Actress And Dancer Paula Kelly Has Passed Away At 76
Paula Kelly, an accomplished Broadway dancer who acted in films and television shows, died Sunday, according to close friends on social media and a report at BroadwayWorld. There is no information on the cause of her death.
Raised in Harlem, Kelly’s early career was in modern dance.
She excelled in “Something More!” (1964) and “Sophisticated Ladies” (1981), among other Broadway successes, and in the lauded West Coast production of “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope” (1971).
She broke into TV as the choreographer of many variety specials as well as a performer.
In 1968, Kelly performed a show-stopping dance set to the song “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” on the Oscars and she showed off her dancer’s body on the pages of Playboy.
Paula Kelly was a series regular for a season of “Night Court” (1984), earning an Emmy nomination, and made many episodic TV appearances, perhaps most memorably as housekeeper Marguerite on a 1987 episode of “The Golden Girls.”
Another of Kelly’s most searing TV performances was on “The Women of Brewster Place” (1989), which earned her a second Emmy nomination. Among her many other honors, Kelly received three NAACP Image Awards.
By 1999, she had retired from acting.
Kelly was married to director Donald Chaffey from 1985 until his death in 1990. She is survived by her daughter with Chaffey.
She was 76. Rest in peace Ms. Kelly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO4R7kPK9Hc
