Edgar Kennedy

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Edgar Livingston Kennedy (born April 26, 1890 in Monterey County , California ( USA ), † November 9, 1948 in Los Angeles , California, USA) was an American film actor and director .

Life

The 1.85 meter tall Kennedy has appeared in over 400 films, most of which are comedies. He is considered the inventor and master of the so-called slow burn, which is why he was sometimes referred to as "old slow burn". His specialty was the cinematic representation of painfully restrained, boiling anger. In many films, for example, he mimed an average man who is plagued by all kinds of afflictions, but who is still in control of the most absurd mishaps. The Average Man was, after all, a talkie series with Edgar Kennedy. Often he played a policeman whose face shows how much he is seething in the face of what is offered to him, then in silent desperation pushes his cap back, scratches his bald head or runs his hand over his face. He had his first film roles from 1911 in comedies staged by Mack Sennett , in which he mostly wore the police uniform, which earned him the name " Keystone Cop " (named after the film company Sennetts). He played here alongside comedians like Charlie Chaplin , Fatty Arbuckle and Ben Turpin . Before that, Kennedy had got by with odd jobs, including appearing as a prize boxer, set pusher and variety actor.

For the film production company Educational, to which he transferred, Kennedy also worked as a director. He finally took on this activity for the film producer Hal Roach . He also worked as a screenwriter and "gagman" or gag inventor. Above all, however, he appeared for Roach in a specially created film series and acted alongside Roach's contract partners Laurel and Hardy . In 1928 he was first appeared in a Laurel-and-Hardy comedy, Leave 'em Laughing ( Let them laugh ), where he as worked as a policeman in four other films in his signature role. In a total of ten films, Kennedy became a congenial and unforgettable partner of the legendary comedian duo, alongside Finlayson , Gilbert , Hall and Sandford . Kennedy's portrayal of the lemonade seller in the Marx Brothers comedy The Marx Brothers at War from 1933 was also unforgettable .

Edgar Kennedy died of throat cancer and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City , California .

Filmography (selection)

As an actor

As a director

literature

  • Bill Cassara: Edgar Kennedy. Master of the Slow Burn. BearManor Media, Boalsburg PA 2005, ISBN 1-59393-018-6 .
  • Rainer Dick: Laurel & Hardy. The greatest comedians of all time (= Heyne-Bücher 32, Heyne-Filmbibliothek. No. 221). Original edition. Heyne, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-453-09006-3 .
  • Rainer Dick: Lexicon of film comedians. (Their lives, their roles, their films - over 300 comedians: Rowan Atkinson, Zasu Pitts, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Jim Carrey, Leslie Nielsen, Laurel & Hardy and many more). Lexikon-Imprint-Verlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-89602-223-7 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kennedy, Edgar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kennedy, Edgar Livingston (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film actor and film director
DATE OF BIRTH April 26, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Monterey County , California ( USA )
DATE OF DEATH November 9, 1948
Place of death Los Angeles , California , USA