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Personal Info

Birth date

1890-04-25 (135 Years)

Day of death

1948-11-09

Gender

Male

Known for

Acting

Place of birth

Monterey, California, USA

Also known as

E. Livingston Kennedy
Ed. Kennedy
Edward Kennedy
Ed Kennedy

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.

Filmography

Acting

2024Laurel & Hardy: Year Two as Unknown

1994The Our Gang Story as Officer (archive footage)

1968The Best of Laurel and Hardy as Officer Kennedy (archive footage)

1960When Comedy Was King as edited from 'A Pair of Tights' (archive footage)

1957The Golden Age of Comedy as archive footage

1949My Dream Is Yours as Uncle Charlie

1948Unfaithfully Yours as Sweeney

1948Contest Crazy as Edgar

1948Variety Time as Edgar Kennedy (footage from 'I'll Build It Myself') (archive footage)

1948Dig That Gold as Edgar Kennedy

1948Brother Knows Best as Edgar Kennedy

1947Heaven Only Knows as Judd

1947The Sin of Harold Diddlebock as Jake the Bartender

1947Do or Diet as Edgar

1946I'll Build It Myself as Edgar

1946Motor Maniacs as Edgar Kennedy

1946Trouble or Nothing as Edgar

1945Captain Tugboat Annie as Captain Bullwinkle

1945The Big Beef as Edgar Kennedy

1945You Drive Me Crazy as Edgar

1945Anchors Aweigh as Police Captain

1945It's Your Move as Edgar Kennedy

1945What, No Cigarettes as Edgar Kennedy

1944Feather Your Nest as Edgar

1944The Great Alaskan Mystery as Bosun Higgins

1944It Happened Tomorrow as Insp. Mulrooney

1944Radio Rampage as Edgar

1944Prunes and Politics as Edgar

1943Crazy House as Judge

1943The Girl from Monterrey as Doc Hogan, Fight Promoter

1943Hitler's Madman as Nepomuk - the Hermit

1943Hot Foot as Edgar

1943Inferior Decorator as Edgar

1943Air Raid Wardens as Joe Bledsoe

1943The Falcon Strikes Back as Smiley Dugan

1943Hold Your Temper as Edgar

1943Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher as Police Chief Murphy

