Master of the Slow Burn

Edgar's career reached a turning point when he was hired by the Hal Roach Studios in 1928. Edgar directed Laurel and Hardy (under the title E. Livingston Kennedy) in From Soup to Nuts and You're Darn Tootin'. Edgar continued performing in front of the camera with Charley Chase, the Boy Friends, and ZaSu Pitts/Thelma Todd comedies.

When Edgar performed at Sennett's, he was always in motion as there was no such thing as a close-up. During his Roach years, Edgar refined his comic reactions playing to the camera. The first hint of aggravation, he would register a grimace to hold it in. As his impatience built, Edgar went through many stages of head and face wipes with his right hand.

Edgar would refer to those escalating body language gestures as "a slow burn." As situations would become more frustrating, Edgar would reach the boiling point and explode like a human thermometer. It was almost as if Edgar's baldness existed because he either rubbed his hair off or pulled it out.

Edgar's hairless scalp and slow burn became his signature trademark. The sight gag became even funnier when sound made it possible to hear his exasperations.

In Laurel and Hardy's first talkie, Unaccustomed As We Are, Edgar played a policeman. In the ten films in which he appeared with the comedy team, he played ~cop\ in five of them. One notable exception was in The Perfect Day in which Edgar was an uncle with a bandaged, gout ridden foot. L&H in a matter of moments inadvertently stepped on it, slammed a door on it, dropped a car on it, and unwittingly induced the dog to play tug-of-war with the foot. He was the perfect foil for Laurel and Hardy.

With his popularity secured, Edgar started to free-lance again, he was cast by R.K.O. studios as the head of the family in the Average Man series in 1931. He was flanked by his "dizzy" wife (1930's vernacular for "airhead"), a lazy brother-in-law, and his meddling mother-in-law. The episodes would frequently end with a thoroughly exasperated Edgar rubbing his head emphatically in small circles, then like a squeegee wiping glass, would pull his hand down his face.

in 1933, Edgar shared a memorable scene in the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup. Edgar was running a lemonade/peanut stand in which Harpo and Chico antagonized Edgar with a little mischief. Edgar, of course, was no match for the confrontation. Building up to an exchange of comic actions and reactions to the taking of his hat, peanuts, and pride, Edgar is soon left curbside to watch his bowler set ablaze. (Fadeout; slow burn)

Edgar had a professional reunion with Laurel and Hardy, circa 1938, in of all places at a radio recording studio. The pilot episode was entitled: The Wedding Party. It was an eight-minute sketch featuring the boys, Edgar and Polly Moran. The characters were introduced on the air by Lucille Ball. The plot entailed Stan Laurel getting married by Justice of the Peace Edgar Kennedy.

In 1943, Edgar again teamed with Laurel and Hardy in MGM's Air Raid Wardens. It was the last time they worked together. However, they kept in touch socially.

During World War II, Edgar volunteered to visit hundreds of hospitals and camps in the armed forces. He was frequently accompanied by his daughter Colleen who was incorporated into appearances and shows. Edgar toured with the stage play Charlie's Aunt in 1946.

Edgar's passion was golfing. At his prime, he shot in the middle seventies. Edgar