Trivia

In 1927, he spent 25 months in California's infamous San Quentin prison for beating to death Ray Raymond, the first husband of Dorothy Mackaye, an actress who would later become his wife (judged an accomplice for withholding information, she herself was briefly imprisoned).

Won Broadway's 1948 Tony Award as Best Actor (Dramatic) for "Command Decision." The award was shared with Henry Fonda for "Mister Roberts" and Basil Rathbone for "The Heiress".

Kelly's last film before the manslaughter charge was The Poor Nut (1927) which was not released until the following August, by which time Kelly was behind bars. As a result, the film's distributors opted to remove Kelly's name from the credits, even though he played a prominent supporting role.

In an episode of the popular TV series "History's Mysteries" entitled "Five Points Gangs," which chronicled the infamous New York gangster-ridden slum, a picture of Kelly in character from "The Roaring Twenties" is used to represent notorious racketeer Paolo Antonio Vaccarelli (AKA Paul Kelly 1876-1936).

Died after voting for Adlai Stevenson.

At the time of his demise, Kelly resided at 1448 Club View Drive, Los Angeles.