George Kelly

American playwright George Edward Kelly was born in Philadelphia, PA, in 1887. He came from a wealthy and socially prominent "mainline" family--his brother was actor Walter C. Kelly and his niece was Grace Kelly--and was educated in exclusive private schools. In 1911 he followed his brother onto the stage, That lasted about five years, after which he took to traveling the vaudeville circuit, performing in his own sketches. He wrote his first play, "The Torchbearers", in 1922 (it was turned into a British made-for-TV production, The Torchbearers (1939), in 1939) and in 1924 wrote his most popular play, "The Show-Off", which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and over the years was filmed in several versions. Although he didn't win the Pulitzer that year, he did the next year, for "Craig's Wife" (turned into a popular film, Craig's Wife (1936)). Unfortunately, his next several works didn't achieve the levels of success as those two did. He died in Bryn Mawr, PA, in 1974.