American screenwriter and director, particularly of Westerns. The son of performers, he was part of their act 'The Dancing Kennedys" from infancy. He served in World War II as a cavalry officer and was highly decorated. After the war, he joined the Pasadena Community Playhouse, but was ousted after one play as an actor for missing rehearsal. He found a job writing radio programs such as "Hash Knif ...
show all American screenwriter and director, particularly of Westerns. The son of performers, he was part of their act 'The Dancing Kennedys" from infancy. He served in World War II as a cavalry officer and was highly decorated. After the war, he joined the Pasadena Community Playhouse, but was ousted after one play as an actor for missing rehearsal. He found a job writing radio programs such as "Hash Knife Hartley" and "The Used Story Lot", then used his army fencing training to land work as a stunt fencer in films. Kennedy was hired to write thirteen scripts for a proposed television program, "Juan and Diablo", with plans for Batjac contract player Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez to star. The show was never produced, but Kennedy was kept on at Batjac to write films for producer John Wayne . His first, 'Seven Men From Now (1956)' was a superb Western, the first of the esteemed collaboration between director Budd Boetticher and star Randolph Scott . Kennedy wrote most of that series, as well as a number of others for Wayne's Batjac company, although it would be nearly twenty years before Wayne actually appeared in the film of a Kennedy script. In 1960, Kennedy got his first job as director, on a critical failure, 'Canadians, The (1961)'. He turned to television where he wrote and directed episodes of '"Lawman" (1958)', '"Virginian, The" (1962)', and most notably, '"Combat!" (1962)'. He returned to films in 1965 with the successful 'Rounders, The (1965)', later producing and directing the pilot for the TV series of the same name. His output since then has consisted of a number of popular Westerns, both theatrical and for television, as well as an occasional non-Western, but always with his trademark humor and stylish dialogue.
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