Nancy Kelly

Nancy Kelly

American actress (1921–1995)

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. 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.

Filmography in the catalog

Credited on 14 films (1938–1956) — matched by name in the Creator or Credits field. Also mentioned in 2 other records (descriptions, transcriptions, copyright notes).

Year ▲ Title CreatorLengthFormatColorSound
1938 SUBMARINE PATROL. Fox Film Corp 95 min B&W
1939 FRONTIER MARSHAL. Fox Film Corp 71 min B&W
1939 Jesse James Henry King
1939 Stanley And Livingstone Films Incorporated Video 8900 ft. 16mm B&W sound
1939 TAIL SPIN. Fox Film Corp 9 reels B&W
1940 He Married His Wife. Roy Del Ruth 7 477 ft.
1940 Private Affairs. Albert S. Rogell 8 reels
1940 Sailor's Lady. Allan Dwan 6 005 ft.
1941 Parachute Battalion. Leslie Goodwins 75 min.
1941 Scotland Yard. Norman Foster 6 380 ft.
1943 Tarzan's Desert Mystery. Wilhelm Thiele 70 min.
1943 Tornado. Calvin Productions Inc. 5:40 16mm sound
1944 Gambler's Choice. Frank McDonald 7 reels
1956 The bad seed. Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. 129 min 35mm B&W sound