Edgar Kennedy

Edgar Kennedy
Edgar Livingston Kennedy (April 26, 1890 – November 9, 1948) was an American comedic character actor who appeared in at least 500 films during the silent and sound eras. Professionally, he was known as "Slow Burn", owing to his ability to portray characters whose anger slowly rose in frustrating situations.
In many of his roles, he used exasperated facial expressions and performed very deliberately to convey his rising anger or "burn", often rubbing his hand over his bald head and across his face in an effort to control his temper. One memorable example of his comedy technique can be seen in the 1933 Marx Brothers' film Duck Soup, where he plays a sidewalk lemonade vendor who is harassed and increasingly provoked by Harpo and Chico.
Early years
Kennedy was born April 26, 1890, in Monterey County, California, to Canadians Neil Kennedy and Annie Quinn. He attended San Rafael High School before taking up boxing. He was a light-heavyweight and once went 14 rounds with Jack Dempsey. After boxing, he worked as a singer in vaudeville, musical comedy and light opera.
Film career
After making his debut in 1911, Kennedy performed with some of Hollywood's biggest comedians, including Roscoe Arbuckle, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, Charley Chase and Our Gang. He was also one of the original Keystone Kops.
Kennedy's burly frame originally suited him for villainous or threatening roles in silent pictures. By the 1920s, he was working for producer Hal Roach, who kept him busy playing supporting roles in short comedies. He starred in one short, A Pair of Tights (1928), where he plays a tightwad determined to spend as little as possible on a date. His antics with comedian Stuart Erwin are reminiscent of Roach's Laurel and Hardy comedies, produced concurrently. Kennedy also directed half a dozen of Roach's two-reel comedies.
In 1930, RKO-Pathe featured Kennedy in a pair of short-subject comedies, Next Door Neighbors and Help Wanted, Female. His characterization of a short-tempered householder was so effective, RKO built a series around him. The "Average Man" comedies starred Kennedy as a blustery, stubborn everyman determined to accomplish a household project or get ahead professionally, despite the meddling of his featherbrained wife (usually Florence Lake), her freeloading brother (originally William Eugene, then Jack Rice) and his dubious mother-in-law (Dot Farley). Kennedy pioneered the kind of domestic situation comedy that later became familiar on television. Each installment ended with Kennedy embarrassed, humbled or defeated, looking at the camera and doing his patent slow burn. The Edgar Kennedy Series, with its theme song "Chopsticks", became a standard part of the moviegoing experience. He made six "Average Man" shorts a year for 17 years. In 1938, he worked as a straight man for British comedian Will Hay in Hey! Hey! USA.
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, he presides over an international tribunal where Wheeler & Woolsey want to do something about world peace. "Well, ya can't do anything about it ," yells Kennedy, "This is a " Kennedy, established as the poster boy for frustration, even starred in an instructional film titled The Other Fellow, where he played a loudmouthed roadhog venting his anger on other drivers (each played by Kennedy as well), little realizing that, to them, 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 Harrison's character, a symphony conductor, "Nobody handles Handel like you handle Handel."
Death
Kennedy died of throat cancer at the Motion Picture Hospital, San Fernando Valley on November 9, 1948. Tom Kennedy (no relation) and Charles Coburn spoke at the funeral service held at St. Gregory's Church, with Chester Conklin, Jimmy Finlayson, Del Lord and Billy Gilbert among the mourners. Kennedy was interred at the Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, Los Angeles County, California.
Selected filmography
As actor:
Brown of Harvard (1911, Short) as Claxton Madden
Hoffmeyer's Legacy (1912, Short) as Keystone Kop (uncredited)
The Bangville Police (1913, Short) as 3rd Deputy (in straw hat)
The Star Boarder (1914, Short) as Landlady's Husband
The Knockout (1914, Short) as Cyclone Flynn (uncredited)
Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914) as Restaurant Owner / Butler (uncredited)
The Stolen Triumph (1916) as Edwin Rowley, Jr.
