Editing Nancy Kelly

{{Other people}}
{{short description|American actress (1921–1995)}}
{{Infobox person
| name         = Nancy Kelly
| image        = Nancy Kelly 1955.JPG
| caption      = Publicity photograph 
| imagesize    =
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|1921|3|25|mf=y}}
| birth_place  = [[Lowell, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|1995|1|2|1921|3|25|mf=y}}
| death_place  = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| education    = [[Immaculate Conception Academy (California)]]<br>[[Saint Lawrence Academy (Santa Clara)]]
| occupation   = Actress
| spouse       = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Edmond O'Brien]]<br>|1941|1942|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|Fred Jackman, Jr.<br>|1946|1950|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|[[Warren Caro]]<br>|1955|1968|end=divorced}}
}}
| children     = 1
| family       = [[Jack Kelly (actor)| Jack Kelly]] (brother)
| years_active = 1926–1977
| notable_works= {{hlist|''[[Jesse James (1939 film)|Jesse James]]''|''[[One Night In The Tropics]]''|''[[Tarzan's Desert Mystery]]''|''[[The Bad Seed (1956 film)|The Bad Seed]]''|''[[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?]]''|''[[Studio One (American TV series)|Studio One]]''}}
| awards       = [[Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play]]<br>[[Hollywood Walk of Fame]]
}}

'''Nancy Kelly''' (March 25, 1921 – January 2, 1995) was an American actress in film, theater, and television. A child actress and model, she was a repertory cast member of [[CBS Radio]]'s ''[[The March of Time]]'', and appeared in several films in the late 1920s. She became a leading lady upon returning to the screen in the late 1930s, while still in her teens, and made two dozen movies between 1938 and 1946, including portraying [[Tyrone Power]]'s [[Romantic interest|love interest]] in the classic ''[[Jesse James (1939 film)|Jesse James]]'' (1939), which also featured [[Henry Fonda]], and playing opposite [[Spencer Tracy]] in ''[[Stanley and Livingstone]]'', later that same year. After turning to the stage in the late 1940s, she had her greatest success in a [[Character actor|character role]], the distraught mother in ''[[The Bad Seed (play)|The Bad Seed]]'', receiving a [[Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play]] for the 1955 stage production and an [[Academy Award]] nomination as [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]] for the [[The Bad Seed (1956 film)|1956 film adaptation]], her last film role. Kelly then worked regularly in television until 1963, then took over the role of Martha in the original [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] production of ''[[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?]]'' for several months. She returned to television for a handful of appearances in the mid-1970s.

==Biography==
[[File:Studio publicity Nancy Kelly.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Studio publicity portrait circa 1940s]]
[[File:Betrayal from the East (1945) 1.jpg|right|thumb|upright|On set with director [[William Berke]] during ''[[Betrayal from the East]]'' (1945)]]
[[File:1963 Nancy Kelly and Ken Kercheval.JPG|right|thumb|upright|Onstage with [[Ken Kercheval]] in ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1963)]]
Of Irish descent,<ref name=l>{{cite news|title=Nancy Kelly Grows Up|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nU8EAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Nancy+Kelly%22&pg=PA36|access-date=4 July 2015|agency=Life|date=July 18, 1938|page=36}}</ref> 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.<ref name="LAT obit">{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-01-16-mn-20543-story.html|title=Nancy Kelly, 73; Actress Lauded for 'Bad Seed'|date=16 January 1995 |publisher=Oliver, Myrna, [[Los Angeles Times]], January 16, 1995|access-date=2014-06-20}}</ref> Her younger brother was actor [[Jack Kelly (actor)|Jack Kelly]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Nancy Kelly|url=http://www.walkoffame.com/nancy-kelly|website=Hollywood Walk of Fame|access-date=2 July 2015}}</ref> most noted for playing the role of Bart Maverick, one of the leads (alongside [[James Garner]], [[Roger Moore]] or [[Robert Colbert]]) in the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] [[List of Maverick episodes|television]] series ''[[Maverick (TV series)|Maverick]]'' (1957-1962). The Kelly siblings, who resembled each other, are not currently known to have worked together in film or television.{{Citation needed |date=May 2023}} 

