Arthur Kennedy

February 17, 1914 (age 75)

Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

Originally on the stage, he was one of the subtlest American supporting actors, never more so than when revealing the malice or weakness in an ostensibly friendly man. He made his screen debut in Litvak’s City for Conquest (40) and served his time as a bystander or pal in three Raoul Walsh films—High Sierra (41), They Died With Their Boots On (41)—as well as being a member of Hawks’s idyllic Air Force (43), before graduating to larger parts: Cheyenne (47, Walsh); the father in Ted Tetzlaff’s The Window (49); the suspect in Kazan's Boomerang (47); the brother in Irving Rapper’s The Glass Menagerie (50); The Red Mountain (51, William Dieterle); the blinded soldier in Bright Victory (52, Mark Robson). As with many others, Kennedy’s best work was done in a comparatively brief spell: the vengeful hero in Fritz Lang’s Rancho Notorious (52); the treacherous allv in Bend of the River (52, Anthony Mann); the headstrong husband in Nicholas Ray’s The Lusty Men (52); the gunrunning foreman for Mann again in The Man from Laramie (55); the hypocritical brother in Some Came Running (58, Vincente Minnelli); perhaps his best but least- known part, as the central figure in Edgar G. Ulmer’s The Naked Dawn (54). In these few years, without ever becoming a star, Kennedy’s was one of the most interesting and ambivalent faces on the screen. He worked hard later, but never with the same impact. In fact, his most consistent role was that of a skeptical outsider, observing but hardly participating in events: Elmer Gantry (60, Richard Brooks); Barabhas (62, Richard Fleischer); Lawrence of Arabia (62, David Lean); Cheyenne Autumn (64, John Ford); and Nevada Smith (66, Henry Hathaway). His best later parts are in Monday’s Child (66, Leopoldo Torre Nilsson), as the drunk in Shark (68, Samuel Fuller), the father in David Miller's Hail, Hero! (69), in My Old Man's Place (71, Edwin Sherin), and as a Mafia boss in Baciamo le Mani (72, Vittorio Schiraldi). He was a bishop in The Antichrist (74, Alberto de Martino) and a priest in The Sentinel (76, Michael Winner). He made some films in Italy and then appeared in Signs of Life (89, John David Coles) as a Maine boat-builder.

Arthur Kennedy Edit Profile

Actor

Background

Arthur Kennedy was born on 17 February 1914 in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States.

Education

Kennedy was educated at the Carnegie Institute of Technology.

Career

Originally on the stage, he was one of the subtlest American supporting actors, never more so than when revealing the malice or weakness in an ostensibly friendly man. He made his screen debut in Litvak’s City for Conquest (40) and served his time as a bystander or pal in three Raoul Walsh films—High Sierra (41), They Died With Their Boots On (41)—as well as being a member of Hawks’s idyllic Air Force (43), before graduating to larger parts: Cheyenne (47, Walsh); the father in Ted Tetzlaff’s The Window (49); the suspect in Kazan's Boomerang (47); the brother in Irving Rapper’s The Glass Menagerie (50); The Red Mountain (51, William Dieterle); the blinded soldier in Bright Victory (52, Mark Robson).

As with many others, Kennedy’s best work was done in a comparatively brief spell: the vengeful hero in Fritz Lang’s Rancho Notorious (52); the treacherous allv in Bend of the River (52, Anthony Mann); the headstrong husband in Nicholas Ray’s The Lusty Men (52); the gunrunning foreman for Mann again in The Man from Laramie (55); the hypocritical brother in Some Came Running (58, Vincente Minnelli); perhaps his best but least- known part, as the central figure in Edgar G. Ulmer’s The Naked Dawn (54). In these few years, without ever becoming a star, Kennedy’s was one of the most interesting and ambivalent faces on the screen.

He worked hard later, but never with the same impact. In fact, his most consistent role was that of a skeptical outsider, observing but hardly participating in events: Elmer Gantry (60, Richard Brooks); Barabhas (62, Richard Fleischer); Lawrence of Arabia (62, David Lean); Cheyenne Autumn (64, John Ford); and Nevada Smith (66, Henry Hathaway). His best later parts are in Monday’s Child (66, Leopoldo Torre Nilsson), as the drunk in Shark (68, Samuel Fuller), the father in David Miller's Hail, Hero! (69), in My Old Man's Place (71, Edwin Sherin), and as a Mafia boss in Baciamo le Mani (72, Vittorio Schiraldi). He was a bishop in The Antichrist (74, Alberto de Martino) and a priest in The Sentinel (76, Michael Winner).

He made some films in Italy and then appeared in Signs of Life (89, John David Coles) as a Maine boat-builder.

Achievements

He had been nominated once as best actor— Bright Victory—and four times for supporting actor: Champion (49, Robson); Trial (55, Robson); Peyton Place (57, Robson); and Some Came Run- ninp. He never won. Yet he could easily have had victory with The Lusty Men, The Man from Laramie, or The Naked Dawn. And he made the most of the promising situation in Impulse (55, Cy Endfield), before the script went wild.