GEORGE KENNEDY

(18 February 1925 - 28 February 2016)

Although George Kennedy will probably be remembered more for his later comedy role of Detective Ed Hocken, assistant to Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin in the Police Squad TV series and its cinema Naked Gun sequels from 1988, the actor had played in many iconic films as both heavies and heroes including The Dirty Dozen (1967), The Boston Strangler (1968), Airport (1970) and its many sequels, Earthquake (1974), The Eiger Sanction (1975), Death on the Nile (1978) and Brass Target (1978) playing General George Patton, among many other titles. Perhaps his best role was in Cool Hand Luke (1967) as chaingang boss Dragline, with Paul Newman., for which Kennedy received an Academy Award. His favourite film was Charade (1963) in which he appeared with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn on location in Paris. The son of a musician and a ballet dancer Kennedy started out in television in the 1950s, first as a technical adviser on Army matters for The Phil Silvers Show, otherwise known as Sgt Bilko. At Silvers’ suggestion he became an extra on the show, playing a military policeman. This led to other TV roles in Cheyenne, Laramie, Maverick, Route 66, Rawhide, Have Gun, Will Travel, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The Virginian and later on Dallas. His first film of any substance was Lonely Are the Brave (1962), with Kirk Douglas and a script by Dalton Trumbo. He continued to work in both TV and films and seems never to have been out of a job. His last appearance was in Rupert Wyatt’s The Gambler (2014) with Mark Wahlberg, Jessica Lange, John Goodman and Brie Larson. 

MICHAEL DARVELL