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Paul Michael Kelly (August 9, 1899[citation needed] – November 6, 1956) was an American actor. His career survived a manslaughter conviction, tied to an affair he was having with the victim's wife, that caused him to spend time in prison in the late 1920s. In the course of his career, and relatively short life, it has been estimated that Kelly worked on stage, screen, and television in over four hundred roles.[1]
Paul Kelly | |
|---|---|
 Kelly in Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942) | |
| Born | Paul Michael Kelly August 9, 1899 |
| Died | November 6, 1956 (aged 57) |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1906–1956 |
| Spouse |
Dorothy Mackaye
(m. 1931; died 1940) |
Career and imprisonment
editKelly alternated between stage and screen as an actor. He was a handsome and popular male lead or costar in Broadway plays from the late 1910s and throughout the 1920s.
On April 16, 1927, a drunk Kelly confronted fellow actor Ray Raymond over his affair with and love for Raymond's wife, actress Dorothy Mackaye. Raymond, who was also drunk, was no match for Kelly, who was considerably larger than him. During their confrontation, Kelly hit him several times and left him on the floor.[2]
Mackaye denied in court that she had been romantically involved with Kelly before Raymond's death, but Kelly's love letters to her were introduced as evidence. She was charged with felony conspiracy for the attempted coverup, and sentenced to one to three years, but served less than 10 months.[3] Kelly was sentenced to up to 10 years, but served only 25 months in San Quentin prison. (Decades later, he played San Quentin Warden Clinton Duffy in the 1954 film Duffy of San Quentin.) Conditions of his release included that he must not marry for 18 months after his release, and that he would have to take a job as a clerk for $30 per week.[2] Kelly found working as a clerk untenable, and convinced the supervisors of his parole to allow him to return to acting on Broadway, with the condition that he continued to be limited to an income of $30 per week.[2]
Kelly made his talking film debut in 1933's Broadway Through a Keyhole. In 1948, Kelly won a Best Actor Tony Award for his role in Command Decision. Clark Gable later played the same role in the film version of the play. Kelly shared the award with Henry Fonda for Mister Roberts and Basil Rathbone for The Heiress.[1]
Personal life
editKelly and Mackaye married in 1931, shortly after the expiration on Kelly's parole condition prohibiting him from marrying.[2] They performed on Broadway, and then returned to California, where Mackaye's daughter Valerie Raymond was apparently adopted by Kelly and became known as Mimi Kelly. Mimi would later have her own modest Broadway career.[1]
Dorothy Mackaye's account of her experiences, Women in Prison, became a film, Ladies They Talk About (1933), with Barbara Stanwyck, and was remade as Lady Gangster in 1942.
Mackaye was in a 1940 auto crash, when her car swerved and rolled into a ditch. She walked home, and, seeking to assuage Kelly's concerns, insisted that she was not seriously hurt. Her doctor, however, insisted that she go to a hospital, where she died three days later due to a ruptured bladder she suffered in the accident.[4]
Kelly married Claire Owen a year later.[4] He died of a heart attack at 57 on November 6, 1956, in Beverly Hills, California.[5]
Filmography
edit| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1919 | Fit to Win | Hank Simpson | |
| Anne of Green Gables | Gilbert Blythe | ||
| 1920 | Uncle Sam of Freedom Ridge | Young Sam | |
| 1921 | The Great Adventure | Another Leek Son | |
| The Old Oaken Bucket | The Youth | ||
| 1926 | The New Klondike | Bing Allen | |
| 1927 | Slide, Kelly, Slide | Dillon | |
| Special Delivery | Tuck, another detective | (scenes deleted) | |
| The Poor Nut | Spike Hoyt | Uncredited | |
| 1932 | The Girl from Calgary | Larry Boyd | |
| 1933 | Broadway Through a Keyhole | Frank Rocci | |
| 1934 | School for Girls | Garry Waltham | |
| The Love Captive | Dr. Norman Ware | ||
| Side Streets | Tim O'Hara | ||
| Blind Date | Bill Lowry | ||
| Death on the Diamond | Jimmie Downey | ||
| The President Vanishes | Chick Moffat | ||
| 1935 | When a Man's a Man | Phil Acton | |
| Star of Midnight | Jim Kinland | ||
| Public Hero No. 1 | James Duff | ||
| Speed Devils | Martin Gray | ||
| Silk Hat Kid | Tim Martin | ||
| It's a Great Life | Rockie Johnson |
1935 Saga of the West Phil | |
| 1936 | My Marriage | Barney Dolan | |
| Here Comes Trouble | Duke Donovan | ||
| Song and Dance Man | Hap Farrell | ||
| The Country Beyond | Sgt. Cassidy | ||
| Women Are Trouble | Bill Blaine | ||
