Bill Cassara

Edgar Kennedy (hardback) Bill Cassara

The balding and burly performer Edgar Kennedy excelled in exhibiting comic frustration in his countless film appearances. He convulsed cinemagoers with his frustrations over numerous indignities, culminating in a valiant but futile attempt to suppress his anger, which became his trademark "slow burn." From 1931 to his death in 1948, he starred in a popular film short subject series as a beleaguered "Average Man", which preceded today's television sitcoms in its format and humor. Kennedy also provided sturdy support in other shorts and features to a variety of comedy legends such as Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, Harold Lloyd, and W. C. Fields. He could always be counted on to enliven any film he appeared in. Among the notable movies he graced his presence in were Twentieth Century, San Francisco, A Star is a Born, In Old California, Anchors Aweigh and Unfaithfully Yours. He even handled serious drama adroitly in such films like Hitler's Madman and Heaven Only Knows.



Author Bill Cassara provides the readers with the first full length biography of this remarkable comedian, examining both his personal life and his prolific career.



Master of the Slow Burn: Edgar Kennedy is a tribute to a gifted funnyman who has been long gone but deserves to be remembered.