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Gerard Kennedy (actor)

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Gerard Kennedy
Born(1932-03-08)8 March 1932
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Died21 April 2025(2025-04-21) (aged 93)
Gosford, New South Wales, Australia
OccupationActor
Years active1965–2015
Known forHunter, Division 4
Notable work
Awards

Gerard Kennedy (8 March 1932 – 21 April 2025) was an Australian double Gold Logie award-winning actor.

Kennedy started his career in theatre, before going on to appear in early television series, primarily with Crawford Productions, with several roles in series Homicide and starring in the espionage series including Hunter as Kragg.

He shot to fame, however, starring with Ted Hamilton and Terence Donovan in the police procedural Division 4 as Detective Frank Banner, which won him back-to-back Gold Logies.[1] Kennedy also appeared in the cult series Prisoner, The Flying Doctors and in crime series Underbelly and had numerous feature film roles during a career that spanned 50 years in the industry.[2]

Early life

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Kennedy was born in Perth, Western Australia, on 8 March 1932, the son of local actress and writer Phyllis Ophel.[3]

Career

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Kennedy played six different characters in guest appearances in Crawford Productions television series Homicide and in 1967 he shot to fame as the antagonist in the Australian television spy drama Hunter, becoming so popular that his character changed sides, eventually becoming the main character after lead actor Tony Ward left the series. Kennedy won a TV Week Logie Award for "Best New Talent" for his portrayal of the character.[4]

Kennedy followed this with a starring role in the police procedural television series, Division 4,[5][6] winning multiple Logie Awards—including two Gold Logies as most popular personality on Australian TV—for his work in the series.[7][8] He consistently acted in Australian television and film productions since that time.

Later regular television series roles included Tandarra in 1976, Bellbird in 1977,[9] the miniseries Against the Wind in 1978, Skyways from 1979–1981, Golden Pennies in 1985, and The Flying Doctors between 1986 and 1989 (non-consecutive episodes).

Guest television roles included appearances in Carson's Law, Prisoner, A Country Practice, Blue Heelers, City Homicide, The Saddle Club, and Neighbours. In 2008, he played Graham "The Munster" Kinniburgh in Underbelly[10] and in Fat Tony & Co..

Kennedy's final credit was in the television series Glitch in 2015.[3]

Later life and death

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Kennedy resided at a nursing care facility on the New South Wales, Central Coast, where he died on 21 April 2025, at the age of 93.[3]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1976 Eliza Fraser Martin Cameron Feature film
1977 Raw Deal Palmer Feature film
1977 The Mango Tree Preacher Jones Feature film
1978 Newsfront Frank Maguire Feature film
1978 The Irishman Chad Ingram Feature film
1979 The Last of the Knucklemen Tarzan Feature film
1980 Fatty Finn Tiger Murphy Feature film
1982 The Plains of Heaven Lenko Feature film
1987 The Lighthorsemen Ismet Bey Feature film
1987 Running from the Guns Big Jim Feature film
1992 Garbo Trevor Feature film
1993 Body Melt Detective Sam Phillips Feature film
1994 Ebbtide Fredericks Direct-to-video film
1996 Inner Sanctuary Father Kelly
2002 Blood Crime Kaiwanasha TV film
2005 Plains Empty Old Fella Short film
2007 Lucky Miles Kangaroo Shooter Feature film
2013 Wolf Creek 2 Jack Feature film

