Eugene Curran Kelly was born on August 23, 1912, in Pittsburgh, the grandson of an immigrant from Derry who never forgot where his family came from. Decades later, his widow, Patricia Ward Kelly, recalled the day his Irish passport arrived and how proud he was to hold it.
Eugene Curran Kelly was born on August 23, 1912, in the East Liberty section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to phonograph salesman James Patrick Joseph Kelly and his wife, Harriet Catherine Curran. With innate athleticism and early dance training, he rose from Pittsburgh stages to transform the Hollywood musical with timeless films like "Singin’ in the Rain" and "An American in Paris".
Kelly's maternal grandfather was an immigrant from Derry. It wasn’t until much later in life that he was issued an Irish passport, which, according to his wife, made him extremely proud.
When young Kelly was eight, his mother enrolled him and his brother James in dance classes, and the rest is, as they say, his history. They were all part of an early Vaudeville act called The Five Kellys. Young Gene was picked on because of his dancing, but it helped his family survive the Depression and eventually made him a star.
The Irish American dancer, actor, singer, film director, producer, and choreographer, best known for his performances in movies such as "An American in Paris" and "Singing in the Rain," is credited with making his ballet form commercially acceptable to movie audiences.
In 1952, Kelly was awarded an Academy Honor for his career achievements and later received lifetime achievement awards from the Kennedy Center, the Screen Actors Guild, and the American Film Institute.
Gene Kelly's wife speaks in Ireland
In 2013, the National Concert Hall in Dublin screened "Singing in the Rain" with a live orchestral score as part of RTÉ's “Ireland at the Movies”. The show was introduced by Kelly’s wife, Patricia Ward Kelly. In advance of the show, Patricia spoke to RTÉ about Kelly’s pride in his Irish heritage.
"He was very proud of being Irish and I think he felt a real identity with Ireland. At one point he said to me that he really felt his Irish roots were at the core of his being.
"I remember the day that the Irish passport arrived and the new certificate was in Gaelic and he was just tickled, he was like a little kid with it."
When asked about the success of her husband’s famous film, Patricia said that her husband and MGM did not intentionally make Singin’ in the Rain for posterity, saying:
"They never dreamed that we would be sitting here in Dublin 60 years later with this turnout crowd watching this movie.
"That would be astounding to him and I think he would be extremely proud of that."
* Originally published in 2014. Updated in 2026.
Comments