Nancy Kelly
American actress (1921-1995) · United States · On the map · Actors · Died at 73
Nancy Kelly 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.
Nancy Kelly is read about 198 times a day, in 34 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 9 November 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 111 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?A life in dates
Murder at the World SeriesFilm, 1977Alice Dakso1975
BronkSeries
The ImpostorFilm, 1975Victoria Kent1969
Medical CenterSeries1962
Sam BenedictSeries
The StormFilm, 1962Janet Willsom1960
ThrillerSeries, Janet Willsom1956
Crowded ParadiseFilm, Louise Heath1955Tony Award for Best Actress in a PlayAward1954
Climax!Series, Irene Marshall1953
The OscarsSeries1950
Lux Video TheatreSeries, Clare1949
SuspenseSeries1948
Studio OneSeries, Sister Mary Aquinas1946
Murder in the Music HallFilm, Rita Morgan1945
Betrayal from the EastFilm, Peggy Harrison1944
Double ExposureFilm, Pat Marvin1942
Fly By NightFilm, Pat Lindsay1941
A Very Young LadyFilm, Alice Carter1940
He Married His WifeFilm, Valerie1939
Frontier MarshalFilm, Sarah Allen1935
Convention GirlFilm, Betty, Singer-Call Girl1929
Glorifying the American GirlFilm, Child (uncredited)1926
MismatesFilm, Jimsy1921Born25 March 1921People around Nancy
Darryl F. Zanuck Produced Jesse James and Submarine Patrol
Allan Dwan Directed Frontier Marshal and Friendly Enemies
William Berke Directed Betrayal from the East (1945)
Henry King Directed Jesse James and Stanley and Livingstone
Otto Kruger Also in Friendly Enemies (1942)
Roy Del Ruth Directed Tail Spin and He Married His Wife
Otto Brower Directed Jesse James and Stanley and Livingstone
Randolph Scott Also in To the Shores of Tripoli (1942)
John Carradine Also in Jesse James and Submarine Patrol
Lon Chaney Jr. Also in Submarine Patrol and Frontier Marshal
Chester Morris Also in Double Exposure and Gambler's Choice
Robert Lowery Also in Submarine Patrol and Tail Spin
Joan Davis Also in Show Business and Tail Spin
Edward Norris Also in Frontier Marshal and Tail Spin- Maxwell Shane Wrote Tornado and Double Exposure
Sol C. Siegel Produced Fly-by-Night (1942)
John Ford Directed Submarine Patrol (1938)
Johnny Weissmuller Also in Glorifying the American Girl (1929)- Sidney Sheldon Wrote Fly-by-Night and Fly By Night
Alfred Newman Wrote Stanley and Livingstone (1939)
Robert Cummings Also in One Night in the Tropics (1940)
Robert Siodmak Directed Fly-by-Night (1942)
Ruth Ford Also in The Woman Who Came Back (1945)
Sol Lesser Produced Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943)
Nancy KellyPartners
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View all 39 titles
The Bad Seed 1956
Jesse James 1939
Tarzan's Desert Mystery 1943
Filmography 39
56 credits on file
Television 13
Media & music
Awards
About this person
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 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. After turning to the stage in the late 1940s, she had her greatest success in a character role, the distraught mother in The Bad Seed, receiving a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the 1955 stage production and an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress for the 1956 film adaptation, her last film role. Kelly worked regularly in television until 1963, then took over the role of Martha in the original 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.
