Stuntman Fred Kennedy
Fred Kennedy (1909-1958)
Born Frederick O. Kennedy in Ainsworth, Nebraska, Fred Kennedy was an accomplished stunt man and horse trainer, whose Hollywood career spanned two decades between 1938 and his death in 1958 . Although he was often recognizable in the films he worked on, Kennedy was very self-conscious and he avoided speaking roles whenever possible. In one of his rare speaking roles, as Trooper Heinze in the 1950 John Ford film, Rio Bravo, Kennedy is caught fighting with Trooper Jefferson York (played by Claude Jarmin, Jr.), the son of the camp commander. Kennedy’s rapidly spoken terse replies to Victor McLaglen’s (as Sgt. Maj. Quincannon) questions regarding the fight seem almost to imply that it was Kennedy answering instead of his character Heinze:
Quincannon: “Oh, you said that did ya?”
Heinze: “Yes I did.”
Quincannon: “And did ya mean it?”
Heinze: “Yes I did.”
Quincannon: “And ya meant it!?!?”
Heinze: “Yes I did.”
Born Frederick O. Kennedy in Ainsworth, Nebraska, Fred Kennedy was an accomplished stunt man and horse trainer, whose Hollywood career spanned two decades between 1938 and his death in 1958 . Although he was often recognizable in the films he worked on, Kennedy was very self-conscious and he avoided speaking roles whenever possible. In one of his rare speaking roles, as Trooper Heinze in the 1950 John Ford film, Rio Bravo, Kennedy is caught fighting with Trooper Jefferson York (played by Claude Jarmin, Jr.), the son of the camp commander. Kennedy’s rapidly spoken terse replies to Victor McLaglen’s (as Sgt. Maj. Quincannon) questions regarding the fight seem almost to imply that it was Kennedy answering instead of his character Heinze:
Quincannon: “Oh, you said that did ya?”
Heinze: “Yes I did.”
Quincannon: “And did ya mean it?”
Heinze: “Yes I did.”
Quincannon: “And ya meant it!?!?”
Heinze: “Yes I did.”
Trooper Heinze: "Yes I did."
Kennedy was a pioneer in the training of “falling horses” used in the motion picture industry, and he was an expert at saddle falls and blind wagon driving as well. He favored three of his own stunt horses: Trixie, Dixie and Shanghai, which he kept stabled at the famed Hudkins Brothers Stables in Burbank, California. In response to allegations from outside the film industry that horses were being mistreated during the filming of exciting stunts, Kennedy stepped in and made a short film wherein he explained that the horses were well trained (while showing how he trained them), and that he was more likely to suffer an injury than the stunt horses. That statement later proved to be prophetic.
Los Angeles Times, December 6, 1958
During the filming of the John Ford film, “The Horse Soldiers” in 1958, Kennedy approached Ford and asked permission to perform one of the saddle falls that was to be included in the film. Ford agreed, and then, unbeknownst to Kennedy, he planned a practical joke to follow the fall. Kennedy was doubling William Holden. During a cavalry charge, Kennedy (as Holden) was to fall from his horse, whereupon Constance Towers (Holden’s love interest in the film) was to run up to the extremely shy Kennedy, and embrace him saying “Oh my darling!”.
When Towers reached down and embraced Kennedy, he was already unconscious, and struggling to breathe. Towers could hear him gasping, and she exclaimed, “There’s something wrong!” John Ford came over and it was soon apparent that Kennedy was seriously injured. According to Walter Reed (in an interview with Boyd Magers Western Clippings), who played a Union officer and was involved in the cavalry charge – riding just behind Kennedy, “There were several of us in a Cavalry charge. I was riding right behind Fred when he died on location. He starts to do this saddle fall, which he’d done many of in his day, and just as he started to go over, the horse shied away from this little tiny campfire. It changed his trajectory and Kennedy landed right on his head. … They put him on the back of a pickup and we listened on the 2-way radio. When he got there, the hospital pronounced him DOA. The fall broke his neck, I guess. It upset Ford so much, he said right then, ‘Wrap it up, we’re going home.’ We had two more days but he did ‘em out at Iverson [movie ranch] or somewhere in California.” The scene was left in the film, but cut from the video release.
Fred Kennedy was buried at Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood, California. He was inducted into the Hollywood Stuntman’s Hall of Fame, posthumously, in 1982.
In addition to appearing in several films with many well known actors and actresses, Fred Kennedy appeared in seven films with John Wayne. They were:
1959 The Horse Soldiers [1959] (stunts + unnamed soldier - uncredited)
1956 The Searchers [1956] (stunts - uncredited)
1953 Hondo [1953] (stunts - uncredited)
1952 The Quiet Man [1952] (stunts - uncredited)
1950 Rio Grande [1950] (stunts – uncredited + Trooper Heinze)
1949 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon [1949] (stunts – uncredited + Badger (uncredited))
1948 Red River [1948] (stunts - uncredited)
[Sources: IMDb, Wikipedia, Pat Mefford (Kennedy’s step daughter) in Horse Fame magazine – November 2001, and Walter Reed – an interview given to Boyd Magers’ Western Clippings]
When Towers reached down and embraced Kennedy, he was already unconscious, and struggling to breathe. Towers could hear him gasping, and she exclaimed, “There’s something wrong!” John Ford came over and it was soon apparent that Kennedy was seriously injured. According to Walter Reed (in an interview with Boyd Magers Western Clippings), who played a Union officer and was involved in the cavalry charge – riding just behind Kennedy, “There were several of us in a Cavalry charge. I was riding right behind Fred when he died on location. He starts to do this saddle fall, which he’d done many of in his day, and just as he started to go over, the horse shied away from this little tiny campfire. It changed his trajectory and Kennedy landed right on his head. … They put him on the back of a pickup and we listened on the 2-way radio. When he got there, the hospital pronounced him DOA. The fall broke his neck, I guess. It upset Ford so much, he said right then, ‘Wrap it up, we’re going home.’ We had two more days but he did ‘em out at Iverson [movie ranch] or somewhere in California.” The scene was left in the film, but cut from the video release.
Fred Kennedy was buried at Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood, California. He was inducted into the Hollywood Stuntman’s Hall of Fame, posthumously, in 1982.
In addition to appearing in several films with many well known actors and actresses, Fred Kennedy appeared in seven films with John Wayne. They were:
1959 The Horse Soldiers [1959] (stunts + unnamed soldier - uncredited)
1956 The Searchers [1956] (stunts - uncredited)
1953 Hondo [1953] (stunts - uncredited)
1952 The Quiet Man [1952] (stunts - uncredited)
1950 Rio Grande [1950] (stunts – uncredited + Trooper Heinze)
1949 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon [1949] (stunts – uncredited + Badger (uncredited))
1948 Red River [1948] (stunts - uncredited)
[Sources: IMDb, Wikipedia, Pat Mefford (Kennedy’s step daughter) in Horse Fame magazine – November 2001, and Walter Reed – an interview given to Boyd Magers’ Western Clippings]