Making his debut in 1935, he played a significant number of supporting roles and was able to secure contract-player status, first at Paramount Pictures and later at Warner Brothers.

After the military, he returned to films and played character roles, often western villains or territorial marshals, as well as isolated leads in low-budget pictures.

[3] Kennedy had a starring role in the series Steve Donovan, Western Marshal, with Eddy Waller as his sidekick Rusty Lee.

[citation needed] In the 1957 (season one) Perry Mason episode 'The Case of the Moth-Eaten Mink' he played the part of Detective Sergeant Jaffrey, eventually revealed as the murderer.

In the story, rescuers Wes Cameron (Davis) and Skip Johnson (Lang Jeffries) work to rescue three actors on location when a stagecoach tumbles down a mountain.