Mini Biography
Edgar Kennedy, who was born on April 26, 1890, near Monterey, California, hit the road as a young man and moved across the country, working in a succession of jobs. He became a professional boxer, claiming to have gone 14 rounds against The Manassas Mauler, Jack Dempsey,
In addition to his knowledge of the sweet science, Kennedy possessed a good musical voice, and he wound up singing in musical shows in the Mid West, his first taste of show business. During his cross-country peregrinations, he eventually wound up in Los Angeles, and was hired as an actor by Max Sennett.
At the Mack Sennett Studios, he was allegedly one of the original Keystone Kops, but soon graduated from bit parts to supporting roles in Keystone Comedies, including "Tillie's Punctured Romance" with Charlie Chaplin. Kennedy had good roles in other Chaplin movies, but when his contract expired in 1921, he went freelance, though he did occasionally return to Sennett to make a movie.
The former Keystone Kop made a career out of playing harassed policemen after leaving Sennett. By the late 1920s, Kennedy's craft was most prominently featured in comedies for Hal Roach, Sennett's archrival, where he flourished in support of Laurel and Hardy. It was with Roach that he developed his mastery of the "slow burn" that he became famous for.
In support of Laurel and Hardy, he often played a policeman unable to cope with their absurdities. He also directed two Laurel and Hardy films, "From Soup To Nuts" and "You're Darn Tootin'."
RKO hired Kennedy to appear in a series of situation comedies called "The Average Man," in which he played the head of a family. The short comedies had very short shooting schedules, some as little as three days, but Kennedy was always a pro and delighted the audience by giving them his all. He eventually made over 200 short subjects and appeared in over 100 feature films, still in demand right up to the day he died of cancer on November 9, 1948.
Mini Biography By:
Jon C. Hopwood
1 win