Lieberman
1981	Modern Romance	Himself; Zoron	directed by Albert Brooks
1981	The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire	Brakus	written, directed and produced by Nicholas J. Corea
1982	Wacko	Mr. Doctor Graves	directed by Greydon Clark
1982	The Jupiter Menace	Himself	documentary
1984	Chattanooga Choo Choo	Bert	directed by Bruce Bilson
1984	A Rare Breed	Nathan Hill
1984	Bolero	Cotton	written and directed by John Derek
1984	Rigged	Ben
1985	Radioactive Dreams	Spade Chandler	directed by Albert Pyun
1985	Savage Dawn	Tick Rand	directed by Simon Nuchtern
1986	The Delta Force	Father O'Malley	directed by Menahem Golan
1987	Creepshow 2	Ray Spruce	directed by Michael Gornick
1987	The Gunfighters	Deke Turner	directed by Clay Borris
1987	Uninvited	Mike Harvey
1988	Born to Race	Vincent Duplain
1988	Counterforce	Vince Colby
1988	Demonwarp	Bill Crafton
1988	Nightmare at Noon	Sheriff Hanks
1988	Alien Terminator	Heinrich Holzmann
1988	The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!	Captain Ed Hocken	start of the Naked Gun franchise
1989	The Terror Within	Hal
1989	Ministry of Vengeance	Rev. Hughes
1989	Esmeralda Bay	Wilson	directed by Jesús Franco
1990	Brain Dead	Vance
1990	Hired to Kill	Thomas
1990	Mayumi	Bahraini investigator	directed by Shin Sang-ok
1991	Hangfire	Warden E. Barles
1991	Driving Me Crazy	John McCready
1991	The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear	Captain Ed Hocken
1991	Intensive Care	Dr. Bruckner
1992	Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story	Father Dave
1992	Distant Justice	Tom Bradfield
1994	Naked Gun : The Final Insult	Captain Ed Hocken
1994	River of Stone
1997	Cats Don't Dance	L.B. Mammoth	voice
1997	Bayou Ghost	Officer Lowe
1998	Small Soldiers	Brick Bazooka	voice
1998	Dennis the Menace Strikes Again	Grandpa Johnson	Direct-to-video
2003	View from the Top	Passenger Requesting Vodka	uncredited
2005	Three Bad Men	Ed Fiske
2005	Truce	Dr. Peter Gannon
2005	Don't Come Knocking	director
2007	Sands of Oblivion	John Tevis
2008	The Man Who Came Back	Judge Duke
2010	Six Days in Paradise	Monty Crenshaw
2010	Mad Mad Wagon Party	JB Scotch
2011	Another Happy Day	Joe Baker
2014	The Gambler	Ed