The Legacy of Gene Kelly with Patricia Ward-Kelly (02/02/2021)

For the video version with the clips: https://youtu.be/8Za9WPIZk2g Eugene Curran Kelly was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was the largest and most powerful studio in Hollywood when Gene Kelly arrived in town in 1941. He came direct from the hit 1940 original Broadway production of "Pal Joey" and planned to return to the Broadway stage after making the one film required by his contract. His first picture for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was For Me and My Gal (1942) with Judy Garland. Kelly was in the same league as Fred Astaire, but instead of a top hat and tails Kelly wore work clothes that went with his masculine, athletic dance style. Gene Kelly died at age 83 of complications from two strokes on February 2, 1996 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California. Patricia Ward Kelly is an author and public speaker based in Los Angeles. She is the widow of legendary dancer, director, choreographer Gene Kelly. The two met in 1985, when he was the host/narrator on a television special about the Smithsonian and she was a writer on the project. Kelly hired her to write his memoirs and the two were married in 1990. She is working to complete the book about her late husband and their life together. https://instagram.com/genekellylegacy https://twitter.com/genekellylegacy