- Born
- Height6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
- Daniel Hugh Kelly was born on August 10, 1952 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the middle of five children. His father was a police officer/detective and his mother was a social worker. He received his B.A. from St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and pursued his M.F.A. on a full scholarship at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Kelly has appeared in numerous off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions, primarily at the Public Theater and the Second Stage. A product of regional national theater, he has been a company member of the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Folger Theater, Arena Stage, and the Actors Theater of Louisville among others. He toured with the National Players, the oldest classical touring company in the United States. He starred on Broadway as Brick opposite Kathleen Turner in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", and as Paul Verrall opposite Madeline Kahn in "Born Yesterday". In 2003, he appeared at the Mark Taper Theater Forum, originating the role of Richard in "Living Out" by Lisa Loomer.
Kelly starred as Senator Frank Ryan on the daytime soap opera Ryan's Hope (1975), and as race-car driver Mark "Skid" McCormick on the ABC series Hardcastle and McCormick (1983) opposite Brian Keith. In addition, he has been a series regular in such varied television productions as the NBC series Chicago Story (1982), the ABC sitcom I Married Dora (1987), the ABC series Second Noah (1996), the PAX series Ponderosa (2001) as Ben Cartwright, and the NBC series The 100 Lives of Black Jack Savage (1991). He returned to daytime television as Colonel Winston Mayer on the soap opera As the World Turns (1956). His feature film roles include Cujo (1983), Someone to Watch Over Me (1987), The Good Son (1993), Bad Company (1995) and Star Trek: Insurrection (1998).
Kelly has made many notable appearances in miniseries and television films including Citizen Cohn (1992), The Tuskegee Airmen (1995), From the Earth to the Moon (1998) as Gene Cernan, Passing Glory (1999), Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot (2001) as President John F. Kennedy, and Joe and Max (2002) among others. He has also guess-starred on many television series including several appearances on Law & Order (1990), its spin-offs Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) and Law & Order: LA (2010), as well as Walker, Texas Ranger (1993) The West Wing (1999), Las Vegas (2003), Boston Legal (2004), Supernatural (2005), NCIS: Los Angeles (2009) and Memphis Beat (2010).- IMDb Mini Biography By: A. Nonymous
- SpouseKathryn Ruscio Kelly(October 1980 - 2019) (divorced, 3 children)
- Gender / Gender identityMale
- It was while doing a test for the daytime soap opera "General Hospital" that ABC decided instead to cast him in "Ryan's Hope".
- Received his B.A. from St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. After touring for a year with the National Players, the oldest classical touring company in the nation, he was offered a scholarship to pursue his M.F.A. at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
- After several years in regional repertory with the Folger Theatre, Arena Stage (D.C.), and the Actors Theater of Louisville (Kentucky), went home to New York in 1977 where one of his first roles was in the Public Theatre's production of "Miss Margarita's Way" starring Estelle Parsons.
- His father was a police officer/detective and his mother was a social worker.
- Attended and graduated from Roselle Catholic High School in 1970.
- [Of Brian Keith, who played Judge Milton Hardcastle]: Brian has been a big help to me. Like most actors, I'd look away from the lights until the last moment, then try to look into them without tears. Keith told me that was the wrong way to do it. He said, 'I should keep looking at the lights, but with my eyes half-shut, squintly.' Then, when the cameras rolled, I could open them and it wouldn't be a problem. I didn't believe him, but it works.
- [When he was on Ryan's Hope (1975)]: Oh yeah. It was one of the reasons I left, because I got pretty good at using them and I didn't know how good that was. Now that I'm older and I really need them, they don't have them.
- People don't recognize me for one specific thing; they just feel like they know me. I was at a bar last night watching the Yankee game. It's an old neighborhood haunt where I used to live and there were several people in there who recognized me and as usual they're not sure where I'm from. Sometimes, I think they think they had an affair with me and everyone was drunk or they think I went to high school with them. To be quite honest, I get off on that. I'm very polite about it, but it always comes down to 'Where do I know you from?' I'll tell them a show or a movie or something I've done, and they say, 'No, that's not it.' So you end up repeating a lot of your credits until very often I will say, 'We were drunk and it was a long time ago, but I thought you were good and I hope you thought I was.' And I kind of let it go at that because otherwise it does become insane.
- [About his characteristics that applied more to Brian Keith, who played Judge Milton Hardcastle]: As a matter of fact, it was my admiration for Brian that attracted me to the pilot for the series in the first place. I turned down seven other deals before accepting 'Hardcastle and McCormick.' It was partly because of the high quality writing in the script, but also because I thought Brian was the best. I can still quote whole lines from his films, especially 'The Wind and The Lion' and 'The Rare Breed.'
- They helped me and I helped them. My gang was not very good with girls - quite a few of them are still unmarried. But when I was doing a soap opera in New York, the girls would come around, and I'd say, 'Hi, I'm Daniel Kelly and this is my friend, Frank Hunter. Hunt, she's all yours.'
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