Edgar Kennedy
AKA: E. Livingston Kennedy
Birthday: 1890-04-25
Died: 1948-11-09
Birthplace: Monterey, California, USA
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
Character: Insp. Mulrooney
Character: Striking Baker
Character: Jake the Bartender
Character: Cornelius Cornpone
Character: Oscar McGonigle
Character: Cafe Proprietor (uncredited)
Character: Detective (as Edward Kennedy)
Character: Officer (archive footage)
Character: Lieutenant Miller
Character: A Photographer
Character: Officer Kennedy
Character: Golfer (uncredited)
Character: Cop (as Ed Kennedy)
Character: Collis P. Kennedy
Character: Officer Kennedy
Character: Landlady's Husband (uncredited)
Character: Cyclone Flynn (uncredited)
Character: Policeman (uncredited)
Character: Crook (uncredited)
Character: Officer Donovan
Character: edited from 'A Pair of Tights' (archive footage)
Character: Daddy Warbucks
Character: Willy 'Persimmon' Bates
Character: Jimmie Pierson
Character: Harry, the Bartender
Character: Wreck Bystander (uncredited)
Character: Doc Hogan, Fight Promoter
Character: The Slicker's Chauffeur
Character: Sgt. Buck Martin
Character: Gewilliker Hay
Character: The Trouble Mender
Character: The Sky Pirate
Character: Police Lt. Garrison
Character: Art Gallery Operator
Character: Police Chief Murphy
Character: Shell Game Operator
Character: Kennedy the Cop (uncredited)
Character: Sheriff Gregory
Character: Ptomaine Tommy
Character: George Browning
Character: Corporal Austin
Character: Healy, Process Server
Character: Officer Thurston
Character: Edgar, Movie Director
Character: Kennedy the Cop (uncredited)
Character: Inspector Dailey
Character: Mayor Moe Carson
Character: The Husband, Mr Glenders
Character: Sgt. Ed Cooper
Character: Police Captain
Character: Kennedy the Cop (uncredited)
Character: Water Policeman
Character: Laughing Spectator
Character: Audience Member / Cop in Movie
Character: Dance Hall Manager (uncredited)
Character: Tough Guy in Bar
Character: Jealous Boyfriend
Character: Dan O'Leary (as Ed Kennedy)
Character: Sheriff Renick
Character: Marion's Boyfriend's Boss
Character: Chairman - Peace Conference
Character: Inspector Murch
Character: Rudolf Hochstetter
Character: Captain Bullwinkle
Character: German Prison Guard (uncredited)
Character: Cicero the Cop
Character: Quimby the Lawyer
Character: Café Proprietor
Character: Diamond Dan - Jim's Rival
Character: Director (uncredited)
Character: Spectator in Grandstand (uncredited)
Character: Tough Hot Dog Customer (uncredited)
Character: Restaurant Owner / Banks' Butler (uncredited)
Character: Handout-Giver (uncredited)
Character: 1st Street Crowd Participant (uncredited)
Character: Diner / Man in Audience (uncredited)
Character: Thelma's Last Rescuer
Character: Station Master Kennedy (uncredited)
Character: Herbert - the Husband
Character: Officer Ed Kennedy
Character: George Browning
Character: Kennedy the Cop (uncredited)
Character: Mary's Father / Gertie's Uncle
Character: Uncle Ed Sutton
Character: Man in Phone Booth
Character: Night Club Patron
Character: Orchestra Leader
Character: Warden Elmer Jones
Character: Cop (uncredited)
Character: Police Officer McCarthy
Character: Officer Rafferty
Character: Sgt. Homer Gatling
Character: Thelma's Father
Character: Michael Kennedy
Character: Cop (uncredited)
Character: Officer Kennedy
Character: Officer Kennedy (archive footage)
Character: Howard J. Green
Character: Judge John J. McGuinnis
Character: Detective Donahue
Character: Detective (uncredited)
Character: Edgar Kennedy (footage from 'I'll Build It Myself') (archive footage)
Character: An American Tourist
Character: The Wife's Brother
Character: Guard (uncredited)
Character: Nepomuk - the Hermit
Character: Water Wagon Driver (uncredited)
Character: Ethel's Former Boyfriend
Character: Fiancee's Father
Character: Daniel Webster Smith
Character: The Maid's Boyfriend
Character: Peter X. Bush - Streetcar Superintendent
Character: SFPD Desk Sergeant (uncredited)
Character: Buffington-Doorman
Character: Fire Chief Galvin
Character: Warden Bingham
Character: O.K. McDuff (as Ed Kennedy)
Character: archive footage
Character: The cafe waiter (uncredited)
Character: Tony Peanutty - Italian Ward Leader
Character: Bowling Alley Operator
Character: Fatty's Neighbor
Character: Caesar - Zuzu's Rival