His Bitter Bill (1916) as Diamond Dan
The Blue Streak (1917)
Watch Your Neighbor (1918)
Mickey (1918) as Stage Driver / Bookie (uncredited)
Yankee Doodle in Berlin (1919) as German Prison Guard (uncredited)
Daredevil Jack (1920)
Puppets of Fate (1921) as Mike Reynolds
Skirts (1921)
The Leather Pushers (1922) as Ptomaine Tommy
Bell Boy 13 (1923) as Chef (uncredited)
The Little Girl Next Door (1923) as Hank Hall
The Night Message (1924) as Lem Beeman
Racing for Life (1924) as Tom Grady
Paths to Paradise (1925) as Detective (uncredited)
The Trouble with Wives (1925) as Detective
The Golden Princess (1925) as Gewilliker Hay
The People vs. Nancy Preston (1925) as Gloomy Gus
His People (1925) as Thomas Nolan
Oh What a Nurse! (1926) as Eric Johnson
My Old Dutch (1926) as Bill Sproat
Across the Pacific (1926) as Cpl. Ryan
The Better 'Ole (1926) as Cpl. Austin
Going Crooked (1926) as Detective
Finger Prints (1927) as O.K. McDuff
The Gay Old Bird (1927) as Chauffeur
The Wrong Mr. Wright (1927) as Trayguard
Wedding Bills (1927) as Detective
The Chinese Parrot (1927) as Maydorf
Leave 'Em Laughing (1928, Short) (First appearance with Laurel and Hardy)
The Finishing Touch (1928, Short) as Policeman (credited as Ed Kennedy)
Two Tars (1928, Short) as Motorist
Trent's Last Case (1929) as Inspector Murch
Unaccustomed As We Are (1929) as Mr. Kennedy
Perfect Day (1929, Short) as Uncle Edgar
They Had to See Paris (1929) as Ed Eggers (uncredited)
Welcome Danger (1929) as SFPD Desk Sergeant (uncredited)
Night Owls (1930, Short) as Officer Kennedy
Quick Millions (1931) as Cop (uncredited)
Bad Company (1931) as Buffington – Doorman
The Carnival Boat (1932) as Baldy
Westward Passage (1932) as Elmer
Hold 'Em Jail (1932) as Warden Elmer Jones
Little Orphan Annie (1932) as Daddy Warbucks
Rockabye (1932) as Water Wagon-Driver (uncredited)
The Penguin Pool murder (1932) as Donovan
Scarlet River (1933) as Sam Gilroy
Diplomaniacs (1933) as chairman – Peace Conference
Son of the Border (1933) as Windy
Cross Fire (1933) as Ed Wimpy
Professional Sweetheart (1933) as Tim Kelsey
Good Housewrecking (1933, Short) as Mr. Kennedy
Tillie and Gus (1933) as Judge
Duck Soup (1933) as Lemonade Vendor
King for a Night (1933) as Cop (uncredited)
All of Me (1934) as Guard (uncredited)
Heat Lightning (1934) as Herbert – the Husband
Twentieth Century (1934) as McGonigle
Operator 13 (1934) as Confederate Officer Jealous of Artilleryman (uncredited)
Murder on the Blackboard (1934) as Detective Donahue
Money Means Nothing (1934) as Herbert Green
We're Rich Again (1934) as Healy, Process Server
Bachelor Bait (1934) (scenes deleted)
King Kelly of the U.S.A. (1934) as Happy Moran
Gridiron Flash (1934) as Officer Thurston
Kid Millions (1934) as Herman Wilson
The Marines Are Coming (1934) as Sgt. Buck Martin
Flirting with Danger (1934) as Jimmie Pierson
The Silver Streak (1934) as Dan O'Brien
Affairs of a Gentleman (1934)
Rendezvous at Midnight (1935) as Mahoney
Living on Velvet (1935) as Counterman
The Cowboy Millionaire (1935) as Willy Persimmon Bates
Woman Wanted (1935) as Sweeney
Little Big Shot (1935) as Onderdonk
1,000 Dollars a Minute (1935) as Police Officer McCarthy
In Person (1935) as Man (uncredited)
The Bride Comes Home (1935) as Henry
It's Up to You (1936) as Elmer Block
The Return of Jimmy Valentine (1936) as Callahan
Will Power (1936, Short) as Himself
The Robin Hood of El Dorado (1936) as Sheriff Judd
Small Town Girl (1936) as Captain Mack
