George Kennedy, who starred in Cool Hand Luke and The Naked Gun movies, has died at the age of 91.
Kennedy’s grandson Cory Schenkel announced the actor’s passing on Facebook Sunday morning.
Kennedy’s career began at the tender age of two, as the New York native would work throughout his childhood on radio serials. He stepped out of the limelight during the Second World War to embark on a military career which would last for 16 years.
Kennedy returned to acting in the late 1950s with appearances on multiple TV series before making the move to movies.
His breakthrough roles came in 1967 as he appeared in Cool Hand Luke and The Dirty Dozen.
Cool Hand Luke starred Paul Newman in the title role but Kennedy would be the one to earn Academy Award honours as he was named Best Supporting Actor for his role as Newman’s sidekick.
In 1970, Kennedy appeared alogside Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin and Jacqueline Bisset in the Academy Award winning film Airport. It kicked off the disaster film genre for the decade and spawned a franchise in which Kennedy would reprise? his role as Joe Patroni three times.
While Kennedy would also gain increasing fame for his role as Carter McKay in the hit TV series Dallas for several years, he might best be known as Captain Ed Hocken from The Naked Gun movies.
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