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Nancy Kelly

Actor

Nancy Kelly

Born March 25, 1921 in Lowell, Massachusetts, USADied January 2, 199539 films

Nancy Kelly (March 25, 1921 – January 2, 1995) was an American actress. 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), and playing opposite Spencer Tracy in Stanley and Livingstone later that same year.

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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 then 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.

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The best way into Nancy Kelly's work
The Bad Seed posterFirst watchThe Bad Seed19567.1as Christine PenmarkAir Force Colonel Kenneth Penmark and his wife, Christine, adore their daughter Rhoda, despite her secret tendency for selfishness.View film

Essential films

Ranked by acclaim and reach
Jesse James poster6.6Jesse James1939Tarzan's Desert Mystery poster6.1Tarzan's Desert Mystery1943

Filmography

39 films as actor
  1. 1977Murder at the World SeriesAlice Dakso
  2. 1975The ImpostorVictoria Kent
  3. 1962The StormJanet Willsom
  4. 1957Circle of the DayBarbara Millet
  5. 1956The Bad SeedChristine Penmark
  6. 1956Crowded ParadiseLouise Heath
  7. 1946Murder in the Music HallRita Morgan
  8. 1945Follow That WomanNancy Boone
  9. 1945Woman Who Came BackLorna Webster
  10. 1945Betrayal from the EastPeggy Harrison
  11. 1945Song of the SarongSharon
  12. 1944Double ExposurePat Marvin
  13. 1944Show BusinessNancy Gaye
  14. 1944Gambler's ChoiceMary Hayes / Vi Parker
  15. 1943Tarzan's Desert MysteryConnie Bryce
  16. 1943Women in BondageToni Hall
  17. 1943TornadoVictory Kane
  18. 1942Friendly EnemiesJune Block
  19. 1942To the Shores of TripoliHelene Hunt
  20. 1942Fly By NightPat Lindsay
  21. 1941Parachute BattalionKit Richards
  22. 1941A Very Young LadyAlice Carter
  23. 1941Scotland YardLady Sandra Lasher
  24. 1940One Night in the TropicsCynthia Merrick
  25. 1940Sailor's LadySally Gilroy
  26. 1940Private AffairsJane Bullerton
  27. 1940He Married His WifeValerie
  28. 1939Stanley and LivingstoneEve Kingsley
  29. 1939Frontier MarshalSarah Allen
  30. 1939Tail SpinLois Allen
  31. 1939Jesse JamesZerelda "Zee" Cobb
  32. 1938Submarine PatrolSusan Leeds
  33. 1935Convention GirlBetty, Singer-Call Girl
  34. 1929Glorifying the American GirlChild (uncredited)
  35. 1929The Girl on the BargeSuperior McCadden
  36. 1926The Great GatsbyPammy (uncredited)
  37. 1926The Pig's Curly TailLittle Girl
  38. 1926MismatesJimsy
  39. 1926The Untamed Lady