| Murder with Pictures | I. B. McCoogin | ||
| The Accusing Finger | Douglas Goodwin | ||
| 1937 | Join the Marines | Philip H. 'Phil' Donlan | |
| Parole Racket | Police Lieutenant Tony Roberts | ||
| It Happened Out West | Richard P. Howe | ||
| The Frame-Up | Mark MacArthur | ||
| Fit for a King | Briggs | ||
| Navy Blue and Gold | Tommy Milton (varsity coach) | ||
| 1938 | Island in the Sky | Johnny Doyle | |
| Torchy Blane in Panama | Steve McBride | ||
| The Nurse from Brooklyn | Jim Barnes | ||
| The Devil's Party | Jerry Donovan | ||
| The Missing Guest | 'Scoop' Hanlon | ||
| Juvenile Court | Gary Franklin | Leading role opposite Rita Hayworth | |
| Adventure in Sahara | Jim Wilson | Starring role | |
| 1939 | Within the Law | Joe Garson | |
| The Flying Irishman | Butch Brannan | ||
| Forged Passport | Dan Frazer | ||
| 6,000 Enemies | Dr. Malcolm Scott | ||
| The Roaring Twenties | Nick Brown | ||
| Invisible Stripes | Ed Kruger | ||
| 1940 | Queen of the Mob | Tom Webster | |
| Wyoming | General Custer | ||
| The Howards of Virginia | Captain Jabez Allen | Alternative title: The Tree of Liberty | |
| Girls Under 21 | Johnny Cane | ||
| Flight Command | Lieutenant Commander "Dusty" Rhodes | ||
| 1941 | Ziegfeld Girl | John Slayton | |
| I'll Wait for You | Police Lieutenant 'Mac' McFarley | ||
| Parachute Battalion | Sgt. Tex McBride | ||
| 1942 | Mr. and Mrs. North | Lieutenant Weigand | |
| Call Out the Marines | Jim Blake | ||
| Not a Ladies' Man | Robert Bruce | ||
| Tarzan's New York Adventure | Jimmy Shields | ||
| Tough As They Come | Dan Stevens | ||
| The Secret Code | Dan Barton | 15-chapter serial; leading role | |
| Flying Tigers | Hap Davis | ||
| 1943 | The Man from Music Mountain | Victor Marsh |
1943 Texas Legionaires Victor Marsh |
| 1944 | The Story of Dr. Wassell | Murdock | |
| Dead Man's Eyes | Dr. Alan Bittaker | ||
| Faces in the Fog | Tom Elliott | ||
| 1945 | Grissly's Millions | Joe Simmons | |
| China's Little Devils | Big Butch Dooley | ||
| Allotment Wives | Major Pete Martin | ||
| San Antonio | Roy Stuart | ||
| 1946 | The Glass Alibi | Max Anderson | |
| The Cat Creeps | Ken Grady | ||
| Deadline for Murder | Lt. Jerry E. McMullen | ||
| Strange Journey | Lucky Leeds | ||
| 1947 | Fear in the Night | Cliff Herlihy | |
| Spoilers of the North | Matt Garraway | ||
| Crossfire | Mr. Tremaine | ||
| Adventure Island | Captain Donald Lochlin | ||
| 1950 | The File on Thelma Jordon | Miles Scott | |
| Guilty of Treason | Tom Kelly | ||
| The Secret Fury | District Attorney Eric Lowell | ||
| Side Street | Captain Walter Anderson | ||
| Frenchie | Pete Lambert | ||
| 1951 | The Painted Hills | Jonathan Harvey | Alternative titles: Lassie's Adventures in the Goldrush, Lassie's Christmas Story |
| 1952 | Springfield Rifle | Lieutenant Colonel John Hudson | |
| 1953 | Gunsmoke | Dan Saxon | Alternative titles: A Man's Country, Roughshod |
| Split Second | Bart Moore | ||
| 1954 | Duffy of San Quentin | Warden Clinton T. Duffy | |
| The High and the Mighty | Donald Flaherty | ||
| Johnny Dark | William H. "Scotty" Scott | ||
| The Steel Cage | Warden Clinton T. Duffy | ||
| 1955 | The Square Jungle | Jim McBride | |
| 1956 | Storm Center | Judge Robert Ellerbe | |
| 1957 | Curfew Breakers | Police Lieutenant Lacey | |
| Bailout at 43,000 | Colonel Hughes | last film role | |
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1950 | The Ford Theatre Hour | 1 episode | |
| 1952 | Robert Montgomery Presents | 1 episode | |
| 1954–1955 | Fireside Theater | 2 episodes | |
| Schlitz Playhouse of Stars | Joe Tierney / Bunter | 3 episodes | |
| 1955 | Cavalcade of America | 1 episode | |
References
edit- ^ a b c Profile, ibdb.com; accessed July 28, 2015.
- ^ a b c d Gene Coughlin, "Tragedies of the Stage", Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph (September 12, 1948), p. American Weekly, p. 7.
- ^ "Dorothy Mackaye Released from Prison". Delaware County Daily Times. Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. January 2, 1929. Archived from the original on April 7, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Stephenson, Simon (August 19, 2023). "A neighbour said: 'We didn't want to scare you' – how I became obsessed with the dark past of my Hollywood home". The Guardian.
- ^ Ellenberger, Allan R. (2001). Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory. McFarland. p. 166. ISBN 9780786409839. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
Bibliography
edit- John Holmstrom, The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995, Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, pp. 13–14.
External links
edit
- Paul Kelly at the Internet Broadway Database
- Paul Kelly at IMDb
- Paul Kelly at Find a Grave
