His break through role was Cool Hand Luke in which he played Dragline, a convict who resists, and then becomes friendly with, Paul Newman’s Luke character.
“The marvelous thing about that movie was that as my part progressed, I changed from a bad guy to a good guy,” Kennedy said in 1978. “The moguls in Hollywood must have said, ‘Hey, this fellow can do something besides be a bad guy.’ ”
His performance won him an Oscar for best supporting actor.
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