1942Duck Soup as Edgar

1942Hillbilly Blitzkrieg as Sgt. Homer Gatling

1942There's One Born Every Minute as Mayor Moe Carson

1942Cooks and Crooks as Edgar

1942In Old California as Kegs McKeever

1942Pardon My Stripes as Warden Bingham

1942Private Snuffy Smith as Sgt. Ed Cooper

1942Rough on Rents as Edgar Kennedy

1941A Quiet Fourth as Edgar

1941Gangs Of The City as Biff

1941I'll Fix It as Edgar

1941Westward Ho-Hum as Edgar

1941Blondie in Society as Dr. Glenn

1941An Apple in His Eye as Edgar Kennedy

1940Drafted in the Depot as Edgar Kennedy

1940Remedy for Riches as George Browning

1940Li'l Abner as Cornelius Cornpone

1940Sandy Gets Her Man as Fire Chief Galvin

1940Who Killed Aunt Maggie? as Sheriff Gregory

1940A Trailer Tragedy as Edgar Kennedy

1940The Quarterback as Pops

1940Margie as Chauncey

1940Sunk by the Census as Edgar

1940Dr. Christian Meets the Women as George Browning

1940'Taint Legal as Edgar

1940Sandy Is a Lady as Officer Rafferty

1940Mutiny in the County as Edgar Kennedy

1939Charlie McCarthy, Detective as Inspector Dailey

1939Kennedy the Great as Edgar Kennedy

1939Laugh It Off as Judge John J. McGuinnis

1939Little Accident as Paper Hanger

1939Everything's on Ice as Joe Barton

1939Maid to Order as Edgar

1939It's a Wonderful World as Lieutenant Miller

1939Baby Daze as Edgar Kennedy

1939Clock Wise as Edgar

1938Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus as Arthur Bailey

1938A Clean Sweep as Edgar

1938Beaux and Errors as Edgar Kennedy

1938Hey! Hey! USA as Bugs Leary

1938Scandal Street as Daniel Webster Smith

1938The Black Doll as Sheriff Renick

1938Ears of Experience as Edgar

1938Hollywood Hotel as Callaghan

1937True Confession as Darsey

1937Edgar & Goliath as Edgar

1937Double Wedding as Spike

1937Tramp Trouble as Edgar

1937Super-Sleuth as Police Lt. Garrison

1937Dumb's the Word as Edgar Kennedy

1937A Star Is Born as Pop Randall

1937Bad Housekeeping as Edgar

1937When's Your Birthday? as Mr. Basscombe

1937The Other Fellow as Four Roles

1936Three Men on a Horse as Harry, the Bartender

1936Mad Holiday as Donovan

1936Vocalizing as Edgar Kennedy

1936Yours for the Asking as Bicarbonate

1936Dummy Ache as Edgar

1936San Francisco as Sheriff

1936Fatal Lady as Rudolf Hochstetter

1936Small Town Girl as Captain Mack

1936Robin Hood of El Dorado as Sheriff Judd

1936Will Power as Edgar Kennedy

1936Gasoloons as Edgar Kennedy

1935The Bride Comes Home as Henry

1935$1,000 a Minute as Police Officer McCarthy

1935Little Big Shot as Onderdonk

1935In Love at 40 as Edgar Kennedy

1935Woman Wanted as Sweeney

1935Edgar Hamlet as Edgar

1935A Night at the Biltmore Bowl as Edgar Kennedy

1935The Cowboy Millionaire as Willy 'Persimmon' Bates

1935Living on Velvet as Counterman

1935Rendezvous at Midnight as Mahoney

1935Brick-a-Brac as Edgar

1934The Silver Streak as O'Brien

1934Flirting with Danger as Jimmie Pierson

1934The Marines Are Coming as Sgt. Buck Martin

1934Poisoned Ivory as Edgar Kennedy

1934Kid Millions as Herman Wilson

1934Gridiron Flash as Officer Thurston

1934King Kelly of the U.S.A. as Happy Moran

1934A Blasted Event as Edgar

1934We're Rich Again as Healy, Process Server

1934Murder on the Blackboard as Detective Donahue

1934Money Means Nothing as Herbert Green

1934Wrong Direction as Edgar, Movie Director

1934Twentieth Century as Oscar McGonigle

1934Love on a Ladder as Edgar

1934Heat Lightning as Herbert - the Husband

1934All of Me as Guard (uncredited)

1933King for a Night as Cop

1933Duck Soup as Street Vendor

1933What Fur as Edgar

1933Tillie and Gus as Judge

1933Quiet Please! as Edgar Kennedy

1933Good Housewrecking as Unknown

1933Professional Sweetheart as Kelsey

1933Cross Fire as Ed Wimpy

1933Son of the Border as Windy

1933Diplomaniacs as Chairman - Peace Conference

1933A Merchant of Menace as Edgar

1933Scarlet River as Sam Gilroy

1933Art in the Raw as Unknown

1932Fish Feathers as Edgar Kennedy

1932The Penguin Pool Murder as Officer Donovan

1932Rockabye as Water Wagon Driver (uncredited)

1932Little Orphan Annie as Daddy Warbucks

1932Hold 'Em Jail as Warden Elmer Jones

1932Giggle Water as Edgar

1932Now's the Time as Unknown

1932Westward Passage as Elmer

1932He's a Honey as Unknown

1932Carnival Boat as Baldy

1931Bad Company as Buffington-Doorman

1931Quick Millions as Cop (uncredited)

1931Love Fever as Thelma's Last Rescuer

1931High Gear as Cop

1931Next Door Neighbors as Howard J. Green

1931Help Wanted, Female as Unknown

1930Ladies Last as Man in Phone Booth

1930Moonlight and Monkey Business as Detective

1930Looser Than Loose as Night Club Patron

1930Bigger and Better as Uncle Ed Sutton

1930Dollar Dizzy as Quimby the Lawyer

1930Doctor's Orders as Mary's Father / Gertie's Uncle

1930Girl Shock as Fiancee's Father

1930Fifty Million Husbands as Officer Kennedy

1930All Teed Up as Thelma's Father

1930The Ghosts as Kennedy

1930When the Wind Blows as Kennedy the Cop (uncredited)

