Patsy Kelly was born on January 12, 1910 in Brooklyn, New York, in the United States, in a family of immigrants who came from Ireland.
His first Broadway performance was in 1927 with Frank Fay, who was a great comedian of the decade. From that moment on, Patsy’s career was characterized by the image she gave on the screen, a woman who was a joker while being cheeky, and with a great sense of humor and irony.
In the early 1930s, producer Hal Roach hired Kelly to star in a series of short films alongside star ZaSu Pitts. Shortly after, said actress tried to negotiate her salary with the producer, not reaching any agreement, so they decided to terminate the contract. From that moment it was when Patsy became the protagonist of the rest of the short films that remained. With her performance in them, she demonstrated her skills as a singer and dancer.
Some of the movies he starred in in the 1930s were “Wake up and live”, “Pigskin Parade” or “The gorilla”, among other.
In the 40s, he was spacing his performances in films, but despite this he intervened in some that were a reference for later cinema, such as “Ghost woman”, “My Son, the Hero” or “Danger! Women at Work ”.
Due to the shortage of roles in the 1940s, Patsy had no choice but to change medium, making it for the small screen, where she would act in a good number of episodes of different series, such as “Bonanza”, “Dick Van Dyke Show”, “The Untouchables”, “Alfred Hitchcock presents”, “The far west”, “Lux Video Theater”, “Arrest and Trial” or “The boat of love”. During the decades of the 50s, 60s and 70s he combined his performances and interventions in series, although starring in some movies, such as “Don’t eat the margaritas”, “Rosemary’s baby”, “Ms. Schmauss “, along with Jodie Foster or The Devil’s Seed, a film directed by Roman Polanski and starring alongside Mia Farrow.
During the 1970s he also returned to the Broadway stage, with the play “No, no, Nanette.”, in which he continued to demonstrate his talents as an excellent comedian. Patsy won a Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress on the This Show
Patsy Kelly died in Woodland Hills, California, on September 24, 1981.