George Kennedy

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This article is about the actor. For the sports promoter, see George Kennedy (sports promoter).

George Kennedy

George Kennedy (born February 18, 1925 in New York City, New York) is an Academy-Award winning actor who has appeared in over 200 film and television productions. He is widely familiar as Joe Patroni in the Airport series of disaster movies from the 1970s, or more recently as Captain Ed Hocken from the Naked Gun trilogy.

[edit] Biography

Kennedy was born into a show business family and made his stage debut at the age of two; he then became a radio performer. He put aside show business during World War II and spent sixteen years in the United States Army, seeing combat and working in the Armed Forces radio. After retiring from the military (reportedly because of a back injury), Kennedy found his way back to the entertainment industry. He became a technical advisor for the television series Sergeant Bilko, where his acting career began with a few one line parts. Kennedy began his film career in 1961 in The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Cool Hand Luke (1967).

On television, Kennedy played Carter McKay in the CBS prime time serial Dallas (1978-1991). He starred in the series from 1988-1991.

Kennedy currently resides in Boise, Idaho.

Main title caption from Dallas.

[edit] Selected filmography

The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (1961)
Lonely Are the Brave (1962)
McHale's Navy (1964)mirage in 1965)
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
Shenandoah (1965)
The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Bandolero! (1968)
...tick...tick...tick... (1970)
Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969)
Airport (1970)
Lost Horizon (1973)
Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)
Airport 1975 (1974)
The Blue Knight (1975 TV series)
Earthquake (1974)
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
The Eiger Sanction (1975)
Airport '77 (1977)
The Concorde: Airport '79 (1979)
Death Ship (1980)
Savage Dawn (1985)
The Delta Force (1986)
Creepshow 2 (1987)
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
Demonwarp (1988)
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991)
The Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994)
Bayou Ghost (1997)
Small Soldiers (1998)
Truce (2004)

Preceded by Walter Matthau for The Fortune Cookie	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor 1967 for Cool Hand Luke	Succeeded by Jack Albertson for The Subject Was Roses