Kelly was educated at Bentley School for Girls, [[Immaculate Conception Academy (California)|Immaculate Conception Academy]], and [[Saint Lawrence Academy (Santa Clara)|Saint Lawrence Academy]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Nancy Kelly to Head Crime Does Not Pay Drama |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52423811/nancy-kelly/ |access-date=May 30, 2020 |work=Sioux City Journal |date=March 26, 1950 |location=Iowa|page=33|via = [[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

As a child model, her image had appeared in so many different advertisements by the time she was nine years old that ''[[The Film Daily|Film Daily]]'' commented, "Nancy has been referred to as 'the most photographed child in America,' largely because of her commercial posing."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Eddy|first1=Arthur W.|title=Short Shots from New York Studios|url=https://archive.org/stream/filmdaily4748newy#page/n1336/mode/1up|access-date=1 July 2015|agency=The Film Daily|date=June 5, 1929|page=7}}</ref>

Kelly worked extensively in radio in her adolescent years. She played [[Dorothy Gale]] in a 1933–34 [[NBC Radio Network]] show, ''The Wizard of Oz'', based on ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Radio Program Openings and Closings, 1931–1972|date=2003|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc.|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|isbn=978-0-7864-4925-5|page=252|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GoneCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA252 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Commercial Premiers This Week Unload 11 on WEAF Chain Alone |url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/30s/1933/BB-1933-09-30.pdf#page=13 |access-date=April 15, 2020 |magazine=Billboard |date=September 30, 1933 |page=13}}</ref> 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.<ref name="LAT obit"/> She also portrayed [[Eleanor Roosevelt]].<ref name="Dunning">{{cite book |last=Dunning |first=John |author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22The+March+of+Time,+news%22+%22Agnes+Moorehead+Nancy+Kelly+and+Jeanette+Nolan+as+Eleanor+Roosevelt+and+in+other+roles%22&pg=PA434 |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |page=434 |edition=Hardcover; revised edition of ''Tune In Yesterday'' (1976)| access-date=June 20, 2014}}</ref>{{Rp|434}}
As an adult, Nancy Kelly was a [[leading lady]] in 27 movies in the 1930s and '40s, including director [[John Ford]]'s ''[[Submarine Patrol]]'' (1938) with [[Preston Foster]], ''[[Frontier Marshal (1939 film)|Frontier Marshal]]'' (1939) with [[Randolph Scott]] as [[Wyatt Earp]], ''Jesse James'' (1939) with Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda, ''Stanley and Livingstone'' (1939) with Spencer Tracy, the comedy ''[[He Married His Wife]]'' (1940) with [[Joel McCrea]], ''[[Parachute Battalion]]'' (1941) with [[Robert Preston (actor)|Robert Preston]], [[Edmond O'Brien]], [[Harry Carey (actor)|Harry Carey]], and [[Buddy Ebsen]], and ''[[Tarzan's Desert Mystery]]'' (1943) with [[Johnny Weissmuller]]. She also starred in the 1949 Broadway play ''[[The Big Knife (play)|The Big Knife]]'' by [[Clifford Odets]]. Kelly was subsequently a two-time winner of the [[Sarah Siddons Award]]<ref>{{cite news|last1=Page|first1=Eleanor|title=Nancy Gets Award; Kelly Steals Show|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1965/01/30/page/15/article/nancy-gets-award-kelly-steals-show|access-date=3 July 2015|agency=Chicago Tribune|date=January 30, 1965|page=15}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Nancy Kelly Wins Title of Chicago's Actress of Year|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1956/08/21/page/33/article/nancy-kelly-wins-title-of-chicagos-actress-of-year|access-date=3 July 2015|agency=Chicago Tribune|date=August 21, 1956}}</ref> for her work in [[Theatre in Chicago|Chicago theatrical]] productions as well as a [[Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play]] winner for her performance in ''[[The Bad Seed (play)|The Bad Seed]]'',<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lyons|first1=Leonard|title=Vast Audience Startles Writers|newspaper=The Evening Standard |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2729518/the_evening_standard/|agency=The Evening Standard|date=April 26, 1961|page=8|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = July 1, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> which she followed up by starring in the [[The Bad Seed (1956 film)|1956 film version]], receiving a nomination for the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Nancy Kelly|url=http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1436004205505|website=oscars.org|access-date=5 July 2015}}{{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> She also starred on television, including leading roles in "The Storm" (1961) episode of ''[[Thriller (U.S. TV series)|Thriller]]'' and "The Lonely Hours" (1963) episode of ''[[The Alfred Hitchcock Hour]]''. In 1957 she was nominated at the [[9th Primetime Emmy Awards#Best Single Performance by an Actress|9th Primetime Emmy Awards]] for an [[Emmy Award]] for Best Single Performance by an Actress for the episode "The Pilot" in ''[[Studio One (anthology series)|Studio One]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Best Single Performance by an Actress – 1957|url=http://m.emmys.com/bios/nancy-kelly|website=Television Academy|access-date=5 July 2015}}</ref>

