Kene Holliday
Encyclopedia
Kenneth Earl "Kene" Holliday (born June 25, 1949) is a prolific American
character actor
of stage
, film
, and television
, best known for his role as Ben Matlock's original private investigator, Tyler Hudson, on Andy Griffith
's hit television series Matlock
.
's area of Copiague
, Suffolk County, New York
, was raised in a Christian
home, to a Baptist
family. At age 12, he lost his father, when he was sent to summer camp, with the encouragement of his mother, with whom he lived. He attended Copiague High School, where he participated in track, where he was part of the Fantastic Four Relay Team, and was the star of his football
team. He was nicknamed as Mr. Hotshot, and was a scoring machine on the football field. He graduated in 1967, and attended University of Maryland
on a scholarship. As he recalled, times were turbulent, and the football team was preparing to strike against the NCAA
over a change in coaches.
He was “jazzed” by a class in the history of theater, and acting became his new passion. In 1969, as an undergraduate, he played Yank in The Hairy Ape
by Eugene O'Neill
. He was the first black to perform in a leading role on the state school’s main stage.
After graduation from college, his first work was with the inaugual theater group at the Folger Shakespeare Library
in Washington, D.C.
, where he conducted workshops as a founding member of the D.C. Black Repertory Company. In 1975, he was fired from his job because of his problem with drugs and alcohol. His dependency continued for the next 14 years. However, despite his dependency problems, he starred as Carlyle in David Rabe's Vietnam War
-era play Streamers
at the Lincoln Theatre
.
That play led him to Los Angeles
in 1976, when he guest-starred in several shows such as: Kojak
, What's Happening!!
, The Incredible Hulk, Quincy, M.E.
, Lou Grant
, Soap
, its spin-off series, Benson
, The Jeffersons
, The Fall Guy
, and Hart to Hart
, among many others. His first television series was Carter Country
where he co-starred, with Victor French
, as Sgt. Curtis Baker from 1977 until 1979. He also was featured in Roots: The Next Generations
, and starred in a series of pilots that failed to make it on the air. Kene provided the voice of the character Roadblock in the 1980s cartoon series, G.I. Joe, and 1987's G.I. Joe: The Movie
.
since the 1960s. However, he and the series' lead, Andy Griffith, did not get along well with each other. Despite their differences, Holliday appeared in almost every episode for the first two seasons.
During the third season of Matlock in 1988, Holliday's substance abuse persisted and he was eventually sent to rehab in 1989 in an attempt to overcome his now-very-apparent dependence on drugs and alcohol. When he emerged from rehab three months later, he had already been let go from the show. He was replaced in the TV series by actor Clarence Gilyard
, who took over the role until 1993. After his firing, Holliday co-starred opposite Lynn Whitfield
in The Josephine Baker
Story. By coincidence, Whitfield & Holliday had both appeared on Matlock, but not in the same episode.
He has numerous television and movie credits including roles in G.I. Joe: The Movie
(1987), CBS’s made for television movie Miracle On The Mountain (2003), Hope & Faith
(2004), and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
(2005).
He published a book of poetry in 1998 entitled "The Book of K-III: The Contemporary Poetics of Kene Holliday".
He married his current wife, Linda, in 1996. A born-again Christian
, he became a traveling evangelist, and they spent the next decade preaching in gospel musicals.
Holliday was providing round-the-clock care of his mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease
, and became a member of the Alzheimer's Foundation of America.
While taking care of his mother, he accepted the lead role in the movie Great World of Sound
, in 2007.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
of stage
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, best known for his role as Ben Matlock's original private investigator, Tyler Hudson, on Andy Griffith
Andy Griffith
Andy Samuel Griffith is an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's epic film A Face in the Crowd before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead...
's hit television series Matlock
Matlock (TV series)
Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of attorney Ben Matlock. The show originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC, where it replaced The A-Team, then from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC.The show's format was similar...
.
Biography
Holliday, a product of Long IslandLong Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
's area of Copiague
Copiague, New York
Copiague is a hamlet in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 18,037 at the 2007 census. Once Copiague was a thriving Italian community. Many years ago a part of Copiague was named after Marconi. The ethnic makeup of the hamlet is quite diverse, making Copiague a rich...
, Suffolk County, New York
Suffolk County, New York
Suffolk County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York on the eastern portion of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,493,350. It was named for the county of Suffolk in England, from which its earliest settlers came...
