Jack Kelly

Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick
Born	September 16, 1927(1927-09-16) Astoria, Queens, New York City
Died	November 7, 1992 (aged 65) Huntington Beach, Orange County, California

Jack Kelly (September 16, 1927— November 7, 1992), was an American film and television actor most noted for the role of Bart Maverick in the TV series Maverick, which ran on ABC from 1957 to 1962. Kelly shared the series, rotating as the lead from week to week, first with James Garner as Bret Maverick (1957-1960) then with Roger Moore as Beau Maverick (1960-1961) and Robert Colbert as Brent Maverick (1961; for two episodes) before becoming the only Maverick (alternating with reruns from the Garner era) in the fifth season.

Life

Kelly was born in Astoria, Queens, New York. He was the brother of movie leading lady Nancy Kelly. His first marriage (1956-1964) was to actress May Wynn.

Kings Row (1955)

Jack Kelly's first starring role in a television series came in 1955 with this one-season effort based on the 1942 feature film Kings Row. Kelly played Dr. Parris Mitchell, a young psychiatrist coping with the narrow-minded environment of his small town. Robert Cummings had played Mitchell in the film version. The series was one-third of the Warner Bros. Presents wheel series, hosted by Gig Young. It rotated at the scheduled hour of 7:30 Eastern on Tuesday with a similar television version of the popular movie Casablanca as well as the new western series Cheyenne starring Clint Walker.

Maverick (1957-1962)

The various anti-heroic Mavericks were dapper professional poker-players roaming the Old West with the benefit of superb scripts. The series had an enormous cultural impact during a time when there were only three television networks and most cities had only three TV channels to choose from.

Maverick's demanding filming schedule had caused production to lag behind early on. The producers decided to give Bret Maverick a brother so more episodes could be filmed. Thus, Jack Kelly was introduced as Bart Maverick in "Hostage!", the eighth episode of the series.

While he may not have matched Garner's popularity on Maverick, Jack Kelly did have his enthusiastic admirers. Possessing a deep voice, a John Barrymore-like profile and an easy-going screen presence, Kelly enjoyed an attentive following among female viewers of the series.

Jack Kelly shared the lead with James Garner in one of the show's most-discussed episodes, "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres", on which the first half of the 1975 movie The Sting appears to be based. The pair also co-starred in the famous "Pappy" episode in which Garner played the brothers' much-quoted father Beauregard 'Pappy' Maverick, in addition to his regular role of Bret. Aided by trick photography, Bret and Pappy play cards together in one scene. (Jack Kelly had a dual role in the episode as well, playing Bart and elderly Uncle Bentley Maverick.) Bart also rescued Bret at the climax of "Duel at Sundown", in which Garner fistfought guest star Clint Eastwood.

Although the 'solo' episodes in which Bart appeared tended to be somewhat more dramatic than the Bret episodes, Kelly displayed his comedic skills in lighter Maverick outings such as "Hadley's Hunters" and "The People's Friend".

Jack Kelly actually appeared in more episodes of Maverick than James Garner, who left the show following a contract dispute in 1960. Kelly appeared in 75 episodes; Garner in only 55.

Red Nightmare (1957)

In 1957, Kelly played the lead in Red Nightmare, also known as The Commies Are Coming, the Commies Are Coming in its derisive 1985 video re-release incarnation, a Cold War film narrated by Jack Webb in which Kelly's character wakes up one morning to discover that America has been taken over by Communists. The supporting cast includes Warner Bros. contract players Andrew Duggan, Peter Brown, Peter Breck, and Robert Conrad.

Other Movies and TV Series

Jack Kelly appeared in a number of other movies as well, including the Audie Murphy bio-pic To Hell and Back (1955), The Night Holds Terror (1955), Cult of the Cobra (1955), Forbidden Planet (1956), She-Devil (1957), Commandos (1968) opposite Lee Van Cleef, and as a villain in Young Billy Young (1969) with Robert Mitchum.

Kelly played more than a hundred roles in various television shows and films, not counting his 75 appearances as Bart Maverick in the original 1957 Maverick series.

In 1954, Kelly played gunfighter Clay Allison in Jim Davis's syndicated western series, Stories of the Century. The next year, he guest starred in the 1955 NBC western series Frontier. Also in 1955, he appeared with Beverly Garland on an episode of Rod Cameron's City Detective. He appeared as Johnny Bledsoe in the 1956 episode "Jailbreak at Tonopah" of Cameron's syndicated series, State Trooper. In 1971 Kelly guest-starred as Dr. Chauncey Beauregard in "Night of the Red Dog," an episode of the popular western comedy Alias Smith and Jones, starring Pete Duel and Ben Murphy.

From 1969 to 1971, Kelly hosted the NBC daytime game show Sale of the Century. He was replaced by Joe Garagiola. Kelly was also briefly a TV series regular in Get Christie Love! (1974) and The Hardy Boys Mysteries (1978).

Jack Kelly's acting roles became less frequent in the late 1970s as he became more involved in real estate and local politics in Huntington Beach, California, where he resided. During the 1980s and early 1990s he served as city councilman and mayor in Huntington Beach, campaigning with the unique slogan "Let Maverick Solve Your Problems."

Brother of Nancy Kelly

Jack Kelly was born on September 16, 1927, coincidentally the same day as another television icon, Peter Falk. Kelly was born in the Astoria section of New York City, Jack Kelly came from a prominent acting family. His mother, Nan Kelly, had been a popular stage actress and John Robert Powers model. His sister, Nancy Kelly, was a major movie leading lady in the 1930s, appearing in thirty-six films between 1926 and 1977. She portrayed Tyrone Power's love interest in the classic Jesse James (1939), also featuring Henry Fonda, and played opposite Spencer Tracy in Stanley and Livingstone later that same year. She won a Tony for the play The Bad Seed, reprised the role for the 1956 movie version, and was consequently nominated for an Academy Award the year before Maverick went into production. Oddly, she never appeared with her brother in his television series, perhaps because they looked enough alike that she could only have played his sister.

Forever Maverick

Maverick ended in 1962, but Kelly played Bart Maverick a few more times. He was again paired with James Garner in the TV-movie The New Maverick (1978) and in Garner's TV series Bret Maverick (1981; Kelly appeared briefly in the final episode of the show and would have become a regular had it been renewed). Kelly also showed up on a 1983 episode of The Fall Guy, costumed as Bart but basically playing himself in a storyline that rounded-up many classic TV cowboys. Jack Kelly played Bart Maverick one last time the year before his death in a TV movie entitled The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1991).

Death

Jack Kelly died of a stroke in Huntington Beach, California. In addition to his sister Nancy he was survived by his second wife, Jo, and their daughter, Nicole.

External links

• Jack Kelly at the Internet Movie Database
• Roy Huggins' Archive of American Television Interview
• The Paley Center for Media
• The Tall Dark Stranger There - Jack Kelly tribute blog