1930The Big Kick as Detective

1930The Gas Station as Detective

1930The First Seven Years as Kennedy the Cop (uncredited)

1930The Real McCoy as Cicero the Cop

1930Shivering Shakespeare as Kennedy the Cop (uncredited)

1930The Head Guy as Station Master Kennedy (uncredited)

1930Thieves as Unknown

1930Night Owls as Officer Kennedy

1929Great Gobs! as 2nd Sailor

1929Angora Love as Landlord

1929Moan & Groan, Inc. as Kennedy the Cop (uncredited)

1929Stepping Out as Diner's Owner

1929Bacon Grabbers as Collis P. Kennedy

1929Welcome Danger as SFPD Desk Sergeant (uncredited)

1929They Had to See Paris as Ed Eggers (uncredited)

1929Crazy Feet as Policeman

1929Hotter Than Hot as Unknown

1929Perfect Day as Uncle Edgar

1929Dad's Day as Michael Kennedy

1929Madame Q as Judge Kennedy

1929The Big Squawk as Orchestra Leader

1929Hurdy Gurdy as Officer Ed Kennedy

1929Unaccustomed as We Are as Officer Kennedy

1929Trent's Last Case as Inspector Murch

1929Why Is a Plumber? as Unknown

1929Off to Buffalo as Unknown

1929A Pair of Tights as Marion's Boyfriend's Boss

1929Going Ga-Ga as Cop

1928Chasing Husbands as Unknown

1928Feed 'em and Weep as Unknown

1928The Booster as Unknown

1928The Boy Friend as The Cop

1928Two Tars as Motorist

1928All Parts as Unknown

1928Is Everybody Happy? as Unknown

1928Should Married Men Go Home? as Golfer (uncredited)

1928Imagine My Embarrassment as Unknown

1928The Fight Pest as Unknown

1928Limousine Love as The Husband, Mr Glenders

1928The Finishing Touch as Cop (as Ed Kennedy)

1928The Family Group as A Photographer

1928Dumb Daddies as The Cop

1928Leave 'Em Laughing as Cop

1927The Chinese Parrot as Maydorf

1927The Wrong Mr. Wright as Trayguard

1927The Gay Old Bird as Chauffeur

1927Finger Prints as O.K. McDuff (as Ed Kennedy)

1926Going Crooked as Detective

1926The Better 'Ole as Corporal Austin

1926Across the Pacific as Cpl. Ryan

1926My Old Dutch as Bill Sproat

1926Oh! What a Nurse! as Eric Johnson

1925The Golden Princess as Gewilliker Hay

1925The Trouble With Wives as Detective (as Edward Kennedy)

1925Paths to Paradise as Detective (uncredited)

1924All's Swell on the Ocean as Unknown

1924Wall Street Blues as The Crook

1924Racing for Life as Tom Grady

1924The Battling Fool as Dan O'Leary (as Ed Kennedy)

1924The Night Message as Lem Beeman

1923Something for Nothing as Ptomaine Tommy

1923The Wandering Two as Unknown

1923The Little Girl Next Door as Hank Hall

1922High and Dry as Unknown

1921The Guide as An American Tourist

1921Puppets of Fate as Mike Reynolds

1920The Adventures of Daredevil Jack as Unknown

1920Four Times Foiled as Unknown

1919Hearts and Flowers as Pete

1919Yankee Doodle in Berlin as German Prison Guard (uncredited)

1918She Loved Him Plenty as Unknown

1917The Late Lamented as Art Gallery Operator

1917Whose Baby? as The Detective

1916The Stolen Triumph as Edwin Rowley, Jr.

