ARTHUR KENNEDY BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
Arthur Kennedy was born on February 17th, 1924 in Worcester, Massachusetts with the birth name John Arthur Kennedy. He was the son of Helen Thompson and J.T. Kennedy who worked as a doctor. Kennedy graduated from Worcester Academy and then attended the Carnegie Mello School of Drama.
By the age of twenty he was very involved with local theater groups. His first professional job was working as a stage actor with the Globe theatre Company touring the Midwest doing shortened version of Shakespeare. This job followed with an appearance on Broadway in the play, "Everywhere I Roam" (1938). This same year Kennedy married his one and only wife, Mary Cheffrey whom he remained married to until she passed away. Two more Broadway appearances followed on, "Life and Death of an American" (1939) and "An International Incident" (1940).
After he and his wife decided to relocate to Los Angeles, Kennedy was performing on stage and was discovered by another actor, James Cagney whom chose to cast Kennedy in the film, "City for Conquest" (1940) portraying Cagney's brother.
From his role in his first feature film, Warner brothers offered him a contract. From this point he was cast in a variety of films such as, "High Sierra" (1941) starring Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino, "They Died With Their Boots On" (1941) starring Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan and "Air Force" (1943).
Like many other male actors of this era, he took a brief break from acting to serve in the military for his country during World War II. Upon his return back to the industry, he chose to pursue stage acting for a bit. He appeared in Arthur Miller's play, "All My Sons" (1947) and also, "Death of a Salesman" (1949) in which he won a Tony Award as Best Supporting Actor.
It was not long before he returned back to working in films. Appearing in many films where he was establishing himself as one of the best and most talented supporting actors. Some of the more well known films were, "Champion" (1949) starring Kirk Douglas, "The Glass Menagerie" (1950) and "Bright Victory" (1951) for which he won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for his role.
Even moving into the 1950's when many character actors were having trouble getting decent film roles, Kennedy was still a highly desired actor. He worked on such films as, "Rancho Notorious" (1951) starring Marlene Dietrich, Mel Ferrer and George Reeves, "Trial" (1955) in which he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for, "Elmer Gantry" (1960) starring Burt Lancaster and Jean Simmons, "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) starring Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Omar Sharif and Anthony Quinn and "Cheyenne Autumn" (1964) directed by John Ford with an all-star cast consisting of James Stewart, Ricardo Montalban, Gilbert Roland, Richard Widmark, Edward G. Robinson, Dolores del Rio, Sal Mineo, Carroll Baker and Karl Malden and "Nevada Smith" (1966) starring Steve McQueen, Brian Keith, Karl Malden, Martin Landau and Suzanne Pleshette.
As he began to age, film roles began becoming less available and he would make several appearances here and there on television. By the 1980's Kennedy retired from acting completely. As he aged he became very ill suffering from thyroid cancer and eye disease.
Arthur Kennedy passed away on January 5th, 1990 in Branford, Connecticut from a brain tumor at the age of seventy five. He was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in Lequille, Nova Scotia Canada. He is survived by his two children, Terence and Laurie Kennedy who also became an actress.
Regardless of the fact that Kennedy and another fellow actor, Claude Rains both share the record of losing four nominations for the Academy Award Best Supporting Actor, he was one of the premier character actors in American film.
Filmography
1990 Grandpa
1989 I figli del vento
1989 Signs of Life
1980 Emmanuelle on Taboo Island
1979 Gli ultimi angeli
1979 The Humanoid
1978 Cyclone
1978 Covert Action
1978 Porco mondo
1978 Cave of the Sharks
1977 Nove ospiti per un delitto
1977 The Sentinel
1976 As of Tomorrow
1976 Roma a mano armata
1975 La polizia ha le mani legate
1974 Nakia
1974 Let Sleeping Corpses Lie
1974 L'anticristo
1974 Lincoln
1974 The Man from Independence
1973 The President's Plane Is Missing
1973 Ricco
1973 Baciamo le mani
1972 Crawlspace
1971 A Death of Innocence
1971 My Old Man's Place
1970 The Movie Murderer
1969 CBS Playhouse
1969 Hail, Hero!
1969 Caine
1968 Anzio
1968 Un minuto per pregare, un instante per morire
1968 Day of the Evil Gun
1967 Monday's Child
1966 ABC Stage 67
1966 Fantastic Voyage
1966 Nevada Smith
1965 Joy in the Morning
1965 Murieta
1964 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1964 Cheyenne Autumn
1964 Attack and Retreat
1962-1964 The DuPont Show of the Week
1964 Suspense
1964 Kraft Suspense Theatre
1963 Espionage
1962 Lawrence of Arabia
1962 Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man
1961 Barabbas
1961 Alcoa Premiere
1961 Claudelle Inglish
1961 Murder She Said
1960 Sunday Showcase
1960 Elmer Gantry
1960 Playhouse 90
1960 G.E. True Theater
1959 A Summer Place
1959 Our American Heritage
1959 Home Is the Hero
1959 The Ten Commandments
1959 Zane Grey Theater
1958 Some Came Running
1958 Twilight for the Gods
1958 Rendezvous
1957 Peyton Place
1957 Impulse
1956 Ethel Barrymore Theater
1955 The Rawhide Years
1955 The Naked Dawn
1955 Trial
1955 The Desperate Hours
1955 The Man from Laramie
1955 Crashout
1954 The Ford Television Theatre
1952 The Lusty Men
1952 The Girl in White
1952 Rancho Notorious
1952 Bend of the River
1951 Red Mountain
1951 Bright Victory
1950 The Glass Menagerie
1949 Chicago Deadline
1949 Too Late for Tears
1949 The Window
1949 Champion
1949 The Walking Hills
1947 Cheyenne
1947 Boomerang!
1946 Devotion
1945 Time to Kill
1944 Resisting Enemy Interrogation
1943 Air Force
1942 Desperate Journey
1941 They Died with Their Boots On
1941 Highway West
1941 Bad Men of Missouri
1941 Strange Alibi
1941 Knockout
1941 High Sierra
1940 City for Conquest
