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 伊利亚·卡赞'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 莫里斯·埃文斯 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 詹姆斯·卡格尼, who cast him as his brother in the film 光荣之都 (1940). The role brought with it a contract with Warner Bros., and the studio put him in supporting roles in some prestigious movies, including 夜困摩天岭 (1941), the film that made 亨弗莱·鲍嘉 a star, 马革裹尸 (1941) with 埃罗尔·弗林, and 霍华德·霍克斯's 空中堡垒 (1943) alongside future Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner 吉格·杨 and the great 约翰·加菲尔德. 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 作法自毙 (1947), 夺得锦标归 (1949) (for which he received his first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor) and 玻璃动物园 (1950), playing Tom in a mediocre adaptation of 田纳西·威廉斯's classic play. Kennedy won his first and only Best Actor nomination for 光明的胜利 (1951), playing a blinded vet, a role for which he won the New York Film Critics Circle award over such competition as 马龙·白兰度 and 亨弗莱·鲍嘉. Other films included 弗里茨·朗's 'Rancho Notorious (1951)', 安东尼·曼's Bend of the River (1952), 威廉·惠勒's 危急时刻 (1955), Richard Brooks' Elmer Gantry (1960), 大卫·里恩's 阿拉伯的劳伦斯 (1962), and 约翰·福特's Cheyenne Autumn (1964).
In 1956, Kennedy won another Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role in 冤狱 (1955), plus two more Supporting nods in 1958 and 1959 for his appearances in the screen adaptations of Grace Metalious's 冷暖人间 (1957), and 詹姆斯·琼斯 魂断情天 (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 詹姆斯·迪恩 one of his first important parts. A decade later, Kennedy replaced his good friend 安东尼·奎恩 in the Broadway production of "Becket", alternating the roles of Becket and Henry II with 劳伦斯·奥利弗, 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.
Following his death, he was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in Lequille, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Four of Kennedy's five Oscar-nominated performances were directed by Mark Robson: 夺得锦标归 (1949), 光明的胜利 (1951), 冤狱 (1955) and 冷暖人间 (1957). His fifth nod, for 魂断情天 (1958) was directed by 文森特·明奈利.
艾德蒙·奥布莱恩 was originally cast as Jackson Bentley in 阿拉伯的劳伦斯 (1962). After O'Brien filmed several scenes, he suffered a heart attack and had to be replaced. Kennedy was recommended to director 大卫·里恩 by 安东尼·奎恩, whom Kennedy had replaced on Broadway in the role of King Henry II in the play "Beckett" (1960).
In 1936, while a struggling actor in New York, Kennedy roomed with 大卫·韦恩, Ben Yaffeem, and several others in a West Seventies brownstone.
Kennedy twice played Alexander Hamilton on television.
Kennedy's actress daughter Laurie won a Tony Award nomination in 1979 for "Man and Superman".
Alhough his name appears on the video box for the Italian film Enigma rosso (1978) (aka "Enigma Rosso"), he was not in the film or in its credits.
His character Jackson Bentley, newspaper man and filmmaker, in 阿拉伯的劳伦斯 (1962) is a fictionalized version of real life "discoverer" of T.E. Lawrence, Lowell Thomas.
Had starred in three Oscar Best Picture nominees: 冷暖人间 (1957), Elmer Gantry (1960) and 阿拉伯的劳伦斯 (1962). Lawrence of Arabia won.
He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6681 Hollywood Boulevard; and for Television at 1620 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.
