Burt Kennedy

Biography

Burt Kennedy (September 3, 1922 - February 15, 2001) was an American screenwriter and director known for mainly directing film Westerns. After World War II service in the 1st Cavalry Division, Muskegon, Michigan-born Kennedy found work writing for radio, then used his training as a cavalry officer to secure a job as a fencing trainer and fencing stunt doubles in films. That led to Kennedy being hired to write for a television program with a fencing theme for John Wayne's Batjac productions. Although the TV program was never produced it led the young writer to write screenplays for a number of Batjac films starting with the 1956 film Seven Men from Now. In the 1960s, after also becoming a film director, Kennedy moved on to write for western television programs. Filmography As Screenwriter: Seven Men From Now (1956) The Tall T (1957) Ride Lonesome (1958) Comanche Station (1960) Six Black Horses (1962) As Director: The Canadians (1961) Mail Order Bride (1964) The Rounders (1965) The Money Trap (1965) Return of the Seven (1966) Welcome to Hard Times (1967) The War Wagon (1967) Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969) Young Billy Young (1969) The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969) Dirty Dingus Magee (1970) The Deserter (1971) Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971) Hannie Caulder (1971) The Train Robbers (1973) Sidekicks (1974) All the Kind Strangers (1974) The Killer Inside Me (1976) Wolf Lake (1978) The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory (1987) The Trouble with Spies (1987) Once Upon a Texas Train (1988) Big Bad John (1990) Suburban Commando (1991)