Harold J. Kennedy was the grandson of Daniel J. and Mary Loughrey O'Neil. Daniel was President of the Eastern League Baseball Association and Hampden County Commissioner. Harold was the elder brother of John Paul Kennedy and the son of J. Harry Kennedy and Mary O'Neil Kennedy, both educators. Harold grew up on Lincoln Avenue in Holyoke, Massachusetts. After his graduation from Holyoke High School, he went to Dartmouth College for his undergraduate degree and later graduated from Yale Drama School. During his half century in show business, he worked as an actor, writer, director and producer in theater, movies, and television. He talked Orson Welles into giving him his first job in the theater. Harold wrote a number of plays, including "A Goose for the Gander" which he created for his friend, Gloria Swanson. The play opened on Broadway at the Playhouse Theater in 1945. Harold was well known on the summer stock circuit. In 1978, his book No Pickle, No Performance An Irreverent Theatrical Excursion from Tallulah to Travolta was published by Doubleday. It detailed his humorous exploits working with some of the best known entertainers of the twentieth century.