Full Details
Douglas C. Kenney
| Full Name: | Douglas C. Kenney |
| Born: | December 10, 1946 Palm Springs, Florida, U.S. |
| Died: | August 27, 1980 Kauai, Hawaii, U.S |
| Occupation: | Screenwriter, magazine editor, writer, actor |
| Nationality: | American |
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Biography
Douglas C. Kenney (December 10, 1946 - August 27, 1980) was an American writer and actor who co-founded the magazine National Lampoon in 1970. Kenney edited the magazine and wrote much of its early material.
While at Harvard University, Kenney was a member of the Signet society and editor of The Harvard Lampoon. There he was part of the first group of newcomers who restyled the college humor magazine. Another of these writers was Henry Beard, with whom Kenney frequently collaborated, and who became a lifelong friend. Together with Beard, he wrote Bored of the Rings, which was published during 1969. Kenney graduated in 1968. Soon after, he, Beard and fellow Harvard alumnus Robert Hoffman began work on founding the humor magazine National Lampoon.
Kenney was one of the originating forces of what was to become known during the 1970s as the "new wave" of comedy, a dark, irreverent style of humor Kenney used as the basis for the magazine. Kenney was Editor-in-Chief from 1970 to 1972, Senior Editor 1973 to 1974, and Editor from 1975 to 1976.
Kenney wrote much of the early material, such as "Mrs. Agnew's Diary", a regular column written as the diary of Spiro Agnew (or "Spiggy")'s wife, chronicling her life amongst Richard Nixon and other famous politicians. The feature was an Americanized version of Private Eye's long-running column "Mrs. Wilson's Diary," written from the viewpoint of Prime Minister Harold Wilson's wife.
Kenney had a five-year buyout contract with the Lampoon's publisher, 21st Century Communications. Kenney, Beard, and Hoffman took advantage of this, dividing a sum of $7,000,000 among them. Kenney remained on staff until 1977. He quit to co-author the screenplay to National Lampoon's Animal House, along with Chris Miller and Harold Ramis.
Kenney had a small role in Animal House as fraternity brother "Stork," with only two lines of dialogue. Stork's key scene is at the end of the movie, when he sabotages the drum major and leads the parade. Kenney selected this role for himself. Produced quickly on a small budget, National Lampoon's Animal House was, until Ghostbusters, the most profitable Hollywood comedy film.
Kenney produced and wrote Caddyshack with Brian Doyle-Murray and Harold Ramis. Kenney also had a small role in Caddyshack as a dinner guest of Al Czervik.
When Caddyshack opened to negative reviews in July 1980, Kenney became deeply depressed, though Ramis joked that the film was "a six-million-dollar scholarship to film school." At a press conference, Kenney verbally abused reporters and then fell into a drunken stupor. Concerned friends began asking Kenney to seek professional help, but by that time he was out of control, joking about previous suicide attempts, driving recklessly, and using increasing amounts of cocaine.
Kenney died on August 27, 1980, aged 33, after falling from a 30-foot cliff called the Hanapepe Lookout. Police found his abandoned vehicle the following day; three days later, Kenney's body was discovered stuck between 2 jagged rocks at the bottom of the cliff. His death was classified as "accidental" by Kauai police. About Kenney's death, Harold Ramis famously quipped that Kenney "probably fell while he was looking for a place to jump".
Works in the WWEnd Database
Non Series Works |
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