1916Bombs! as Tony Peanutty - Italian Ward Leader

1916A Scoundrel's Toll as Peter X. Bush - Streetcar Superintendent

1916Madcap Ambrose as A City Chap

1916His Bitter Pill as Diamond Dan - Jim's Rival

1915Fatty's Tintype Tangle as Edgar

1915Fatty’s Plucky Pup as Shell Game Operator

1915Miss Fatty's Seaside Lovers as Suitor

1915Mabel’s Wilful Way as Fatty's Pal

1915Wished on Mabel as Cop

1915His Luckless Love as The Maid's Boyfriend

1915That Little Band Of Gold as Diner / Man in Audience (uncredited)

1915Fatty’s Reckless Fling as Neighbor

1915Fatty's New Role as Handout-Giver (uncredited)

1915Fatty and Mabel at the San Diego Exposition as 1st Street Crowd Participant (uncredited)

1915Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day as The cafe waiter (uncredited)

1915The Great Vacuum Robbery as 2nd Thief

1914Tillie's Punctured Romance as Restaurant Owner / Banks' Butler (uncredited)

1914Ambrose's First Falsehood as Café Proprietor

1914Getting Acquainted as Policeman (uncredited)

1914Leading Lizzie Astray as The Slicker's Chauffeur

1914The Noise of Bombs as Police Chief

1914An Incompetent Hero as Fatty's Neighbor

1914'Curses!' They Remarked as Ethel's Former Boyfriend

1914Gentlemen of Nerve as Policeman

1914Dough and Dynamite as Striking Baker

1914The Love Thief as The Rival

1914He Loved the Ladies as The Wife's Brother

1914The Rounders as (uncredited)

1914The Sky Pirate as The Sky Pirate

1914Love and Bullets as The Trouble Mender

1914Mabel's Busy Day as Tough Hot Dog Customer (uncredited)

1914The Knockout as Cyclone Flynn (uncredited)

1914Caught in a Cabaret as Cafe Proprietor (uncredited)

1914Twenty Minutes of Love as Lover

1914Mabel at the Wheel as Spectator in Grandstand (uncredited)

1914A Bath House Beauty as Jealous Boyfriend

1914The Star Boarder as Landlady's Husband (uncredited)

1914Cruel, Cruel Love as Butler

1914His Favorite Pastime as Tough Guy in Bar

1914Tango Tangles as Dance Hall Manager (uncredited)

1914A Film Johnnie as Director (uncredited)

1914A Thief Catcher as Crook (uncredited)

1914Making a Living as Wreck Bystander (uncredited)

1914Little Billy's Triumph as Unknown

1914Rebecca's Wedding Day as The Groom

1914In the Clutches of the Gang as Cop

1914A Flirt's Mistake as Rajah

1913Zuzu, the Band Leader as Caesar - Zuzu's Rival

1913The Gusher as Cop (uncredited)

1913A Ride for a Bride as Mustached Man

1913Fatty Joins the Force as Jealous Cop

1913A Muddy Romance as Water Policeman

1913The Speed Kings as Laughing Spectator

1913A Quiet Little Wedding as Wedding Guest

1913The Bowling Match as Bowling Alley Operator

1913Mother's Boy as Mug

1913Mabel's Dramatic Career as Audience Member / Cop in Movie

1913Mabel's New Hero as Cop

1913The Riot as Cop

1913A Noise from the Deep as Unknown

1913Love and Rubbish as 1st Cop

1913Safe in Jail as 1st Crook

1913Rastus and the Game Cock as Spectator

1913Peeping Pete as The Cop

1913The Gangsters as Henchman

1913Their First Execution as Unknown

1913Mabel’s Awful Mistakes as Unknown

1913Algy on the Force as Cop

1913Bangville Police as 3rd Deputy

1913The Rural Third Degree as Cop

Directing

2024Laurel & Hardy: Year Two ... Director

1930Bigger and Better ... Director

1930Fifty Million Husbands ... Director

1930The golf player ... Director

1930The golfer ... Director

1930All Teed Up ... Director

1928You're Darn Tootin' ... Director

1928From Soup to Nuts ... Director

1925The Marriage Circus ... Director

1924Three Foolish Weeks ... Director

1922Step Lively, Please ... Director