Kennedy, Arthur

▪ American actor

in full  John Arthur Kennedy  

born Feb. 17, 1914, Worcester, Mass., U.S.

died Jan. 5, 1990, Branford, Conn.

 American character actor featured in many films and nominated for five Academy Awards.

      Kennedy, who studied acting at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pa., began an unsuccessful Broadway career before he was taken to Hollywood by James Cagney and cast as Cagney's brother in the film City for Conquest (1940). Kennedy won critical acclaim for his roles in High Sierra (1941), Cheyenne (1947), The Glass Menagerie (1950), Rancho Notorious (1952), The Man from Laramie (1955), Elmer Gantry (1960), and Lawrence of Arabia (1962). He was nominated for Academy Awards for his acting in Champion (1949), Bright Victory (1951), Trial (1955), Peyton Place (1957), and Some Came Running (1959).

      On Broadway, Kennedy appeared in several Arthur Miller plays and won a 1949 Tony award for his role as Biff in Death of a Salesman; he was featured in the title role of Becket in 1960. Though thyroid cancer and eye disease caused him to retire in 1979, he returned to film acting to make Signs of Life (1989).

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