Arthur Kennedy(1914-1990)
- Actor
Arthur Kennedy, one of the premier character actors in American film
from the late 1940s through the early 1960s, achieved fame in the role
of Biff in Elia Kazan's historic production of Arthur Miller's Pultizer-Prize
winning play "Death of a Salesman." Although he was not selected to
recreate the role on screen, he won one Best Actor and four Best
Supporting Academy Award nominations between 1949 and 1959 and ranked
as one of Hollywood's finest players.
Born John Arthur Kennedy to a dentist and his wife on February 17, 1914
in Worcester, Massachusetts. As a young man, known as "Johnny" to his
friends, studied drama at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. By the
time he was 20 years old, he was involved in local theatrical groups.
Kennedy's first professional gig was was with the Globe Theatre
Company, which toured the Midwest offering abbreviated versions of
Shakespearian plays. Shakesperian star Maurice Evans hired Kennedy for his
company, with which he appeared in the Broadway production of "Richard
II" in 1937. While performing in Evans' repertory company, Kennedy also
worked in the Federal Theatre project.
Arthur Kennedy made his Broadway debut in "Everywhere I Roam" in 1938,
the same year that he married Mary Cheffrey, who would remain his wife
until her death in 1975. He also appeared on Broadway in "Life and
Death of an American" in 1939 and in "An International Incident" in
1940 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, in support of the great American
actress the theater had been named after.
Kennedy and his wife moved west to Los Angeles, California in 1938, and
it was while acting on the stage in L.A. that he was discovered by
fellow actor James Cagney, who cast him as his brother in the
film City for Conquest (1940). The role brought with it a contract with Warner Bros.,
and the studio put him in supporting roles in some prestigious movies,
including High Sierra (1940), the film that made Humphrey Bogart a star, They Died with Their Boots On (1941) with
Errol Flynn, and Howard Hawks's Air Force (1943) alongside future Best Supporting Actor
Oscar winner Gig Young and the great John Garfield. His career was interrupted
by military service in World War Two.
After the war, Kennedy went back to the Broadway stage, where he gained
a reputation as an actor's actor, appearing in Arthur Miller's 1947 Tony
Award-winning play "All My Sons," which was directed by Kazan. He
played John Proctor in the original production of Miller's reflection
on McCarthyism, "The Crucible" - which Kazan, an informer who
prostrated himself before the forces of McCarthyism, refused to direct - and also
appeared in Miller's last Broadway triumph, "The Price."
When Kennedy returned to film work, he quickly distinguished himself as
one of the best and most talented of supporting actors & character
leads, appearing in such major films as Boomerang! (1947), Champion (1949) (for which he
received his first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor) and
The Glass Menagerie (1950), playing Tom in a mediocre adaptation of Tennessee Williams's classic
play. Kennedy won his first and only Best Actor nomination for Bright Victory (1951),
playing a blinded vet, a role for which he won the New York Film
Critics Circle award over such competition as Marlon Brando and
Humphrey Bogart. Other films included Fritz Lang's 'Rancho Notorious (1951)', Anthony Mann's Bend of the River (1952),
William Wyler's The Desperate Hours (1955), Richard Brooks' Elmer Gantry (1960), David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and John Ford's
Cheyenne Autumn (1964).
In 1956, Kennedy won another Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for
his role in Trial (1955), plus two more Supporting nods in 1958 and 1959 for
his appearances in the screen adaptations of Grace Metalious's Peyton Place (1957), and
James Jones Some Came Running (1958).
Kennedy returned to Broadway frequently in the 1950s, and headlined the
1952 play "See the Jaguar", a flop best remembered for giving a young
actor named James Dean one of his first important parts. A decade later,
Kennedy replaced his good friend Anthony Quinn in the Broadway production of
"Becket", alternating the roles of Becket and Henry II with Laurence Olivier,
who was quite fond of working with him. In the 1960s, the prestigious
movie parts dried up as he matured, but he continued working in movies
and on TV until he retired in the mid-1980s. He moved out of Los
Angeles to live with family members in Connecticut. In the last years
of his life, he was afflicted with thyroid cancer and eye disease. He
died of a brain tumor at 75, survived by his two children by his wife
Mary, Terence and actress Laurie Kennedy. He is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in
Lequille, Nova Scotia, Canada.
from the late 1940s through the early 1960s, achieved fame in the role
of Biff in Elia Kazan's historic production of Arthur Miller's Pultizer-Prize
winning play "Death of a Salesman." Although he was not selected to
recreate the role on screen, he won one Best Actor and four Best
Supporting Academy Award nominations between 1949 and 1959 and ranked
as one of Hollywood's finest players.