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1966 Homicide 6 guest characters 6 episodes
1967 Hunter Kragg 65 episodes
1974 Rush Jim Dawson 1 episode
1969–75 Division 4 Senior Detective / Detective Sgt. Frank Banner 301 episodes
1976 Cash and Company Ryler 1 episode
1976 King's Men 1 episode
1976 Tandarra Ryler 13 episodes
1976 Power Without Glory Dick Bradley 4 episodes
1977 Bellbird Edward Grey 3 episodes
1977 Bluey Doug Stewart 1 episode
1978 Case for the Defence Jack 1 episode
1978 Against the Wind Dinny O’Byrne 7 episodes
1979–82 Skyways Gary Doolan TV series
1980 The Last Outlaw Harry Power 4 episodes
1981 Bellamy Blake 1 episode
1982 1915 Dent Miniseries, 1 episode
1983 The Coral Island Bloody Bill 4 episodes
1983 Carson's Law James Dolman 8 episodes
1979–83 Cop Shop Franky Brady 3 episodes
1984 Five Mile Creek Mr O'Bannion 1 episode
1984 Special Squad Harry Tait 1 episode
1985 Prisoner Al 4 episodes
1985 Golden Pennies Uriah Lovejoy 8 episodes
1986 Studio 86 Minas 1 episode
1988 Emma: Queen of the South Seas Captain Rabardy 2 episodes
1988–90 Mission: Impossible Karmak / Greg Usher 2 episodes
1986–89 The Flying Doctors Luke Mitchell / Les Foster 32 episodes
1990 Col'n Carpenter Dwayne 1 episode
1984–90 A Country Practice Theo Kourous / Bruce Walters 4 episodes
1991 Acropolis Now Savas 1 episode
1992 Boys from the Bush Jokey Jones 1 episode
1992 Bligh Father O'Brien 1 episode
1994 Frontline Ian Farmer, Station Manager 5 episodes
1999 Thunderstone Dr. Pretorius 26 episodes
2000 The Lost World Old Sigurd 1 episode
1994–2001 Blue Heelers Various 5 episodes
2001 Pizza Agent Dave 1 episode
2002 Stingers Franco Corelli 1 episode
2002 Beastmaster Nessis 1 episode
2002 Neighbours Pat Scully 14 episodes
2004 All Saints Neville West 1 episode
2005 Scooter: Secret Agent Baxter 1 episode
2005 Dramatically Black Old Fella 1 episode
2008 Underbelly Graham "The Munster" Kinniburgh 7 episodes
2010 City Homicide Guest role TV series
2012 Conspiracy 365 Bart Ormond 2 episodes
2014 Fat Tony & Co. Graham "The Munster" Kinniburgh 3 episodes
2015 Glitch Leon Massola 2 episodes

Awards

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Year Association Category Work Result
1969 Logie Awards George Wallace Memorial Logie for Best New Talent Hunter Won
1969 Penguin Award Best Actor Division 4 Won
1970 Penguin Awards Leading Talent in a Drama Series Division 4 Won
1971 Logie Awards Gold Logie Division 4 Won
1971 Logie Awards Best Actor Division 4 Won
1972 Logie Awards Gold Logie Division 4 Won
1972 Logie Awards Best Actor Division 4 Won
1973 Logie Awards Best Actor Division 4 Won
1979 Australian TV and Film Award Best Actor in a TV series Against the Wind Won
1987 Penguin Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Series/Serial The Flying Doctors Won

References

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  1. ^ Kimball, Duncan. "Logies". MilesAgo Television. MILESAGO: Australasian Music and Popular Culture 1964-1975. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  2. ^ "Gerard Kennedy".
  3. ^ a b c Laidlaw, Kylie (24 April 2025). "Australia actor GERARD KENNEDY passes away at 93". TV Blackbox. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
  4. ^ Storey, Don. "Hunter". Classic Australian Television. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  5. ^ Storey, Don. "Division 4". Classic Australian Television. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  6. ^ "Division 4". National Film & Sound Archive. Archived from the original on 28 November 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  7. ^ "Division 4". Crawford Productions. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  8. ^ "Gold Logie Winners". PerthNow. 1971. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  9. ^ Myall, Robert. "Bellbird". Aussie Soap Archive. Archived from the original on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  10. ^ Ziffer, Daniel (14 February 2008). "Underbelly wins Ratings War". The Age. Archived from the original on 24 June 2008. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
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