Renee Kelly

Renee Kelly (4 June 1888 – 28 August 1965) was an English stage and film actress whose career spanned Broadway, touring productions, and British cinema. Born in London, Kelly relocated to New York with her family during childhood and attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, where she earned awards for elocution.

Kelly's Broadway career ran from 1911 to 1914 and encompassed several productions. Her credits from 1911 include the musical Peggy, The Learned Ladies, The Lady from the Sea, and Modern Marriage. She returned to Broadway in 1912 with June Madness and appeared in both The Garden of Paradise and Don't Weaken in 1914. During this same period, Kelly also gained attention in London when, at age 24, she stepped into a role at Wyndham's Theatre as a replacement for an ailing actress and received rave notices.

Among her most prominent stage work was a touring production of Daddy Longlegs, in which Kelly played the role of Judy Abbott. The tour set house records at theaters in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and St. Louis.

Kelly's film work was primarily British. Her screen credits include The Bigger Man (1915), All for a Girl (1915), in which she played Antoinette Hoadley, Everybody's Business (1917), Westward Ho! (1919), Foul Play (1920), All Sorts and Conditions of Men (1921), The Likeness of the Night (1921), and Scarlet Thread (1951).

In later life, Kelly settled in Mid Sussex and opened a china and glass shop on South Road in Haywards Heath, which she named Judy Abbott after her role in Daddy Longlegs. She was married to actor Hilton Allen. Kelly died on 28 August 1965 at Haywards Heath Hospital, aged 77.