George Kennedy, muscular character performing artist, dead at 91

George Kennedy, the muscular, Oscar-winning character on-screen character known for playing cops, officers and industrial power figures in such movies as "Cool Hand Luke," "Airplane terminal" and the "Exposed Gun" movies, has kicked the bucket. He was 91.

Kennedy passed on Sunday in Boise, Idaho, said his grandson, Cory Schenkel.

"He passed Sunday morning, because of seniority and some wellbeing issues," Schenkel said.

The New York-conceived Kennedy dropped by his military gravitas genuinely; he served in World War II and put in 16 years in the U.S. Armed force, huge numbers of them with Armed Forces Radio. In the 1950s, he was a guide to Phil Silvers' "Sgt. Bilko" appear and after that began getting acting parts.

Among his initial striking movies were 1963's "Act," in which he played one of the criminal posse undermining Audrey Hepburn's character, and 1965's "The Flight of the Phoenix," in which he played a traveler on James Stewart's stranded plane.