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Oscar-Winning Actor George Kennedy Dies at 91

George Kennedy
George Kennedy. Photo: Silver Screen Collection/2011 Silver Screen Collection

Actor George Kennedy has died at the age of 91, TMZ reports. According to his son, he had spent the past month under hospice care. The veteran character actor was best known for playing Dragline, the hulking prisoner who befriends Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke, a role that won Kennedy the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1968. For younger viewers, his face was more familiar as Ed Hocken, sidekick to Frank Drebin in the Naked Gun trilogy. (He was the one who informed Drebin that “Weird Al” Yankovic was also on the plane.) Over nearly 60 years in the entertainment industry, Kennedy also played a mechanic in the Airport films, an officer in The Dirty Dozen, and a rancher in Dallas. His final film was the 2014 Mark Wahlberg movie The Gambler.

Oscar-Winning Actor George Kennedy Dies at 91