, was raised in a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
home, to a Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
family. At age 12, he lost his father, when he was sent to summer camp, with the encouragement of his mother, with whom he lived. He attended Copiague High School, where he participated in track, where he was part of the Fantastic Four Relay Team, and was the star of his football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team. He was nicknamed as Mr. Hotshot, and was a scoring machine on the football field. He graduated in 1967, and attended University of Maryland
University of Maryland
When the term "University of Maryland" is used without any qualification, it generally refers to the University of Maryland, College Park.University of Maryland may refer to the following:...
on a scholarship. As he recalled, times were turbulent, and the football team was preparing to strike against the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
over a change in coaches.
He was “jazzed” by a class in the history of theater, and acting became his new passion. In 1969, as an undergraduate, he played Yank in The Hairy Ape
The Hairy Ape
-Plot :The play tells the story of a brutish, unthinking laborer known as Yank, as he searches for a sense of belonging in a world controlled by the rich...
by Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
. He was the first black to perform in a leading role on the state school’s main stage.
After graduation from college, his first work was with the inaugual theater group at the Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library
The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materials from the early modern period...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, where he conducted workshops as a founding member of the D.C. Black Repertory Company. In 1975, he was fired from his job because of his problem with drugs and alcohol. His dependency continued for the next 14 years. However, despite his dependency problems, he starred as Carlyle in David Rabe's Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
-era play Streamers
Streamers
Streamers is a play by David Rabe. After premiering at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut in 1975, the production transferred to Broadway, opening on April 21, 1976 at Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, where it ran for 478 performances...
at the Lincoln Theatre
Lincoln Theatre (Washington, D.C.)
Lincoln Theatre is a theater in Washington, D.C. located at 1215 U Street, next to Ben's Chili Bowl. The theater, located on "Washington's Black Broadway", served the city's African American community when segregation kept them out of other venues. The Lincoln Theatre included a movie house and...
.
That play led him to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in 1976, when he guest-starred in several shows such as: Kojak
Kojak
Kojak is an American television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, bald New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theo Kojak. It aired from October 24, 1973, to March 18, 1978, on CBS. It took the time slot of the popular Cannon series, which was moved one hour earlier...
, What's Happening!!
What's Happening!!
What's Happening!! is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from August 5, 1976 to April 28, 1979. The show premiered as a summer series. With good ratings and reviews, and after the failure of several other shows on the network, What's Happening!! returned in November 1976 as a weekly...
, The Incredible Hulk, Quincy, M.E.
Quincy, M.E.
Quincy, M.E., also called Quincy, is a United States television series from Universal Studios that aired from October 3, 1976, to September 5, 1983, on NBC...
, Lou Grant
Lou Grant (TV series)
Lou Grant is an American television drama series starring Ed Asner in the titular role as a newspaper editor. Unusual in American television, this drama series was a spinoff from a sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Aired from 1977 to 1982, Lou Grant won 13 Emmy Awards, including "Outstanding Drama...
, Soap
Soap (TV series)
Soap is an American sitcom that originally ran on ABC from 1977 to 1981.The show was created as a parody of daytime soap operas, presented as a weekly half-hour prime time comedy. Similar to a soap opera, the show's story was presented in a serial format and included melodramatic plot elements such...
, its spin-off series, Benson
Benson (TV series)
Benson is an American television sitcom which aired from September 13, 1979, to April 19, 1986, on ABC. The series was a spin-off from the soap opera parody Soap ; however, Benson discarded the...
, The Jeffersons
The Jeffersons
The Jeffersons is an American sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from January 18, 1975, through June 25, 1985, lasting 11 seasons and a total of 253 episodes. The show was produced by the T.A.T. Communications Company from 1975–1982 and by Embassy Television from 1982-1985...
, The Fall Guy
The Fall Guy
The Fall Guy is an American action/adventure television program produced for ABC and originally broadcast from November 4, 1981 to May 2, 1986. It starred Lee Majors, Douglas Barr, and Heather Thomas. Majors and Barr are the only two actors to appear in all 112 episodes of the series...
, and Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart is an American television series, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a wealthy couple who also moonlighted as amateur detectives. The series was created by writer Sidney Sheldon and produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg...
, among many others. His first television series was Carter Country
Carter Country
Carter Country is an American television sitcom that ran from 1977 to 1979 on ABC.-Synopsis:Carter Country was set in the fictional small town of Clinton Corners in Georgia Carter Country is an American television sitcom that ran from 1977 to 1979 on ABC.-Synopsis:Carter Country was set in the...
where he co-starred, with Victor French
Victor French
Victor Edwin French was an American actor and director.-Early career:Born in Santa Barbara, California,...
