Paula Kelly Award-Winning Broadway Star Passes on February 9

The Broadway star, Paula Kelly, passed away at age 96 on February 9, 2020. With an illustrious show-business career that began in the 1960s, the dancer, singer, and actress set the bar high for other black performers who followed her.

Paula burst onto the music scene in 1967 with her performance in the London production of “Sweet Charity,” a role that earned her the London Variety Award for Best Supporting Actress. Two years later, Paula reprised her stage role in the movie version of “Sweet Charity.”

Paula’s Broadway roles included “Something More,” “The Dozens,” “Ovid’s Metamorphosis,” and Duke Ellington’s musical revue, “Sophisticated Ladies.” Although she was born in Florida, Paula was raised in New York City. In New York, she was a member of two prestigious dance companies — Martha Graham and Alvin Ailey.

In 1972, Paula received the NAACP Image Award for Best Actress in “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope,” a play that was performed in Los Angeles at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre.

Paula’s popularity on Broadway easily transferred to movies and television, where her co-stars included such luminaries as Gene Kelly, Richard Pryor, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. Although she retired from the industry in 1999, Paula will always be memorialized in the many films and TV shows she appeared.