|
 The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, citing a Facebook post
made by Kennedy's grandson, said the actor died early on Sunday
in Boise, Idaho. Reuters could not independently verify the
reports.
Born in New York to a show business family in 1925, he enlisted
in the U.S. Army during World War II, eventually spending 16
years in the military before a back injury prompted him to try
acting as a profession.
A versatile character actor, the husky 6-foot-4 Kennedy appeared
in innumerable films and TV shows, initially playing villains.
His breakout role came as Dragline, a prisoner in "Cool Hand
Luke," set in the U.S. South in 1948.
At first, his character mercilessly bullies Newman's Luke, a
newcomer to the chain gang, but eventually comes to revere him.
In one scene, he gets to clobber Newman, perhaps the world's
biggest movie star at the time. Luke is bloodied and battered by
Dragline in a makeshift boxing match, but refuses to stay down,
earning the respect of his tormenter and the other prisoners.
Kennedy won an Oscar for the role as best supporting actor. His
character's attitude is illustrated by a speech to a new
prisoner: "Boy, you're new meat. You're gonna have to shape up
fast and hard for this gang. We got rules here. In order to
learn 'em, you gotta do more work with your ears than with your
mouth."
His characters in other movies also got to rough up screen
legends, including Cary Grant, as a hook-handed thug on a
rooftop in 1963's "Charade," and Clint Eastwood.
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"Acting is beautiful. If I'm prejudiced toward doing it, it is
because of the joy that I derive from it," Kennedy told Smashing
Interviews Magazine in 2011. "Did I like what I did? Oh my God,
yes!"
He appeared in several 1970s disaster movies, including all four
"Airport" movies and "Earthquake" in 1974. Kennedy was also known
for a role on the popular TV series "Dallas."
After acting in serious roles for most of his career, Kennedy threw
himself into comedy as Captain Ed Hocken, the sidekick to a daft
Leslie Nielsen, whose bumbling cop Frank Drebin was the driving
force in the hysterical "Naked Gun" comedy films.
His many other films included "The Dirty Dozen," "The Eiger
Sanction," and "Death on the Nile." Kennedy made countless
appearances on TV and was a series regular during part of the run of
the popular prime-time soap opera "Dallas."
Not every one of Kennedy's projects was a gem, however. For example,
he appeared in "Bolero," a film starring actress Bo Derek and
directed by her husband that is considered one of the most ludicrous
of the 1980s.
(Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington and Curtis Skinner in San
Francisco; editing by Alistair Bell, G Crosse)
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