Trivia

Won Broadway's 1955 Tony Award as Best Actress (Dramatic) for "The Bad Seed," a role she reprised in her Oscar-nominated performance in the film version, The Bad Seed (1956).

Film Daily, Page 7, June 5, 1929 reports: "Little Nancy Kelly...has worked in 23 pics during the past two years; Nancy must be the most photographed child in America due to commercial posing."

Daughter, Kelly Lurie Caro, was born 11 weeks prematurely on January 21, 1957, weighing only 2 lb. 1.5 oz. Her father was Warren Caro, a Theatre Guild executive, Kelly's third husband. Kelly and Caro divorced in 1968. Caro died on New Years Day 1995, one day before Nancy Kelly died at age 73.

Daughter of John Augustus Kelly and his wife, actress Nan Kelly. Older sister of actors Jack Kelly and Carol Kelly, and non-actor William Clement Kelly. Ex-sister-in-law of Liam O'Brien and May Wynn.

In addition to The Bad Seed (1956), other highlights of her film career included playing opposite Edmond O'Brien and Robert Preston in Parachute Battalion (1941); starring opposite Joel McCrea in He Married His Wife (1940); and appearing opposite Spencer Tracy in Stanley and Livingstone (1939). Later, she acted exclusively on television.

Ex-daughter-in-law of Fred Jackman.

Buried at Westwood Memorial Park, Westwood, Los Angeles County, California, Plot Garden of Roses, tiny bronze plaque.