Background
His father owned a saloon, Kelly"s Kafe, in the shadow of Vitagraph Studios, on E. 14th Saint in Midwood, Brooklyn. After his father"s death, he began his career as a child actor at age 7 and was appearing on the stage.
His father owned a saloon, Kelly"s Kafe, in the shadow of Vitagraph Studios, on E. 14th Saint in Midwood, Brooklyn. After his father"s death, he began his career as a child actor at age 7 and was appearing on the stage.
Student Saint Thomas Aquinias Academy, Brooklyn, 1912-1913. Private tutors.
His career survived a manslaughter conviction, tied to a sex scandal, that caused him to spend time in prison in the late 1920s. Born in Brooklyn, New York to a Roman Catholic family of Irish descent, Paul Michael Kelly was the ninth of ten children. In 1911, Kelly began making silent films at age 12 with the Vitagraph Studios, which was based in Brooklyn, and where he was billed as Master Paul Kelly.
Kelly was possibly the first male child actor to be given any starring roles in American films, predating better remembered child stars such as Bobby Connelly and Jackie Coogan.
Kelly made his talking film debut in 1933"s Broadway Through a Keyhole. 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.
Later in his film career, as an adult, Kelly appeared in films mostly as a character actor playing tough guys — some sympathetic, some not — during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Kelly 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.
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. Kelly died of a heart attack at 57 on November 6, 1956.
Married Dorothy MacKaye, January 10, 1931 (deceased). Married second, Mardelle Zwicker, January 23, 1941. Children: Mimi Kathryn (adopted), Mary Mardelle Kirk (step-daughter.