Fatal Lady (1936) as Rudolf Hochstetter
San Francisco (1936) as Sheriff
Yours for the Asking (1936) as Bicarbonate
Mad Holiday (1936) as Donovan
Three Men on a Horse (1936) as Harry
Dummy Ache (1936)
When's Your Birthday? (1937) as Mr. Basscombe
The Other Fellow (1937, Short) as Various Roles
A Star Is Born (1937) as Pop Randall
Super-Sleuth (1937) as Police Lt. Garrison
Double Wedding (1937) as Spike
Hollywood Hotel (1937) as Callaghan
True Confession (1937) as Darsey
The Black Doll (1938) as Sheriff Renick
Scandal Sheet (1938) as Daniel Webster Smith
Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus (1938) as Arthur Bailey
Hey! Hey! USA (1938) as Bugs Leary
It's a Wonderful World (1939) as Police Lieutenant Miller
Everything's on Ice (1939) as Joe Barton
Little Accident (1939) as Paper Hanger
Laugh it Off (1939) as Judge John J. McGuinnis
Charlie McCarthy, Detective (1939) as Inspector Dailey
Sandy Is a Lady (1940) as Officer Rafferty
Dr. Christian Meets the Women (1940) as George Browning
The Bride Wore Crutches (1940) as Police Captain McGuire
Margie (1940) as Chauncey
The Quarterback (1940) as Pops
Who Killed Aunt Maggie? (1940) as Sheriff Gregory
Sandy Gets Her Man (1940) as Fire Chief Galvin
Li'l Abner (1940) as Cornelius Cornpone
Remedy for Riches (1940) as George Browning
Too Many Blondes (1941) as Hotel Manager (uncredited)
Blondie in Society (1941) as Doctor
Public Enemies (1941) as Biff
Private Snuffy Smith (1942) as Sergeant Ed Cooper
Pardon My Stripes (1942) as Warden Bingham
In Old California (1942) as Kegs McKeever
There's One Born Every Minute (1942) as Mayor Moe Carson
Hillbilly Blitzkrieg (1942) as Sgt. Homer Gatling
The Crime Smasher (1943) as Police Chief Murphy
Hold Your Temper (1943, Short) as Himself
The Falcon Strikes Back (1943) as Smiley Dugan
Air Raid Wardens (1943) as Joe Bledsoe
Hitler's Madman (1943) as Nepomuk – the Hermit
The Girl from Monterrey (1943) as Doc Hogan, Fight Promoter
Crazy House (1943) as Judge
It Happened Tomorrow (1944) as Inspector Mulrooney
Radio Rampage (1944, Short) as Himself
The Great Alaskan Mystery (1944, Serial) as Bosun Higgins
Anchors Aweigh (1945) as Police Captain
Captain Tugboat Annie (1945) as Captain Bullwinkle
It's Your Move (1945, Short) as Himself
You Drive Me Crazy (1945, Short) as Himself
The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947) (a.k.a. Mad Wednesday) as Jake the Bartender
Television Turmoil (1947, Short) as Himself
Heaven Only Knows (1947) as Judd
Unfaithfully Yours (1948) as Detective Sweeney
My Dream Is Yours (1949) as Uncle Charlie (final film role)
As director:
From Soup to Nuts (1928) — Laurel and Hardy two-reeler (silent)
You're Darn Tootin' (1928) — Laurel and Hardy two-reeler (silent)
References
External links
Edgar Kennedy at The Way Out West Tent, The Sons of the Desert
1890 births
1948 deaths
20th-century American comedians
20th-century American male actors
American male boxers
American male comedians
American male comedy actors
American male film actors
American male silent film actors
American people of Canadian descent
Hal Roach Studios short film series
Boxers from California
Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City
Comedians from California
Deaths from cancer in California
Deaths from esophageal cancer
Hal Roach Studios actors
Light-heavyweight boxers
Male actors from California
People from Monterey County, California
Silent film comedians