d1920.jpgBURT KENNEDY
INFORMATION FROM IMDb
Date of birth
3 September 1922
Muskegon, Michigan, USA
Date of death
15 February 2001
Sherman Oaks, California, USA. (cancer)
Sometimes Credited As:
Z.X. Jones
Mini biography
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.
IMDb mini-biography by
Jim Beaver
Mimi Biography-2
from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
Amiable filmmaker who specializes in light-hearted Westerns. The son of vaudevillians, he got his show-biz start in the late 1940s as a radio writer, then turned to screenwriting in the 1950s, penning several of the famous Budd BoetticherRandolph Scott Westerns that attracted critical attention in France: Seven Men From Now (1956), The Tall T (1957), Ride Lonesome (1959), and Comanche Station (1960). After an inauspicious directorial debut-The Canadians (1961)-he moved to TV and wrote and directed episodes of "Combat!" He returned to the big screen with Mail Order Bride in 1964, and followed it with such comic hits as The Rounders (1965) and The War Wagon (1967), as well as such grim fare as The Money Trap (1966) and Welcome to Hard Times (1967). He had a sleeper hit in Support Your Local Sheriff! in 1969, and followed it with Dirty Dingus Magee (1970) and Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971), as well as the bizarre Raquel Welch oater Hannie Caulder (1972) and an intriguing adaptation of Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me (1974). Since that time Kennedy's work has mostly been for the small screen, but in 1991 he piloted the Hulk Hogan formula comedy Suburban Commando (1991). He also cowrote the screenplay for Clint Eastwood's White Hunter, Black Heart (1990).
Copyright © 1994 Leonard Maltin, used by arrangement with Signet, a division of Penguin Putnam, Inc.
Filmography
Director
1. Comanche (2000)
2. Suburban Commando (1991)
3. Big Bad John (1990)
4. Where the Hell's That Gold?!!? (1988) (TV)
... aka Dynamite and Gold
5. Once Upon a Texas Train (1988) (TV)
... aka Texas Guns
6. The Trouble with Spies (1987)
... aka 2 Female Spies with Flowered Panties (UK)
7. The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory (1987) (TV)
8. Louis L'Amour's Down the Long Hills (1986) (TV)
... aka Down the Long Hills
9. "The Yellow Rose"
- Sins of the Father (1983) TV Episode
- Walls of Fear (1983) TV Episode
10. "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" (1982) TV Series
11. "Simon & Simon" (1981) TV Series
12. "Magnum, P.I." (1980) TV Series (1 episode)
13. More Wild Wild West (1980) (TV)
4. The Concrete Cowboys (1979) (TV)
... aka Ramblin' Man
15. The Wild Wild West Revisited (1979) (TV)
16. Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid (1978) (TV)
17. Wolf Lake (1978)
... aka The Honor Guard
18. "Big Hawaii" (1977) TV Series
19. "The Rhinemann Exchange" (1977) (mini) TV Series
20. "How the West Was Won" (1977) (mini) TV Series
21. The Killer Inside Me (1976)
22. Drum (1976) (uncredited)
23. All the Kind Strangers (1974) (TV)
... aka Evil in the Swamp
24. Sidekicks (1974) (TV)
25. Shootout in a One-Dog Town (1974) (TV)
26. The Train Robbers (1973)
27. Hannie Caulder (1971)
28. Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)
29. Spina dorsale del diavolo, La (1971)
... aka Djavolja kicma (Yugoslavia: Serbian title)
... aka Spina dorsale del diavolo, La (Italy)
... aka The Deserter (USA)
... aka The Devil's Backbone (USA)
30. Dirty Dingus Magee (1970)
31. The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969)
32. Young Billy Young (1969)
33. Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969)
34. The War Wagon (1967)
35. Welcome to Hard Times (1967)
... aka Killer on a Horse (UK)
36. Return of the Seven (1966)
... aka Regreso de los siete magníficos, El (Spain)
... aka Return of the Magnificent Seven (International: English title)
37. "The Rounders"
- A Horse on Jim Ed Love (1966) TV Episode
38. The Money Trap (1965)
39. The Rounders (1965)
40. Mail Order Bride (1964)
... aka West of Montana (UK)
41. "Combat!" (1962) TV Series
42. "The Virginian" (1962) TV Series
... aka The Men from Shiloh (new title)
43. The Canadians (1961)
44. "Lawman" (1958) TV Series
... aka The Lawman (USA: alternative title)
Writer
1. Comanche (2000)
2. White Hunter Black Heart (1990) (screenplay)
3. Big Bad John (1990)
4. Where the Hell's That Gold?!!? (1988) (TV) (written by)
... aka Dynamite and Gold
5. Once Upon a Texas Train (1988) (TV)
... aka Texas Guns
6. The Trouble with Spies (1987)
... aka 2 Female Spies with Flowered Panties (UK)
7. Wolf Lake (1978)
... aka The Honor Guard
8. Escape from the Dark (1976) (story)
... aka The Littlest Horse Thieves (USA)
9. The Train Robbers (1973)
10. Hannie Caulder (1971) (as Z.X. Jones)
11. Young Billy Young (1969) (story)
12. Stay Away, Joe (1968) (uncredited)
13. Welcome to Hard Times (1967)
... aka Killer on a Horse (UK)
14. Return of the Gunfighter (1967) (story)
... aka Wyatt
15. The Rounders (1965)
16. Mail Order Bride (1964)
... aka West of Montana (UK)
17. "Combat!" (1962) TV Series (writer)
18. "The Virginian" (1962) TV Series (writer)
... aka The Men from Shiloh (new title)
19. Six Black Horses (1962)
20. The Canadians (1961)
21. Comanche Station (1960)
22. Yellowstone Kelly (1959)
23. Ride Lonesome (1959)
24. "Lawman" (1958) TV Series (writer)
... aka The Lawman (USA: alternative title)
25. Buchanan Rides Alone (1958) (uncredited)
... aka The Name's Buchanan (USA)
26. Fort Dobbs (1958) (story Backtrack)
27. The Tall T (1957) (screenplay)
28. Man in the Vault (1956)
29. Gun the Man Down (1956)
... aka Arizona Mission (USA: reissue title)
30. Seven Men from Now (1956) (screenplay) (story)
Producer
1. Where the Hell's That Gold?!!? (1988) (TV) (producer)
... aka Dynamite and Gold
2. Once Upon a Texas Train (1988) (TV) (producer)
... aka Texas Guns
3. The Trouble with Spies (1987) (producer)
... aka 2 Female Spies with Flowered Panties (UK)
4. Sidekicks (1974) (TV) (producer)
5. Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971) (executive producer)
6. Dirty Dingus Magee (1970) (producer)
7. "Combat!" (1962) TV Series (producer)
Actor
1. Horizons West (1952) (uncredited) .... Rabble-rouser
2. Sealed Cargo (1951) (uncredited) .... Old Seaman
3. Hunt the Man Down (1950) (uncredited) .... Waiter
... aka Seven Witnesses (USA)
4. The Three Musketeers (1948) (uncredited) .... Fencer
... aka Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers (USA: complete title)
5. Public Enemy's Wife (1936) (uncredited) .... Mail Clerk
... aka G-Man's Wife
Miscellaneous Crew
1. The Alamo (1960) (production associate) (uncredited)
Stunts
1. The Three Musketeers (1948) (stunts) (uncredited)
... aka Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers (USA: complete title)
Himself
1. Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western (1997) (TV) .... Himself
2. Thank Ya, Thank Ya Kindly (1991) (TV) .... Himself
Archive Footage
1. Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That (2005) (TV) .... Himself
2. "Funny Business" (1992)