Researching Patrick Kennedy

Born prematurely, Kennedy lived just over 39 hours before dying from complications of hyaline membrane disease (HMD), after desperate attempts to save him failed. His infant death left the First Family and nation in mourning, however, also brought HMD, now known as infantile respiratory distress syndrome, into the public consciousness, inspiring further research. Three months later, his death would be eclipsed by his father's assassination.

He studied English literature and language at St John's College, Oxford, and then attended LAMDA.

Kennedy's first screen role was in Peter Greenaway's The Tulse Luper Suitcases, followed by the role of Julian Bell in the BBC's Cambridge Spies.

Kennedy's first lead role was playing Richard Carstone in the BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House, and he followed this with roles in Joe Wright's Atonement, Steven Spielberg's Munich, Richard Linklater's Me and Orson Welles, and Michael Hoffman's The Last Station.

Kennedy recurred on the television series Boardwalk Empire in 2012, earning a nomination for Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, and played the role of McKechnie in Parade's End, directed by Susanna White, written by Tom Stoppard.

Kennedy's recent television roles have included Neil in Peep Show (Season 8), the lead role in ITV's Murder on the Home Front, a lead opposite Brendan Gleeson in the HBO pilot The Money, Sampson in ITV's Downton Abbey, Jock Colville with Michael Gambon in Churchill's Secret, directed by Charles Sturridge, and recurring roles in Hulu's The First, Mrs Wilson for the BBC, and Allston Wheatley in Scott Frank's The Queen's Gambit for Netflix.

Kennedy’s more recent film roles include Lieutenant Waverly in Steven Spielberg's War Horse, Roger Donaldson's November Man, Bill Condon's Mr Holmes (with Ian McKellen), Babak Najafi's London Has Fallen, Lt. Col. Guy L'Estrange in Mike Leigh's Peterloo; Edward Aveling opposite Romola Garai in Susanna Nicchiarelli's Miss Marx.

Kennedy's stage roles include Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Bristol Old Vic (directed by David Farr); George Holly in Michael Grandage's production of Suddenly Last Summer with Diana Rigg and Victoria Hamilton in the West End; the lead role of Jonathan in Everything is Illuminated at The Hampstead Theatre; Camille in Therese Raquin, at the National Theatre, directed by Marianne Elliott; Tom in The Glass Menagerie, for Shared Experience; Oliver in Polly Stenham's No Quarter, directed by Jeremy Herrin at the Royal Court; Don Caspar in Anna Ziegler's Photograph 51, with Nicole Kidman, directed by Michael Grandage at the Noel Coward Theatre.

In 2017 Kennedy took the lead roles in Harold Pinter's The Lover and The Collection, directed by Michael Kahn for the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Lansburgh Theatre, Washington D.C.

Kennedy has worked on several films with the British artist Nathaniel Mellors, playing the recurring Neanderthal character Voggen Williams in The Sophisticated Neanderthal Interview, Neanderthal Container, and the pub lecher, Uncle Tommy, in the Ourhouse series

In 2018 Kennedy wrote and directed the short film The Human Voice, starring Rosamund Pike, adapted from the Jean Cocteau play La Voix Humaine.

Kennedy portrayed astronaut Michael Collins in the documentary of the Apollo 11 mission, 8 Days: To the Moon and Back, shown on BBC2 on 10 July 2019.

A long-serving member of Limerick City Council, Kennedy stood unsuccessfully as a Fine Gael candidate for Dáil Éireann in the Limerick East constituency at the 1969, 1973 and 1977 general elections. He was Mayor of Limerick from 1974 to 1975 and from 1985 to 1986. He did not contest the 1981 general election, but in the subsequent election to the 15th Seanad he won a seat on the Administrative Panel. He contested one further Dáil election, in February 1982, where he again failed to win a seat, and was also unsuccessful at the 1982 Seanad election. He was returned the following year to the 17th Seanad (again on the Administrative Panel), and held that seat until his defeat at the 1993 Seanad election. He stood again for the Seanad in 1997, but was not re-elected.

He left Fine Gael in about the year 2000, and at the 2004 and 2009 local elections he was re-elected to the city council as an Independent candidate. He also contested the 2002 general election as an independent. He re-joined Fine Gael in September 2009.

He worked as a school teacher in Christian Brothers School (CBS) Limerick.

In 2015, Kennedy published biographies of Chief Justice Hugh Kennedy (no relation) (Hugh Kennedy: The Great But Neglected Chief Justice) and Liam Cosgrave (Liam Cosgrave: Parliamentarian, Fine Gael Leader, Cabinet Minister and Taoiseach). He also announced plans for several projects, including a book on World War I casualties among Irish barristers.

Kennedy died at University Hospital Limerick on 21 January 2020 following a short illness. He was 78.

He was born in Trasersten, County Tipperary, the son of Edward Kennedy. He was a carter and general contractor. In 1861, he married Elizabeth Tracey. Kennedy served on Montreal city council from 1877 to 1883 and from 1887 to 1894. He was president of the Montreal police commission from 1882 to 1883. Kennedy died in office in Montreal at the age of 63 and was buried in the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery.

Kennedy was born in Salem, Massachusetts. With the active encouragement of his mother, he began his competition swimming career at the local YMCA in Danvers, Massachusetts. His family moved to Baltimore, Maryland, when he was 12 years old, and he became a standout age group swimmer for the North Baltimore Aquatic Club. For high school, he attended Loyola Blakefield in Towson, Maryland, where he competed for the Loyola Blakefield Dons prep swim team.

Kennedy accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he swam for coach Randy Reese's Florida Gators swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) from 1983 to 1986. He was the high points contributor to the Gators' back-to-back NCAA national championship teams in 1983 and 1984, and was recognized as the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Swimmer of the Year in 1984.

Following his sophomore year, he qualified for the U.S. Olympic team at the United States Olympic Trials. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, Kennedy competed in the men's 200-meter butterfly, and finished eighth in the event final with a time of 2:01.03.

After the Olympics, Kennedy returned to the University of Florida to finish his undergraduate education. During his college swimming career, Kennedy won a total of five SEC championships, and received nine All-American honors. He graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in 1986, and was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2008.

He was elected as an Irish National Federation (Anti-Parnellite) MP for the North Kildare constituency at the 1892 general election, and did not contest the 1895 general election.

He was elected as a Healyite Nationalist MP at the 1900 general election for the North Westmeath constituency. He joined the Irish Parliamentary Party during the parliamentary term, but did not contest the 1906 general election.