Jack Kelly (actor)

Jo Kelly became an "extra" in film and television productions, helped others learn the business, and wrote a book about it, The Truth about Being an Extra (2006).

On April 28, 1992, Kelly suffered a heart attack. A little over 6 months later he died of a stroke at Humana Hospital in Huntington Beach, California, on November 7, 1992. He was 65 years old.

Kelly later became a politician, having served from 1983 to 1986 as the mayor of Huntington Beach, California.

During the 1980s and early 1990s he served as Huntington Beach city councilman and mayor, campaigning with the slogan "Let Maverick Solve Your Problems."

In 1977 Kelly appeared as obstreperous villains for a few moments in two episodes of James Garner's series Rockford Files. The first appearance was in the season 3 episode, "The Becker Connection," and the second was the first show of season 4, "Beamer's Last Case" as a jealous husband. In 1978, he briefly appeared as Bart Maverick and was again paired with Garner in the TV-movie The New Maverick and in Garner's TV series Bret Maverick (1981; Kelly appeared momentarily at the end of the final episode of the show and would have become a regular had it been renewed). He showed up on a 1983 episode of The Fall Guy, costumed as Bart Maverick but playing himself in a storyline that rounded up many classic TV cowboys. In 1991, he reprised the role of Bart Maverick one last time in the Kenny Rogers vehicle, The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw.

Kelly shared the lead with James Garner in one of the show's most-discussed episodes, "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres", on which the first half of the 1973 movie The Sting appears to be based. The pair also co-starred in the famous "Pappy" episode in which Garner played the brothers' much-quoted father Beauregard "Pappy" Maverick, in addition to his regular role of Bret. Aided by trick photography, Bret and Pappy play cards together in one scene (Kelly had a dual role in the episode as well, playing Bart and elderly Uncle Bentley "Bent" Maverick). Bart rescued Bret at the climax of "Duel at Sundown", in which Garner fought guest star Clint Eastwood.

Kelly's acting roles became less frequent in the late 1970s as he became more involved in real estate and local politics. He started buying real estate in Huntington Beach in the mid-1960s and moved there permanently in 1971.

He married Jo Ann Smith in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 16, 1969. The following November their daughter Nicole was born. Nicole is the founder of and executive producer at August II Productions.

Kelly co-starred in Commandos (1968) opposite Lee Van Cleef, and as a villain dressed quite similarly to Bart Maverick who beats Angie Dickinson with his belt in his hotel room in Young Billy Young (1969) starring Robert Mitchum. From 1969 to 1971, Kelly hosted the NBC daytime game show Sale of the Century but was eventually replaced by Joe Garagiola. He was also briefly a series regular in Get Christie Love! (1974) and The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (1978), and performed many lucrative television commercial voice-overs.

He formed August II, Inc., to hold the real estate assets in June 1965 in Huntington Beach.

On December 30, 1963, Kelly appeared in "The Fenton Canaby Story" on ABC's Wagon Train. Canaby, played by Kelly, is a former trailmaster with a dark secret he refuses to discuss. He is attracted to Lucy Garrison, a young woman with her own questionable past portrayed by Barbara Bain, long before Bain's subsequent series Mission: Impossible!.

When Maverick ended in 1962, Kelly continued acting with roles in a number of films and television shows. In 1962, he played the lead in Red Nightmare (also known as The Commies Are Coming, the Commies Are Coming in its derisive 1985 video re-release incarnation) a Cold War film narrated by Jack Webb in which Kelly's character wakes up one morning to discover that America has been taken over by Communists.

Although the "solo" episodes in which Bart appeared tended to be somewhat more dramatic than the often more humorous Bret episodes, Kelly displayed his comedic skills in lighter Maverick outings such as "Hadley's Hunters" and "The People's Friend." Kelly actually appeared in more episodes of Maverick than James Garner, who left the show following a contract dispute in 1960 to successfully accelerate his theatrical film career. Kelly appeared in approximately 75 episodes due to his remaining for the entire run of the series; Garner is in 52 episodes altogether not counting introducing Kelly's earlier solo episodes in a separate frontispiece to ease audiences into the presence of a second Maverick during much of the first season.

Kelly shared the series, rotating as the lead from week to week, first with James Garner as Bret Maverick (1957–1960) then with Roger Moore as Beau Maverick (1960–1961) and Robert Colbert as Brent Maverick (1961, for two episodes), before becoming the only Maverick (alternating with reruns from the Garner era) in the fifth season.

Kelly married actress May Wynn (real name: Donna Lee Hickey) on October 14, 1956. They separated in February 1964 and were divorced on October 19, 1964. She stated in court that they had been arguing a lot the last two years and he started staying out all night.

In 1955-1956 television season, Kelly starred in a series based on the 1942 feature film Kings Row starring Ann Sheridan and Ronald Reagan. He played Dr. Parris Mitchell, a young psychiatrist coping with the narrow-minded environment of his small town while Robert Horton played the part originally performed by Reagan in the theatrical film. King's Row was one-third of the Warner Bros. Presents wheel series, hosted by Gig Young. It rotated at the scheduled hour of 7:30 Eastern on Tuesday with a similar television version of the popular movie Casablanca as well as the new ABC Western series Cheyenne starring Clint Walker. After the series ended in 1956, Kelly appeared in Forbidden Planet (1956) and She Devil (1957), along with guest roles on Fireside Theater, Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, Lux Video Theatre, and Gunsmoke.

Kelly made his film debut in an uncredited role in the 1939 biopic The Story of Alexander Graham Bell, opposite Don Ameche and Loretta Young. In early 1954, he appeared in the film noir Drive a Crooked Road, written by Blake Edwards and Richard Quine and starring Mickey Rooney. On July 15, 1954, Kelly played the gunfighter, cattleman, and bandit Clay Allison in the syndicated television series Stories of the Century, starring and narrated by Jim Davis.

A Republican, Jack Kelly supported Dwight Eisenhower during the 1952 presidential election.

John Augustus Kelly Jr. (September 16, 1927 – November 7, 1992), known professionally as Jack Kelly, was an American film and television actor most noted for the role of Bart Maverick in the television series Maverick, which ran on ABC from 1957 to 1962.