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Nancy Kelly

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For other people named Nancy Kelly, see Nancy Kelly (disambiguation).
Nancy Kelly
Publicity photograph (1955)
Born(1921-03-25)March 25, 1921
Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedJanuary 2, 1995(1995-01-02) (aged 73)
Bel Air, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationActress
Years active1926–1977
Notable workJesse James, One Night In The Tropics, Tarzan's Desert Mystery, The Bad Seed
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1941; div. 1942)​

Fred Jackman, Jr.
​
​
(m. 1946; div. 1950)​

Warren Caro
​
​
(m. 1955; div. 1968)​
Children1
Family Jack Kelly (brother)

Nancy Kelly (March 25, 1921 – January 2, 1995) was an American actress. A child actress and model, she was a repertory cast member of CBS Radio's The March of Time and became a movie leading lady in the late 1930s, while still in her teens. She made 36 movies between 1926 and 1977, including portraying Tyrone Power's love interest in the classic Jesse James (1939), which also featured Henry Fonda, and playing opposite Spencer Tracy in Stanley and Livingstone later that same year. She had her greatest success in a character role, the distraught mother in The Bad Seed, receiving a Tony Award for the 1955 stage production and an Oscar nomination for the 1956 film adaptation.

Biography

Of Irish descent,[1] Kelly was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, into a theatrical family. Her mother was silent film actress Nan Kelly, who coached her and managed her career. As a child actress, Kelly appeared in 52 films made on the East Coast by the age of 17.[2] Her younger brother was actor Jack Kelly,[3] most noted for playing the role of Bart Maverick, one of the two leads, alongside James Garner or Roger Moore from 1957 to 1962 in the ABC television series Maverick. Nancy Kelly and Jack Kelly bore an obvious family resemblance to each other but never worked together in film or television.

As a child model, her image had appeared in so many different advertisements by the time she was nine years old that Film Daily commented, "Nancy has been referred to as 'the most photographed child in America,' largely because of her commercial posing."[4]

Kelly worked extensively in radio in her adolescent years. She played Dorothy Gale in a 1933–34 radio show, The Wizard of Oz, based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.[5] Kelly was the first ingenue on CBS Radio's The March of Time series, with a vocal versatility that made it possible for her to portray male parts as well as female.[2] She also portrayed Eleanor Roosevelt.[6]: 434–435 

As an adult, she was a leading lady in 27 movies in the 1930s and '40s, including director John Ford's Submarine Patrol, the comedy He Married His Wife with Joel McCrea, Frontier Marshal with Randolph Scott as Wyatt Earp, and Tarzan's Desert Mystery with Johnny Weissmuller. Kelly was subsequently a two-time winner of the Sarah Siddons Award[7][8] for her work in Chicago theatre as well as a Tony Award winner for her performance in The Bad Seed,[9] which she followed up by starring in the 1956 film version, receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.[10] She also starred on television, including leading roles in "The Storm" (1961) episode of Thriller and "The Lonely Hours" (1963) episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. In 1957 she was nominated at the 9th Primetime Emmy Awards for an Emmy Award for Best Single Performance by an Actress for the episode "The Pilot" in Studio One.[11]

Kelly was a Republican who supported Dwight Eisenhower during the 1952 presidential election.[12]

Marriages

Kelly was married to actor Edmond O'Brien briefly from 1941–1942, and then to Fred Jackman, Jr., son of silent Hollywood cameraman and director Fred Jackman, from 1946 to 1950. She was married to theater director Warren Caro from 1955 to 1968.[13] She and Caro had a daughter, Kelly Caro, in 1957.

Death

Kelly died at her Bel Air, California, home on January 2, 1995, from complications of diabetes at the age of 73. She was survived by a daughter and three granddaughters.[14] She was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Walk of Fame

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Blvd. She was inducted on February 8, 1960.[15]

Filmography

Radio appearances

Year Program Episode/source
1945 Suspense "A Week Ago Wednesday"[17]
1946 Suspense "Dark Journey"[18]
1946 Suspense [17]

Suspense episode 169, titled "A Week Ago Wednesday". aired November 29, 1945.

References

  1. ^ "Nancy Kelly Grows Up". Life. July 18, 1938. p. 36. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Nancy Kelly, 73; Actress Lauded for 'Bad Seed'". Oliver, Myrna, Los Angeles Times, January 16, 1995. Retrieved 2014-06-20.
  3. ^ [1] Nancy Kelly
  4. ^ Eddy, Arthur W. (June 5, 1929). "Short Shots from New York Studios". The Film Daily. p. 7. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  5. ^ Terrace, Vincent (2003). Radio Program Openings and Closings, 1931-1972. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 252. ISBN 978-0-7864-4925-5.
  6. ^ Dunning, John, On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1998 ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3 hardcover; revised edition of Tune In Yesterday (1976)
  7. ^ Page, Eleanor (January 30, 1965). "Nancy Gets Award; Kelly Steals Show". Chicago Tribune. p. 15. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  8. ^ "Nancy Kelly Wins Title of Chicago's Actress of Year". Chicago Tribune. August 21, 1956. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  9. ^ Lyons, Leonard (April 26, 1961). "Vast Audience Startles Writers". The Evening Standard. p. 8. Retrieved July 1, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  10. ^ "Nancy Kelly". oscars.org. Retrieved 5 July 2015.[permanent dead link‍]
  11. ^ "Best Single Performance by an Actress - 1957". Television Academy. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  12. ^ Motion Picture and Television Magazine, November 1952, page 34, Ideal Publishers
  13. ^ Vosburgh, Dick (January 20, 1995). "Obituary: Nancy Kelly". The Independent. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  14. ^ Saxon, Wolfgang (January 14, 1995). "Nancy Kelly, 73, Actress Noted In Hollywood and on Broadway". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  15. ^ "Nancy Kelly". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  16. ^ [2] Nancy Kelly, Filmography
  17. ^ a b "Radio's Golden Age". Nostalgia Digest. 40 (1): 40–41. Winter 2014.
  18. ^ http://www.escape-suspense.com/2007/07/suspense---dark.html
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