, as Sgt. Curtis Baker from 1977 until 1979. He also was featured in Roots: The Next Generations
Roots: The Next Generations
Roots: The Next Generations is a 1979 television miniseries that continues the story of the family of Alex Haley from the 1880s, and their life in Henning, Tennessee, to the 1960s, with Haley researching his family history and his travels to Africa to learn of his ancestor, Kunta Kinte...
, and starred in a series of pilots that failed to make it on the air. Kene provided the voice of the character Roadblock in the 1980s cartoon series, G.I. Joe, and 1987's G.I. Joe: The Movie
G.I. Joe: The Movie
G.I. Joe: The Movie is a 1987 animated film spun off from the animated series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, based on the original Hasbro toyline. It was produced by Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions and was animated in Japan by Toei Animation.Created at the height of the G.I. Joe craze in...
.
Matlock
His big break came true when in 1986, he was offered a co-starring role as the original private investigator, Tyler Hudson, on Matlock. He played this role for the show's first three seasons. Holliday had admired Andy GriffithAndy Griffith
Andy Samuel Griffith is an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's epic film A Face in the Crowd before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead...
since the 1960s. However, he and the series' lead, Andy Griffith, did not get along well with each other. Despite their differences, Holliday appeared in almost every episode for the first two seasons.
During the third season of Matlock in 1988, Holliday's substance abuse persisted and he was eventually sent to rehab in 1989 in an attempt to overcome his now-very-apparent dependence on drugs and alcohol. When he emerged from rehab three months later, he had already been let go from the show. He was replaced in the TV series by actor Clarence Gilyard
Clarence Gilyard
Clarence Darnell Gilyard, Jr. is a former American actor and a current college professor who has been featured in movies and television since 1980. He is sometimes credited as Clarence A...
, who took over the role until 1993. After his firing, Holliday co-starred opposite Lynn Whitfield
Lynn Whitfield
Lynn Whitfield is an American actress.Whitfield began her acting career in television and theatre, before progressing to supporting roles in film. She won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special and a NAACP Image Award for her performance as Josephine Baker in the...
in The Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker was an American dancer, singer, and actress who found fame in her adopted homeland of France. She was given such nicknames as the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", and the "Créole Goddess"....
Story. By coincidence, Whitfield & Holliday had both appeared on Matlock, but not in the same episode.
Other TV work and personal life
Holliday is reported to be 22 years sober.He has numerous television and movie credits including roles in G.I. Joe: The Movie
G.I. Joe: The Movie
G.I. Joe: The Movie is a 1987 animated film spun off from the animated series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, based on the original Hasbro toyline. It was produced by Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions and was animated in Japan by Toei Animation.Created at the height of the G.I. Joe craze in...
(1987), CBS’s made for television movie Miracle On The Mountain (2003), Hope & Faith
Hope & Faith
Hope & Faith is an American sitcom that aired for three seasons on ABC from September 26, 2003, to May 2, 2006. For its first two seasons the show was part of a revived TGIF comedy block....
(2004), and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...
(2005).
He published a book of poetry in 1998 entitled "The Book of K-III: The Contemporary Poetics of Kene Holliday".
He married his current wife, Linda, in 1996. A born-again Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, he became a traveling evangelist, and they spent the next decade preaching in gospel musicals.
Holliday was providing round-the-clock care of his mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
, and became a member of the Alzheimer's Foundation of America.
While taking care of his mother, he accepted the lead role in the movie Great World of Sound
Great World of Sound
Great World of Sound is a 2007 comedy film directed by Craig Zobel. Zobel won Breakthrough Director at the Gotham Awards and the film also won the Grand Jury Award at the Atlanta Film Festival.-Plot:...
, in 2007.
Awards and nominations
- Gotham AwardsGotham AwardsThe Gotham Awards is an annual ceremony of awards presented to the makers of independent films which takes place in New York City...
- 2008, Breakthrough Performance: Great World of SoundGreat World of SoundGreat World of Sound is a 2007 comedy film directed by Craig Zobel. Zobel won Breakthrough Director at the Gotham Awards and the film also won the Grand Jury Award at the Atlanta Film Festival.-Plot:...
(Nominated)
- 2008, Breakthrough Performance: Great World of Sound
- Independent Spirit Award
- 2008, Best Supporting Male: Great World of SoundGreat World of SoundGreat World of Sound is a 2007 comedy film directed by Craig Zobel. Zobel won Breakthrough Director at the Gotham Awards and the film also won the Grand Jury Award at the Atlanta Film Festival.-Plot:...
(Nominated)
- 2008, Best Supporting Male: Great World of Sound