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Claire Kelly (March 15, 1934 – July 1, 1998)[1] was an American actress and model.
Early life
Born Claire Ann Green, the daughter of a wealthy California rancher, she was trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York.[1]
Kelly started out as a model in Miami, and appeared several times on the cover of McCall's, continuing her modelling career throughout the 1950s. She made the cover of Picture Week in 1956, and was a 1958 Deb Star.[citation needed]
Career
Kelly went on to roles in films such as Snowfire (1958), The Badlanders (1958), Party Girl (1958), Ask Any Girl (1959), and A Guide for the Married Man (1967). In The Badlanders, a Western remake of the film noir The Asphalt Jungle, she played "the Angela role immortalized by Marilyn Monroe" [2] in the original film. In 1959, she was publicized as "the screen's most exciting discovery since Rita Hayworth".[1] In 1964-65, she appeared in several episodes of the television series Burke's Law.
Personal life
From 1951 to 1955, Kelly was married to singer-comedian George DeWitt. She was credited as Claire DeWitt in Son of Sinbad. They had a son, Nicholas.[1]
On November 6, 1954, Kelly's three-year-old son, Nicholas Christopher DeWitt, died after fighting for three days in an iron lung at Variety Children's Hospital in Miami, Florida, the victim of a rare anesthetic hazard, which happened after he was bitten on the lip by Duke, a cocker spaniel owned by former featherweight champion Willie Pep, and his heart stopped beating as doctors repaired the damage with 25 stitches.[1]
On March 27, 1960, she married actor Perry Lopez in North Hollywood.[3] After they divorced, she married banking heir Robert Alan Kenaston, son of actress Billie Dove, on October 21, 1961, in Juarez, Mexico. They had a son, Robert Burns Kenaston. They divorced on July 22, 1963.[1][4] She later married Robert Murphy, and was married to him until her death.[5]
