Edgar Kennedy

from Monterey, California, USA

Artwork for Anchors AweighImage of Edgar Kennedy

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edgar Livingston Kennedy (April 26, 1890 – November 9, 1948) was an American comedic film character actor, known as "Slow Burn". A slow burn is an exasperated facial expression, performed very deliberately; Kennedy embellished this by rubbing his hand over his bald head and across his face, in an attempt to hold his temper. Kennedy is best known for a small role as a lemonade vendor in the Marx Brothers film Duck Soup, as well as the many Hal Roach films he appeared in.

Kennedy became so identified with frustration that practically every studio hired him to play hotheads. He often played dumb cops, detectives, and even a prison warden; sometimes he was a grouchy moving man, truck driver, or blue-collar workman. His character usually lost his temper at least once. In Diplomaniacs, Kennedy presides over an international tribunal, where Wheeler & Woolsey want to do something about world peace. "Well, ya can't do anything about it here", yells Kennedy, "this is a peace conference!" Kennedy, established as the poster boy for frustration, even starred in an instructional film titled The Other Fellow, in which loudmouthed roadhog Edgar always vents his anger on other drivers (each one played by Kennedy as well), little realizing that, to them, he is "the other fellow."

Perhaps his most unusual roles were as a puppeteer in the detective mystery The Falcon Strikes Back and as a philosophical bartender inspired to create exotic cocktails in Harold Lloyd's last film, The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947). He also played comical detectives opposite two titans of acting: John Barrymore in Twentieth Century (1934) and Rex Harrison in Unfaithfully Yours (1948); in the latter, he tells conductor Harrison that "Nobody handles Handel like you handle Handel."

Kennedy died of throat cancer at the Motion Picture Hospital, San Fernando Valley on 9 November 1948. His body was interred at the Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, Los Angeles County, California.

Timeline

2024Aged 134

  • Poster for Laurel & Hardy: Year Two

    (archive footage) (uncredited)

1994Aged 104

  • Poster for The Our Gang Story

    Officer (archive footage)

1981Aged 91

  • Poster for The Muppets Go to the Movies

    Keystone Kop (archive footage) (uncredited)

1968Aged 78

1960Aged 70

  • Poster for When Comedy Was King

    (archive footage) (uncredited)

1957Aged 67

  • Poster for The Golden Age of Comedy

    archive footage

1949Aged 59

  • Poster for My Dream Is Yours

    Uncle Charlie

1948Aged 58

1947Aged 57

  • Poster for Do or Diet

    Edgar

  • Poster for The Sin of Harold Diddlebock

    Jake the Bartender

  • Poster for Heaven Only Knows

    Judd

1946Aged 56

1945Aged 55

1944Aged 54

1943Aged 53

1942Aged 52

1941Aged 51

1940Aged 50

1939Aged 49

1938Aged 48

1937Aged 47

1936Aged 46

  • Gasoloons

    Edgar Kennedy

  • Poster for The Return of Jimmy Valentine

    Callahan

  • Poster for Will Power

    Edgar Kennedy

  • Poster for Robin Hood of El Dorado

    Sheriff Judd

  • Poster for Small Town Girl

    Captain Mack

  • Poster for Fatal Lady

    Rudolf Hochstetter

  • Poster for San Francisco

    Sheriff

  • Poster for Dummy Ache

    Edgar

  • Poster for Yours for the Asking

    Bicarbonate

  • Vocalizing

    Edgar Kennedy

  • Poster for Mad Holiday

    Donovan

  • Poster for Three Men on a Horse

    Harry, the Bartender

1935Aged 45

1934Aged 44

  • Poster for All of Me

    Guard (uncredited)

  • Poster for Heat Lightning

    Herbert

  • Love on a Ladder

    Edgar

  • Poster for Twentieth Century

    Oscar McGonigle

  • Wrong Direction

    Edgar, Movie Director

  • Poster for Money Means Nothing

    Herbert Green

  • Poster for Murder on the Blackboard

    Detective Donahue

  • Poster for We're Rich Again

    Healy, Process Server

  • A Blasted Event

    Edgar

  • Poster for King Kelly of the U.S.A.

    Happy Moran

  • Poster for Gridiron Flash

    Officer Thurston

  • Poster for Kid Millions

    Herman Wilson

  • Poster for Poisoned Ivory

    Edgar Kennedy

  • Poster for The Marines Are Coming

    Sgt. Buck Martin

  • Poster for Flirting with Danger

    Jimmie Pierson

  • Poster for The Silver Streak

    O'Brien

1933Aged 43

1932Aged 42

1931Aged 41

  • Help Wanted, Female

    (Unknown)

  • Poster for Next Door Neighbors

    Howard J. Green

  • Poster for High Gear

    Cop

  • Poster for Love Fever

    Thelma's Last Rescuer

  • Poster for Quick Millions

    Cop (uncredited)

  • Poster for Bad Company

    Buffington-Doorman

1930Aged 40

1929Aged 39

  • Going Ga-Ga

    Cop

  • Poster for A Pair of Tights

    Marion's Boyfriend's Boss

  • Off to Buffalo

    Mr. Brown

  • Poster for Why Is a Plumber?

