"When you think of a movie, most people imagine a two-hour finished, polished product. But to get to that two-hour product, it can take hundreds or thousands of people many months of full time work."
George Harris Kennedy Jr. (February 18, 1925 – February 28, 2016) was an American actor whose career spanned seven decades and more than a hundred film and television performances.
Among his best-remembered roles are Dragline in Cool Hand Luke (which earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor), Joe Patroni in the Airport series, and Captain Ed Hocken in the Naked Gun movies.
Roles on this wiki:
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Film roles
- Lonely Are the Brave (1962): Gutierrez
- Charade (1963): Herman Scobie
- Strait-Jacket (1964): Leo Krause
- Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964): Foreman
- In Harm's Way (1965): Colonel Gregory
- Mirage (1965): Willard
- Shenandoah (1965): Colonel Fairchild
- The Sons of Katie Elder (1965): Curley
- The Flight of the Phoenix (1965): Mike Bellamy
- Hurry Sundown (1967): Sheriff Coombs
- The Dirty Dozen (1967): Major Max Armbruster
- Cool Hand Luke (1967): Dragline
- Bandolero (1968): Sheriff July Johnson
- The Boston Strangler (1968): Detective Phil DiNatale
- Airport (1970): Joe Patroni
- Airport 1975 (1974): Joe Patroni
- Airport '77 (1977): Joe Patroni
- The Concorde: Airport '79 (1979): Joe Patroni
- Fools' Parade (1971) as Doc Council
- The Bull of the West (1972): Bear Suchette
- Lost Horizon (1973): Sam Cornelius
- Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974): Red Leary
- Earthquake (1974): Sergeant Lew Slade
- The Eiger Sanction (1975): Ben Bowman
- Brass Target (1978): General George S. Patton
- Death on the Nile (1978): Andrew Pennington
- Death Ship (1980): Captain Ashland
- Virus (1980): Admiral Conway
- Creepshow 2 (1987): Ray Spruce
- Nightmare at Noon (1987): Sheriff Hanks
- Uninvited (1988): Mike Harvey
- Born to Race (1988) as Vincent Duplain
- The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988): Captain Ed Hocken
- The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991): Captain Ed Hocken
- Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994): Captain Ed Hocken
- Intensive Care (1991): Dr. Bruckner
- Cats Don't Dance (1997): L.B. Mammoth
- Small Soldiers (1998): Brick Bazooka
- The Man Who Came Back (2008): Judge Duke
Television roles
- The Phil Silvers Show (1956–59): MP Sergeant Kennedy (recurring)
- Sarge (1971-72): Father Samuel Patrick 'Sarge' Cavanaugh
- Dallas (1988–91): Carter McKay
Tropes in his work:
- What Could Have Been: He was offered the part of Steve McCroskey in Airplane!. According to Jerry Zucker, Kennedy wanted to do the film but was reluctant to "kill off his Airport cash-cow", which Airplane! proceeded to do for him. The part of McCroskey went to Lloyd Bridges and Kennedy eventually got to work with the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team on the Naked Gun films.
