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Edgar Kennedy
Actor

Edgar Kennedy

25 Apr 1890Born
9 Nov 1948Died
58Age at death
335Credits

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.

Read the full biography

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.

Known for

Filmography

The 80 most recent of 335 credits.

  1. TBAParlor, Bedroom and WrathFilm: Edgar
  2. 2024Laurel & Hardy: Year TwoFilm: (archive footage) (uncredited)
  3. 1994The Our Gang StoryFilm: Officer (archive footage)
  4. 1981The Muppets Go to the MoviesFilm: Keystone Kop (archive footage) (uncredited)
  5. 1968The Best of Laurel and HardyFilm: Officer Kennedy (archive footage)
  6. 1960When Comedy Was KingFilm: (archive footage) (uncredited)
  7. 1957The Golden Age of ComedyFilm: archive footage
  8. 1949My Dream Is YoursFilm: Uncle Charlie
  9. 1948Unfaithfully YoursFilm: Sweeney
  10. 1948Contest CrazyFilm: Edgar
  11. 1948Variety TimeFilm: Edgar Kennedy (footage from 'I'll Build It Myself') (archive footage)
  12. 1948Dig That GoldFilm: Edgar Kennedy
  13. 1948Brother Knows BestFilm: Edgar Kennedy
  14. 1947Heaven Only KnowsFilm: Judd
  15. 1947The Sin of Harold DiddlebockFilm: Jake the Bartender
  16. 1947Do or DietFilm: Edgar
  17. 1946I'll Build It MyselfFilm: Edgar
  18. 1946Motor ManiacsFilm: Edgar Kennedy
  19. 1946Trouble or NothingFilm: Edgar
  20. 1945Captain Tugboat AnnieFilm: Captain Bullwinkle
  21. 1945The Big BeefFilm: Edgar Kennedy
  22. 1945You Drive Me CrazyFilm: Edgar
  23. 1945Anchors AweighFilm: Police Captain
  24. 1945It's Your MoveFilm: Edgar Kennedy
  25. 1945What, No CigarettesFilm: Edgar Kennedy
  26. 1944Feather Your NestFilm: Edgar
  27. 1944The Great Alaskan MysteryFilm: Bosun Higgins
  28. 1944It Happened TomorrowFilm: Insp. Mulrooney
  29. 1944Radio RampageFilm: Edgar
  30. 1944Prunes and PoliticsFilm: Edgar
  31. 1943Crazy HouseFilm: Judge
  32. 1943The Girl from MonterreyFilm: Doc Hogan, Fight Promoter
  33. 1943Hitler's MadmanFilm: Nepomuk - the Hermit
  34. 1943Hot FootFilm: Edgar
  35. 1943Inferior DecoratorFilm: Edgar
  36. 1943Air Raid WardensFilm: Joe Bledsoe
  37. 1943The Falcon Strikes BackFilm: Smiley Dugan
  38. 1943Hold Your TemperFilm: Edgar
  39. 1943Cosmo Jones, Crime SmasherFilm: Police Chief Murphy
  40. 1942Duck SoupFilm: Edgar
  41. 1942Hillbilly BlitzkriegFilm: Sgt. Homer Gatling
  42. 1942There's One Born Every MinuteFilm: Mayor Moe Carson
  43. 1942Cooks and CrooksFilm: Edgar
  44. 1942In Old CaliforniaFilm: Kegs McKeever
  45. 1942Pardon My StripesFilm: Warden Bingham
  46. 1942Private Snuffy SmithFilm: Sgt. Ed Cooper
  47. 1942Rough on RentsFilm: Edgar Kennedy
  48. 1941A Quiet FourthFilm: Edgar
  49. 1941Gangs Of The CityFilm: Biff
  50. 1941I'll Fix ItFilm: Edgar
  51. 1941Westward Ho-HumFilm: Edgar
  52. 1941Blondie in SocietyFilm: Dr. Glenn
  53. 1941An Apple in His EyeFilm: Edgar Kennedy
  54. 1941Mad About MoonshineFilm: Edgar
  55. 1940Drafted in the DepotFilm: Edgar Kennedy
  56. 1940Remedy for RichesFilm: George Browning
  57. 1940Li'l AbnerFilm: Cornelius Cornpone
  58. 1940Sandy Gets Her ManFilm: Fire Chief Galvin
  59. 1940Who Killed Aunt Maggie?Film: Sheriff Gregory
  60. 1940A Trailer TragedyFilm: Edgar Kennedy
  61. 1940The QuarterbackFilm: Pops
  62. 1940The Bride Wore CrutchesFilm: Police Captain McGuire
  63. 1940MargieFilm: Chauncey
  64. 1940Sunk by the CensusFilm: Edgar
  65. 1940Dr. Christian Meets the WomenFilm: George Browning
  66. 1940'Taint LegalFilm: Edgar
  67. 1940Sandy Is a LadyFilm: Officer Rafferty
  68. 1940Mutiny in the CountyFilm: Edgar Kennedy
  69. 1939Charlie McCarthy, DetectiveFilm: Inspector Dailey
  70. 1939Kennedy the GreatFilm: Edgar Kennedy
  71. 1939Laugh It OffFilm: Judge John J. McGuinnis
  72. 1939Little AccidentFilm: Paper Hanger
  73. 1939Act Your AgeFilm: Edgar
  74. 1939Everything's on IceFilm: Joe Barton
  75. 1939Maid to OrderFilm: Edgar
  76. 1939It's a Wonderful WorldFilm: Lieutenant Miller
  77. 1939Baby DazeFilm: Edgar Kennedy
  78. 1939Clock WiseFilm: Edgar
  79. 1938Peck's Bad Boy with the CircusFilm: Arthur Bailey
  80. 1938A Clean SweepFilm: Edgar

Biography and credits from TMDB. This website uses TMDB and the TMDB APIs but is not endorsed, certified, or otherwise approved by TMDB.