Background
Kelley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Kelley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
He is best known for his iconic 1949 nude photographs of Marilyn Monroe, which were distributed widely as calendar art—one of which was featured in the inaugural issue of Playboy magazine in 1953. He learned photography as an apprentice in a New York photo studio, and then worked for the Associated Press and Town & Country magazine. After coming to California in 1935, Kelley established a photography studio in Hollywood and produced promotional photographs of motion picture stars.
David O. Selznick and Samuel Goldwyn retained Kelley to take promotional photos of their stars and starlets for magazine covers and advertising.
Later, Kelley"s business shifted to commercial and advertising photography. Kelley served on the panel of judges at the Mission Universe 1952 and Mission Universe 1956 pageants.
He appeared in the 1966 documentary film The Legend of Marilyn Monroe.