Tom Kennedy (actor)


Thomas Aloyisus Kennedy was an American actor known for his roles in Hollywood comedies from the silent days, with such producers as Mack Sennett and Hal Roach, mainly supporting lead comedians such as the Marx Brothers, W. C. Fields, Mabel Normand, Shemp Howard, El Brendel, Laurel and Hardy, and the Three Stooges. Kennedy also played dramatic roles as a supporting actor. Today's viewers may know him from Warner Bros.' nine Torchy Blane features as Gahagan, the poetry-spouting cop whose running line was, "What a day! What a day!"

Career

For over 50 years, from 1915 to 1965, he appeared in over 320 films and television series, often uncredited. His first film was a short comedy western called The Lamb. He continued making films right up until his death, his last film being a western titled The Bounty Killer.
Tom Kennedy has been erroneously listed in several film sources as the brother of slow-burning comedian Edgar Kennedy. Though the two men were not related, they were apparently good friends, with Tom appearing in many of Edgar's domestic two-reel comedy shorts.
Tom Kennedy was a favorite of Columbia Pictures short-subject producer Jules White. White teamed Kennedy with another one of White's favorites, Monte Collins, for a starring series that ran from 1935 to 1938. Kennedy was always the big oaf, the dumb but good-natured hulk trying to be helpful. After the Collins & Kennedy series ran its course, White teamed Tom Kennedy with Columbia comics Johnny Arthur, Andy Clyde, El Brendel, and Shemp Howard. Kennedy was still working in Columbia shorts as late as 1953, taking slapstick punishment and pies in the face at the age of 68.
His television appearances included episodes of Perry Mason, Maverick, My Favorite Martian and Gunsmoke.

Personal life

Kennedy married Frances Katherine Marshall in 1922. They had four children.

Death

Kennedy died of bone cancer on October 6, 1965. He was buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.

Selected filmography

The Lamb as White Hopeless Double Trouble as Judge BlodgettAre Waitresses Safe? Mickey as Tom RawlingsYankee Doodle in Berlin as American General The Island of Intrigue as Jackson - The ButlerThe Poor Simp as Jim DonnellyKismet as KutaytSkirts Serenade as ZambranoKindred of the Dust as Big tough Our Leading Citizen as BootsIf You Believe It, It's So as BartenderAfraid to Fight as Battling GroganThe Flaming Hour as BenThe Flirt as Sam FentonWith Naked Fists Scaramouche as A Dragoon Madonna of the Streets As Man Desires as Gorilla Bagsley