Born John Arthur Kennedy to a dentist and his wife on February 17, 1914
in Worcester, Massachusetts. As a young man, known as "Johnny" to his
friends, studied drama at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. By the
time he was 20 years old, he was involved in local theatrical groups.
Kennedy's first professional gig was was with the Globe Theatre
Company, which toured the Midwest offering abbreviated versions of
Shakespearian plays. Shakesperian star Maurice Evans hired Kennedy for his
company, with which he appeared in the Broadway production of "Richard
II" in 1937. While performing in Evans' repertory company, Kennedy also
worked in the Federal Theatre project.
Arthur Kennedy made his Broadway debut in "Everywhere I Roam" in 1938,
the same year that he married Mary Cheffrey, who would remain his wife
until her death in 1975. He also appeared on Broadway in "Life and
Death of an American" in 1939 and in "An International Incident" in
1940 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, in support of the great American
actress the theater had been named after.
Kennedy and his wife moved west to Los Angeles, California in 1938, and
it was while acting on the stage in L.A. that he was discovered by
fellow actor James Cagney, who cast him as his brother in the
film City for Conquest (1940). The role brought with it a contract with Warner Bros.,
and the studio put him in supporting roles in some prestigious movies,
including High Sierra (1940), the film that made Humphrey Bogart a star, They Died with Their Boots On (1941) with
Errol Flynn, and Howard Hawks's Air Force (1943) alongside future Best Supporting Actor
Oscar winner Gig Young and the great John Garfield. His career was interrupted
by military service in World War Two.
After the war, Kennedy went back to the Broadway stage, where he gained
a reputation as an actor's actor, appearing in Arthur Miller's 1947 Tony
Award-winning play "All My Sons," which was directed by Kazan. He
played John Proctor in the original production of Miller's reflection
on McCarthyism, "The Crucible" - which Kazan, an informer who
prostrated himself before the forces of McCarthyism, refused to direct - and also
appeared in Miller's last Broadway triumph, "The Price."
When Kennedy returned to film work, he quickly distinguished himself as
one of the best and most talented of supporting actors & character
leads, appearing in such major films as Boomerang! (1947), Champion (1949) (for which he
received his first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor) and
The Glass Menagerie (1950), playing Tom in a mediocre adaptation of Tennessee Williams's classic
play. Kennedy won his first and only Best Actor nomination for Bright Victory (1951),
playing a blinded vet, a role for which he won the New York Film
Critics Circle award over such competition as Marlon Brando and
Humphrey Bogart. Other films included Fritz Lang's 'Rancho Notorious (1951)', Anthony Mann's Bend of the River (1952),
William Wyler's The Desperate Hours (1955), Richard Brooks' Elmer Gantry (1960), David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and John Ford's
Cheyenne Autumn (1964).
In 1956, Kennedy won another Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for
his role in Trial (1955), plus two more Supporting nods in 1958 and 1959 for
his appearances in the screen adaptations of Grace Metalious's Peyton Place (1957), and
James Jones Some Came Running (1958).
Kennedy returned to Broadway frequently in the 1950s, and headlined the
1952 play "See the Jaguar", a flop best remembered for giving a young
actor named James Dean one of his first important parts. A decade later,
Kennedy replaced his good friend Anthony Quinn in the Broadway production of
"Becket", alternating the roles of Becket and Henry II with Laurence Olivier,
who was quite fond of working with him. In the 1960s, the prestigious
movie parts dried up as he matured, but he continued working in movies
and on TV until he retired in the mid-1980s. He moved out of Los
Angeles to live with family members in Connecticut. In the last years
of his life, he was afflicted with thyroid cancer and eye disease. He
died of a brain tumor at 75, survived by his two children by his wife
Mary, Terence and actress Laurie Kennedy. He is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in
Lequille, Nova Scotia, Canada.