{{Short description|American actor, disc jockey, film producer and playwright}} {{Infobox person | image = Leon Isaac Kennedy on RealTVfilms.jpg | name = Leon Isaac Kennedy | imagesize = | caption = Kennedy in 2015 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|01|1}}<ref name=GW/><ref name=SW>[https://books.google.com/books?id=OcyR7bw3MTgC&dq=Leon+Isaac+Kennedy+1949&pg=PA336 Screen World _ Leon Isaac Kennedy (1949)]</ref><ref name=TY>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3b9WAAAAYAAJ&q=Leon+Isaac+Kennedy+1949 Directory of Historical Figures - Salem]</ref> | birth_place = Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | known_for = Martel "Too Sweet" Gordone – ''Penitentiary'', ''Penitentiary II'', ''Penitentiary III''<br>Leon "The Lover" Johnson – ''Body and Soul'' | occupation = {{hlist|Actor|film producer|playwright|disk jockey}} | years_active = 1970– present | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Jayne Harrison<br />|1971|1982|reason=div.}}<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ssMBzqrUpjwC&dq=leon+isaac+kennedy&pg=PA382 Notable Black American Women, Book 2 - Jayne Kennedy Overton]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=OLcDAAAAMBAJ&dq=leon+isaac+kennedy&pg=PA60 JET Magazine - Leon Kennedy Planned Slow Emergence Into Limelight - June 11, 1981]</ref> * {{marriage|Lolita Armbrister|1995|}} * {{marriage|Maureen LaVette|2005}} }} | website = {{URL|leonisaackennedy.com}} }} '''Leon Isaac Kennedy''' (born January 1, 1949<ref name=TY/><ref name=SW/><ref name=GW>[https://books.google.com/books?id=EVbCwsYYqTQC&q=Leon+Isaac+Kennedy+1949 VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever - Leon Isaac Kennedy (1949)]</ref>) is a retired American actor, disc jockey, film producer and playwright. Kennedy's acting roles include Martel "Too Sweet" Gordone in Jamaa Fanaka's ''Penitentiary'' (1979), ''Penitentiary II'' (1982), and ''Penitentiary III'' (1987),<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3xBVtMpDYaoC&dq=leon+isaac+kennedy&pg=PA353 Encyclopaedia of Sports Films - By K Edgington, Thomas Erskine, James M. Welsh]</ref> FBI Agent Marcus Jackson in Steve Carver's ''Lone Wolf McQuade'' (1983), and Leon "The Lover" Johnson in the 1981 film ''Body and Soul'' alongside his then-wife Jayne Kennedy.
==Career== Leon Isaac Kennedy was born in Cleveland, Ohio on January 1, 1949, he first began his career as a disc jockey and nightclub promoter.<ref name="Page 127 |Outside of Society">''Trying to Get Over: African American Directors after Blaxploitation, 1977-1986'', By Keith Corson - [https://books.google.com/books?id=EoZ5CwAAQBAJ&dq=Leon+Isaac+Kennedy+Fred+Williamson&pg=PA127 Page 127 |''Outside of Society'']</ref> Kennedy headed to Los Angeles, California to seek success in his career in June 1971. Once in California, Kennedy became a DJ on the FM rock station and also worked as a coordinator for a variety show.<ref>''Jet'', May 24, 1973 - [https://books.google.com/books?id=H7EDAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Leon+Isaac+Kennedy%22Cleveland&pg=PA23 Page 21 - 23 LIFESTYLES, Beauty + Brains = Success]</ref> In 1972, Kennedy had a part in Fred Williamson's action film ''Hammer''.<ref>Rotten Tomatoes - [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hammer Hammer (1972)]</ref> In 1976, Kennedy appeared in another Fred Williamson film, ''Mean Johnny Barrows''. Kennedy later appeared in the 1978 film ''Death Force'' with his then-wife Jayne Kennedy and with James Iglehart.<ref>''Reflections on Blaxploitation: Actors and Directors Speak'', By David Walker, Andrew J. Rausch, Chris Watson - [https://books.google.com/books?id=LofIsZJPfEcC&dq=%22Fighting+Mad%22Death+Force%22&pg=PA205 Page 205 BLAXPLOITATION FROM A TO Z]</ref><ref name="Page 127 |Outside of Society"/>
In 1981, ''Body and Soul'' was released. The film featured Kennedy in the lead role as Leon Johnson, an up-and-coming boxer, and was written by him as well. A remake of 1947's ''Body and Soul'', the film also starred Jayne Kennedy and Peter Lawford.<ref>''New York Times'', November 22, 1981 - [https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9403E2D81038F931A15752C1A967948260 Movie Review, 'Body and Soul', Remake of Ring Saga]</ref> In 1988, Kennedy appeared with Ernest Borgnine, Herbert Lom, Oliver Reed, Robert Vaughn and Arnold Vosloo in ''Skeleton Coast''.<ref>Comeuppance Reviews, 3/07/2012 - [http://www.comeuppancereviews.com/2012/03/skeleton-coast-1988.html Skeleton Coast (1988) ]</ref> In 1991, Kennedy appeared in ''Damages'' which was an episode of ''Against the Law'' playing the part of Spider.<ref>TV.com - [http://www.tv.com/shows/against-the-law/damages-140072/ Against the Law Season 1 Episode 14, Damages]</ref>
==Personal life== Kennedy has been married three times. In June 1971, Kennedy, then 22, married Jayne Harrison, a 19-year-old beauty pageant contestant who was from Wickliffe, Ohio; they divorced in 1982.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=H7EDAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Leon+Isaac+Kennedy%22Cleveland&pg=PA23 Page 21 - 23 LIFESTYLES, Beauty + Brains = Success]</ref> In 1995, Kennedy married Lolita Armbrister.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}} In August 2005, Kennedy married actress Maureen LaVette.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}} Kennedy became a Christian evangelist during the early 1990s. In 2014, Kennedy sued ''Ebony'' magazine and Johnson Publishing Company, claiming in an article for their March 2013 "Scandal" issue the magazine falsely identified him as the person who leaked the infamous 1970s sextape of him with his then–wife Jayne Kennedy during their 1981 divorce proceedings.<ref>[http://www.tmz.com/2014/02/05/sportscaster-jayne-kennedy-leon-sex-tape-lawsuit/ TMZ - Sportscaster Sex Tape Jayne Kennedy's Ex-Hubby Suing: "I Didn't Leak Our Sex Tape!!" - February 5, 2014]</ref><ref>[http://www.eurweb.com/2014/02/leon-issac-kennedy-in-open-letter-tells-why-hes-suing-ebony-magazine-johnson-publications/ EURWEB - Leon Issac Kennedy - In Open Letter Tells Why He's Suing Ebony Magazine & Johnson Publications - February 2014]</ref>
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== {{Commons}} * [https://leonisaackennedy.com Official website] * {{IMDb name}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Leon Isaac}} Category:1940s births Category:Living people Category:African-American male actors Category:American male actors Category:21st-century African-American people Category:20th-century African-American people Category:Year of birth missing (living people)