George Kennedy, who won a supporting actor Oscar for his role alongside Paul Newman in the beloved film “Cool Hand Luke,”
and was also a fixture of 1970s disaster movies including the “Airport”
franchise and “Earthquake,” died Sunday in Boise, Idaho. He was 91.
Other notable film credits during the 1970s included Michael Cimino’s
“Thunderbolt and Lightfoot”; “The Eiger Sanction”; and Agatha Christie.
period mystery “Death on the Nile,” in which he was gruff as always but
in this case exceptionally well groomed. He worked steadily in the
1980s but made an impression only in the 1988 deadpan police comedy “The
Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!” and its sequels.
Kennedy was born in New York City to parents in show business. He
first appeared onstage at the age of two, but later he would spend 16
years in the U.S. Army, ultimately working for Armed Forces Radio. He
participated in the opening of the Army Information Office, which
provided technical advice to the entertainment industry. A role as
technical adviser to “The Phil Silvers Show” led to his early career in
television.
The actor also wrote books: murder mysteries “Murder on Location,”
published in 1983, and “Murder on High, released in 1984. His
autobiography, “Trust Me,” was published in 2011.
Kennedy was married four times, the first time to Dorothy Gillooly in the 1940s, the second (and third) time to Norma Wurman.
He is survived by fourth wife Joan McCarthy and two children from Wurman.
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