This year has been tragic for the entertainment industry as another Hollywood heavyweight, George Kennedy, passed away at age of 91.
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George Kennedy, known for playing the tough guy in films like Cool Hand Luke and Charade as well as the dim-witted cop from The Naked Gun series, passed away on 28 February.
His grandson Cory Schenkel says Kennedy died on Sunday morning of old age in Boise, Idaho where he moved with his late wife in 2002.
Fellow actor and comedian Albert Brooks, who was Oscar-nominated for “The Shipping News”, led the online tributes, tweeting: “R.I.P. George Kennedy”.
Kennedy won his best supporting actor Oscar for his breakthrough and career-defining role as a chain gang convict who pummels Newman in a makeshift boxing match in the 1967 Hollywood classic.
For a while after “Cool Hand Luke”, Kennedy told Canada’s the Globe and Mail in 1978, “I did nothing but good guys”.
In 2002, Kennedy moved to Idaho to be closer to family, the AP reported. “These films reignited their careers in many ways and (Kennedy) played the part”.
He then went on to become a common fixture in the Naked Gun movie series, and disaster films quake and Airport 1975, as well as in a recurring role in the Dallas TV franchise.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army at 17 and served in the Second World War, opening the first Army Information Office that provided technical assistance to films and TV shows.
Among his later credits was a small role in Wim Wenders’ 2005 film, Don’t Come Knocking.
Kennedy describes his poverty-stricken early years after his father died, including a period in which he and his mother lived in a brothel, in his 2011 book “Trust Me: A Memoir”.
Director/Writer Edgar Wright also paid his respects to Kennedy.
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He was also an avid reader who dabbled in writing and published a couple of murder mysteries.
