by Arnold Ytreeide

The first words George Kennedy ever spoke to me were these: “Let’s talk a little, and say a lot.”

I had just sat down across the table from him at an Applebee’s restaurant, and in those eight words George Kennedy summed up for me everything he’s about.

If you’re older, you might remember George for the role he played opposite Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke. He won an Oscar for that role. Or you might remember him as mechanic Joe Patroni in Airport, as Clint Eastwood's sidekick in The Eiger Sanction, or from dozens of other films he played in with John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, Charles Bronson, and Jimmy Stewart (he was in the original Flight of the Phoenix).

But if you’re younger, you’ll probably know George from lighter fare, such as the Naked Gun films, where he played Leslie Nielsen’s police partner. Or from Dennis the Menace, where he was grandpa to the kid. Or even from an appearance on Saturday Night Live.

Wherever you’ve seen George, and whether you remember it or not, the fact is that you have seen George, unless you just don’t watch movies or TV. George Kennedy is an icon – often a nameless icon, but an icon none-the-less.

So when I sat down across the table from him at that Applebee’s, I was in awe: I was having lunch with one of the most prolific, well rounded, and recognized actors in Hollywood history.

Prior to that meeting, I’d only talked with George through his agent. So the image I thought I’d be having lunch with was the cigar-chewing, hands-on characters he’d played over the years. But with those eight words, George completely wiped away any preconceptions I had of who he is, or what he’s about: Let’s talk a little, and say a lot.