Biography

Though a native of South Africa, Cecil Kellaway spent many years as an actor, author and director in Australian live theatre until he tried his luck in Hollywood in the 1930s. Finding he could get only gangster bit parts, he got discouraged and returned to Australia. Then William Wyler called and offered him a part in Wuthering Heights (1939). From then on Kellaway was always in demand when the part called for a twinkling, silver-haired leprechaun.
- IMDb mini biography by: James L. Mason

Cecil Kellaway was nominated for two Oscars for Best Supporting Actor for The Luck of the Irish (1948) and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967). Cecil was originally offered the role of Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street (1947), but he turned it down, telling his son, "Americans don't go for whimsy." His works also include some television. He played Santa Claus on an episode of Bewitched (1964) and also appeared in The Twilight Zone (1959).
- IMDb mini biography by: <ckellaway@fulbright.com>

Father of Peter Kellaway, pioneer in the clinical use of the electroencephalogram (EEG) test to evaluate patients with possible neurological difficulties. When Jack Ruby stood trial for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, President John F. Kennedy's assassin, Kellaway testified about the results of Ruby's EEG tests.

Interred at Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California, USA, in the Sanctuary of Remembrance.

The second South African-born actor to be nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor, for The Luck of the Irish (1948), but lost to Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). The first was Basil Rathbone for Romeo and Juliet (1936) who lost to another Walter - Walter Brennan in Come and Get It (1936).

After he turned down the role of Santa Clause in the original Miracle on 34th Street (1947), his cousin Edmund Gwenn was offered and accepted the part, winning an Academy Award as Best Actor in a Supporting Role.