Kelly was a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] who supported [[Dwight Eisenhower]] during the [[1952 United States presidential election|1952 presidential election]].<ref>''Motion Picture and Television Magazine'', November 1952, page 34, Ideal Publishers</ref>

==Marriages==
Kelly was married to actor [[Edmond O'Brien]] briefly from 1941–1942, and then to Fred Jackman, Jr., son of [[silent film|silent]] Hollywood cameraman and director [[Fred Jackman]], from 1946 to 1950. She was married to theater director [[Warren Caro]] from 1955 to 1968.<ref name=i>{{cite news|last1=Vosburgh|first1=Dick|title=Obituary: Nancy Kelly|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-nancy-kelly-1568843.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-nancy-kelly-1568843.html |archive-date=2022-06-18 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=4 July 2015|agency=The Independent|date=January 20, 1995}}</ref> 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.<ref name=nyt>{{cite news|last1=Saxon|first1=Wolfgang|title=Nancy Kelly, 73, Actress Noted In Hollywood and on Broadway|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/14/obituaries/nancy-kelly-73-actress-noted-in-hollywood-and-on-broadway.html|access-date=2 July 2015|agency=The New York Times|date=January 14, 1995}}</ref> She was interred in the [[Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery]] in [[Los Angeles]].{{Citation needed |date=May 2023}}

==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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nancy Kelly|url=http://www.walkoffame.com/nancy-kelly|website=Hollywood Walk of Fame|access-date=2 July 2015}}</ref>