    (Unknown)

  • Poster for Trent's Last Case

    Inspector Murch

  • Poster for Unaccustomed as We Are

    Officer Kennedy

  • Poster for Hurdy Gurdy

    Officer Ed Kennedy

  • Poster for The Big Squawk

    Orchestra Leader

  • Madame Q

    Judge Kennedy

  • Dad's Day

    Michael Kennedy

  • Poster for Perfect Day

    Uncle Edgar

  • Poster for Hotter Than Hot

    (Unknown)

  • Poster for Crazy Feet

    Policeman

  • Poster for They Had to See Paris

    Ed Eggers (uncredited)

  • Poster for Welcome Danger

    SFPD Desk Sergeant (uncredited)

  • Poster for Bacon Grabbers

    Collis P. Kennedy

  • Poster for Stepping Out

    Diner's Owner

  • Poster for Moan & Groan, Inc.

    Kennedy the Cop (uncredited)

  • Poster for Angora Love

    Landlord

  • Poster for Great Gobs!

    2nd Sailor

1928Aged 38

  • Poster for Leave 'Em Laughing

    Cop

  • Poster for Dumb Daddies

    The Cop

  • Poster for The Family Group

    A Photographer

  • Poster for The Finishing Touch

    Cop (as Ed Kennedy)

  • Poster for Limousine Love

    The Husband, Mr Glenders

  • The Fight Pest

    (Unknown)

  • Poster for Imagine My Embarrassment

    (Unknown)

  • Poster for Should Married Men Go Home?

    Golfer (uncredited)

  • Poster for Is Everybody Happy?

    (Unknown)

  • All Parts

    (Unknown)

  • Poster for Two Tars

    Motorist

  • Poster for The Boy Friend

    The Cop

  • Poster for The Booster

    (Unknown)

  • Poster for Feed 'em and Weep

    (Unknown)

  • Poster for Chasing Husbands

    (Unknown)

  • Poster for From Soup to Nuts

    Director

  • Poster for You're Darn Tootin'

    Director

1927Aged 37

  • Poster for Finger Prints

    O.K. McDuff (as Ed Kennedy)

  • Poster for The Gay Old Bird

    Chauffeur

  • Poster for The Wrong Mr. Wright

    Trayguard

  • Poster for Wedding Bills

    Detective

  • Poster for The Chinese Parrot

    Maydorf

1926Aged 36

  • Poster for Oh! What a Nurse!

    Eric Johnson

  • Poster for My Old Dutch

    Bill Sproat

  • Poster for Across the Pacific

    Cpl. Ryan

  • Poster for The Better 'Ole

    Corporal Austin

  • Poster for Going Crooked

    Detective

1925Aged 35

  • Poster for Paths to Paradise

    Detective (uncredited)

  • Poster for The Trouble With Wives

    Detective (as Edward Kennedy)

  • Poster for The Golden Princess

    Gewilliker Hay

  • Poster for The People vs. Nancy Preston

    Gloomy Gus

  • The Marriage Circus

    Director

1924Aged 34

  • The Night Message

    Lem Beeman

  • Poster for Fight and Win

    (Unknown)

  • Poster for The Battling Fool

    Dan O'Leary (as Ed Kennedy)

  • Poster for Racing for Life

    Tom Grady

  • Poster for Wall Street Blues

    The Crook

  • Poster for All's Swell on the Ocean

    (Unknown)

  • Poster for Three Foolish Weeks

    Director

1923Aged 33

  • Poster for The Little Girl Next Door

    Hank Hall

  • Poster for The Wandering Two

    (Unknown)

  • Poster for Something for Nothing

    Ptomaine Tommy

1922Aged 32

1921Aged 31

1920Aged 30

1919Aged 29

  • Poster for Yankee Doodle in Berlin

    German Prison Guard (uncredited)

  • Poster for Hearts and Flowers

    Pete

1918Aged 28

1917Aged 27

  • Poster for The Blue Streak

    (Unknown)

  • Poster for Whose Baby?

    The Detective

  • Poster for The Late Lamented

    Art Gallery Operator

1916Aged 26

  • Poster for His Bitter Pill

    Diamond Dan - Jim's Rival

  • Poster for Madcap Ambrose

    A City Chap

  • Poster for A Scoundrel's Toll

    Peter X. Bush - Streetcar Superintendent

  • Poster for Bombs!

    Tony Peanutty - Italian Ward Leader

  • Poster for The Stolen Triumph

    Edwin Rowley, Jr.

1915Aged 25

  • Poster for The Great Vacuum Robbery

    2nd Thief

  • Poster for Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day

    The cafe waiter (uncredited)

  • Poster for Fatty and Mabel at the San Diego Exposition

    1st Street Crowd Participant (uncredited)

  • Poster for Fatty's New Role

    Handout-Giver (uncredited)

  • Poster for Fatty’s Reckless Fling

    Neighbor

  • Poster for That Little Band Of Gold

    Diner / Man in Audience (uncredited)

  • His Luckless Love

    The Maid's Boyfriend

  • Poster for Wished on Mabel

    Cop

  • Poster for Mabel’s Wilful Way

    Fatty's Pal

  • Poster for Miss Fatty's Seaside Lovers

    Suitor

  • Poster for Fatty’s Plucky Pup

    Shell Game Operator

  • Poster for Fatty's Tintype Tangle

    Edgar

1914Aged 24

1913Aged 23

Year unknown

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