Burt Kennedy
About
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Also Known As
Z. X. Jones
Birth Place
Muskegon, Michigan, USA
Born
September 03, 1922
Died
February 15, 2001
Cause of Death
Cancer
Biography
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Coming to film from radio Westerns, Kennedy penned "Seven Men from Now" (1956), the first of four collaborations with director Budd Boetticher and the first of three with producer-director Andrew V. McLaglen. Moving from the typewriter to the director's chair by the early 1960s, Kennedy continued for a time creating lean, leathery B's and TV Westerns. He also received acclaim for his gri...
Filmography
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Suburban Commando
(1991)
Director
Big Bad John
(1990)
Director
Where the Hell's That Gold?!!?
(1988)
Director
Once Upon a Texas Train
(1988)
Director
The Trouble With Spies
(1987)
Director
The Alamo: 13 Days to Glory
(1987)
Director
Family & Companions
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Sheila Theresa Foster
Wife
Married on July 11, 1973.
Nancy Pendelton
Companion
Survived him.
Bibliography
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"Hollywood Trail Boss"
Burt Kennedy, Boulevard Books (1997)
Notes
"I think Burt Kennedy is the best western screenwriter there ever was," said [Budd] Boetticher in a phone interview. "Burt is so carefully authentic in everything he does." --From The Hollywood Reporter, January 12, 1993.
Biography
Coming to film from radio Westerns, Kennedy penned "Seven Men from Now" (1956), the first of four collaborations with director Budd Boetticher and the first of three with producer-director Andrew V. McLaglen. Moving from the typewriter to the director's chair by the early 1960s, Kennedy continued for a time creating lean, leathery B's and TV Westerns. He also received acclaim for his gritty WWII action drama, "Combat" (ABC, 1962-67).
Kennedy's traditional action fare brandished occasional laconic comic touches, but it was really with "The Rounders" (1965) and its spin-off TV series that comedy came to the fore in his work. "The War Wagon" (1967) basked in the by-play between John Wayne and Kirk Douglas, and by the time Kennedy made the popular "Support Your Local Sheriff" (1969) and its enjoyable sequel, "Support Your Local Gunfighter" (1971) he had firmly moved into spoof territory.
TV-movies dominated Kennedy's credits from the 70s on; "Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid" (1978) and "More Wild, Wild West" (1980) are typical of the light touch he brought to the small screen during this period. The broadly handled Hulk Hogan action feature "Suburban Commando" (1991) played up Kennedy's jokey side, but his elegiac TV-saga "Once Upon a Texas Train" (1988), with Willie Nelson as an aging outlaw and Richard Widmark as a former Texas ranger, showed that Kennedy's earlier affectionate sobriety had not left him entirely.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Suburban Commando
(1991)
Director
Big Bad John
(1990)
Director
Where the Hell's That Gold?!!?
(1988)
Director
Once Upon a Texas Train
(1988)
Director
The Trouble With Spies
(1987)
Director
The Alamo: 13 Days to Glory
(1987)
Director
Louis L'Amour's Down the Long Hills
(1986)
Director
Wolf Lake
(1981)
Director
The Wild Wild West Revisited
(1979)
Director
The Concrete Cowboys
(1979)
Director
Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid
(1978)
Director
The Killer Inside Me
(1976)
Director
Sidekicks
(1974)
Director
All the Kind Strangers
(1974)
Director
Shootout In A One Dog Town
(1973)
Director
The Train Robbers
(1973)
Director
Hannie Caulder
(1972)
Director
The Deserter
(1971)
Director
Support Your Local Gunfighter
(1971)
Director
La Spina Dorsale del Diavola
(1971)
Director
Dirty Dingus Magee
(1970)
Director
The Good Guys and the Bad Guys
(1969)
Director
Young Billy Young
(1969)
Director
Support Your Local Sheriff!
(1969)
Director
The War Wagon
(1967)
Director
Welcome to Hard Times
(1967)
Director
Return of the Seven
(1966)
Director
The Money Trap
(1966)
Director
The Rounders
(1965)
Director
Mail Order Bride
(1964)
Director
The Canadians
(1961)
Director
Cast (Feature Film)
Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western
(1997)
James Cagney: Top Of The World
(1992)
Writer (Feature Film)
White Hunter Black Heart
(1990)
Screenplay
Once Upon a Texas Train
(1988)
Screenplay
Where the Hell's That Gold?!!?
(1988)
Screenplay
The Trouble With Spies
(1987)
Screenplay
Wolf Lake
(1981)
Screenwriter
The Littlest Horse Thieves
(1976)
From Story
The Train Robbers
(1973)
Screenplay
Hannie Caulder
(1972)
Screenwriter
Young Billy Young
(1969)
Screenwriter
Stay Away, Joe
(1968)
Original treatment
Welcome to Hard Times
(1967)
Screenwriter
Return of the Gunfighter
(1967)
Story By
Return of the Gunfighter
(1967)
From Story
The Rounders
(1965)
Screenwriter
Mail Order Bride
(1964)
Screenwriter
Six Black Horses
(1962)
Screenwriter
The Canadians
(1961)
Screenwriter
Comanche Station
(1960)
Wrt by
Yellowstone Kelly
(1959)
Screenwriter
Ride Lonesome
(1959)
Writer
Fort Dobbs
(1958)
Writer
The Tall T
(1957)
Screenwriter
Seven Men from Now
(1956)
Original story and Screenplay
Gun the Man Down
(1956)
Screenwriter
Man in the Vault
(1956)
Screenwriter
Producer (Feature Film)
Where the Hell's That Gold?!!?
(1988)
Producer
Once Upon a Texas Train
(1988)
Producer
The Trouble With Spies
(1987)
Producer
Sidekicks
(1974)
Producer
Support Your Local Gunfighter
(1971)
Executive Producer
Dirty Dingus Magee
(1970)
Producer
Director (Special)
Rowdies
(1986)
Director
More Wild Wild West
(1980)
Director
Life Events
1942
Served with the US Army; awarded Bronze Star, Silver Star, and Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster
1956
First feature writing credit, "Seven Men from Now"
1961
Feature directorial debut, "The Canadians"
1970
First feature producing credit, "Dirty Dingus Magee"
1977
Directed the three-part miniseries, "The Rhineman Exchange", a war and espionage drama
1987
First feature producing credit for over 15 years, "The Trouble with Spies"
1989
Directed the premiere episode of the sophisticated comedy-mystery series, "Snoops"
1990
Co-wrote (with James Bridges) the screenplay for the Clint Eastwood film, "White Hunter, Black Heart"
1992
Appeared as one of the interviewees on the TV biographical documentary, "James Cagney: Top of the World"
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Family
Thomas James Kennedy
Father
Vaudevillian. Half of "The Dancing Kennedys".
Gertrude Amelia Kennedy
Mother
Vaudevillian. Half of "The Dancing Kennedys".
Susan Kennedy-McNutt
Daughter
Survived him.
Bridget Kennedy
Daughter
Survived him.
Companions
Sheila Theresa Foster
Wife
Married on July 11, 1973.
Nancy Pendelton
Companion
Survived him.
Bibliography
"Hollywood Trail Boss"
Burt Kennedy, Boulevard Books (1997)
Notes
"I think Burt Kennedy is the best western screenwriter there ever was," said [Budd] Boetticher in a phone interview. "Burt is so carefully authentic in everything he does." --From The Hollywood Reporter, January 12, 1993.