==Filmography==
{{div col|colwidth=26em}}
* ''[[The Untamed Lady]]'' (1926) with [[Gloria Swanson]]
* ''[[Mismates]]'' (1926) with [[Warner Baxter]]
* ''[[The Great Gatsby (1926 film)|The Great Gatsby]]'' (1926) with [[Warner Baxter]] and [[William Powell]]
* ''[[Girl on the Barge]]'' (1929) with [[Jean Hersholt]]
* ''[[Glorifying the American Girl]]'' (1929; uncredited) with [[Mary Eaton]]
* ''[[Convention Girl]]'' (1935) with [[Shemp Howard]]
* ''[[Submarine Patrol]]'' (1938; directed by [[John Ford]]) with [[Preston Foster]] and [[George Bancroft (actor)|George Bancroft]]
* ''[[Jesse James (1939 film)|Jesse James]]'' (1939) with [[Tyrone Power]], [[Henry Fonda]], and [[Randolph Scott]]
* ''[[Tail Spin]]'' (1939) with [[Alice Faye]], [[Constance Bennett]], [[Charles Farrell]], and [[Jane Wyman]]
* ''[[Frontier Marshal (1939 film)|Frontier Marshal]]'' (1939) with [[Randolph Scott]] as [[Wyatt Earp]]
* ''[[Stanley and Livingstone]]'' (1939) with [[Spencer Tracy]] and [[Walter Brennan]]
* ''[[He Married His Wife]]'' (1940) with [[Joel McCrea]]
* ''[[Sailor's Lady]]'' (1940) with [[Joan Davis]] and [[Dana Andrews]]
* ''[[Private Affairs (1940 film)|Private Affairs]]'' (1940) with [[Hugh Herbert]] and [[Robert Cummings]]
* ''[[One Night in the Tropics]]'' (1940) with [[Allan Jones (actor)|Allan Jones]] and [[Abbott & Costello]]
* ''[[Scotland Yard (1941 film)|Scotland Yard]]'' (1941) with [[Edmund Gwenn]]
* ''[[A Very Young Lady]]'' (1941) with [[Jane Withers]]
* ''[[Parachute Battalion]]'' (1941) with [[Robert Preston (actor)|Robert Preston]], [[Edmond O'Brien]], [[Harry Carey (actor)|Harry Carey]], and [[Buddy Ebsen]]
* ''[[Fly-by-Night (film)|Fly-by-Night]]'' (1942; directed by [[Robert Siodmak]]) with [[Richard Carlson (actor)|Richard Carlson]]
* ''[[To the Shores of Tripoli]]'' (1942) with [[John Payne (actor)|John Payne]], [[Maureen O'Hara]], and [[Randolph Scott]]
* ''[[Friendly Enemies (1942 film)|Friendly Enemies]]'' (1942) with [[Charles Ruggles]]
* ''[[Tornado (1943 film)|Tornado]]'' (1943) with [[Chester Morris]]
* ''[[Women in Bondage]]'' (1943) with [[Gail Patrick]]
* ''[[Tarzan's Desert Mystery]]'' (1943) with [[Johnny Weissmuller]]
* ''[[Gambler's Choice]]'' (1944) with [[Chester Morris]]
* ''[[Show Business (1944 film)|Show Business]]'' (1944) with [[Eddie Cantor]] and [[George Murphy]]
* ''[[Double Exposure (1944 film)|Double Exposure]]'' (1944) with [[Chester Morris]]
* ''[[Betrayal from the East]]'' (1945) with [[Lee Tracy]]
* ''[[Song of the Sarong]]'' (1945) with [[William Gargan]]
* ''[[The Woman Who Came Back]]'' (1945) with [[John Loder (actor)|John Loder]] and [[Otto Kruger]]
* ''[[Follow That Woman]]'' (1945) with [[William Gargan]] and [[Regis Toomey]]
* ''[[Murder in the Music Hall]]'' (1946) with [[Vera Ralston]]
* ''[[Crowded Paradise]]'' (1956) with [[Hume Cronyn]]
* ''[[The Bad Seed (1956 film)|The Bad Seed]]'' (1956) with [[Patty McCormack]]
* ''[[The Alfred Hitchcock Hour]]'' (1963) (Season 1 Episode 23: "The Lonely Hours") as Mrs. J.A. Williams / Vera Brandon
* ''[[Murder at the World Series]]'' (1975) with [[Lynda Day George]]
{{div col end}}

==Radio appearances==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Program !! Episode/source
|-
| 1944|| ''Suspense'' ||"Eve" 
|-
| 1945|| ''[[Suspense (radio drama)|Suspense]]'' ||"A Week Ago Wednesday"<ref name="Radio's Golden Age">{{cite journal|title=Radio's Golden Age|journal=Nostalgia Digest|date=Winter 2014|volume=40|issue=1|pages=40–41}}</ref> 
|-
| 1946|| ''Suspense'' ||"Dark Journey" 
|-
| 1946|| ''Suspense'' || <ref name="Radio's Golden Age"/> 
|}

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

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{Portal|Biography}}
* {{IBDB name}}
* {{IMDb name|446715}}
* {{Find a Grave|8693}}

{{TonyAward PlayLeadActress 1947-1975}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Nancy}}
[[Category:1921 births]]
[[Category:1995 deaths]]
[[Category:American film actresses]]
[[Category:American stage actresses]]
[[Category:American radio actresses]]
[[Category:American silent film actresses]]
[[Category:American child actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century American actresses]]
[[Category:Actresses from Lowell, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:California Republicans]]
[[Category:Massachusetts Republicans]]
[[Category:Deaths from diabetes in California]]
[[Category:Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery]]