Dorothy Kelly was an American motion picture actress of the early silent film

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 era.

Personal life

Dorothy Kelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

 to Bessie and Thomas Kelly, descendants of Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 Quakers. In August 1916 she married wealthy lumber dealer Harvey Hevenor. In 1922 she gave birth to twin daughters, Ann and Bessie, who later became a portrait painter. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...

 in 1966.

Career

After attending the National Academy of Design and earning a position in a publishing firm, Dorothy decided to give up her career as an illustrator. Looking for more lucrative work, Dorothy set her sites on becoming a motion picture actress. With no previous acting experience, Dorothy applied for a position in the stock company at Vitagraph, signing a contract in the early teens

1910s

File:1910s montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Model T Ford is introduced and becomes widespread; The sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic causes the deaths of nearly 1,500 people and attracts global and historical attention; Title bar: All the events below are part of World War I ; French Army lookout...

. Her first film was a bit part in a thirty minute version of A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature....

 in 1911

1911 in film

The year 1911 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*March 23: D.W Griffith shows the first major close-up shot on film with the successful release of The Lonedale Operator proving his ever growing mastery of how to utilise film....

, which also featured future silent stars Norma Talmadge

Norma Talmadge

Norma Talmadge was an American actress and film producer of the silent era. A major box office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 1920s, when she ranked among the most popular idols of the American screen.Her most famous film was Smilin’ Through , but she also...

 and Mabel Normand

Mabel Normand

Mabel Normand was an American silent film comedienne and actress. She was a popular star of Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios and is noted as one of the film industry's first female screenwriters, producers and directors...

. She continued to make 70 films with Vitagraph and during these years she played opposite almost all of the Vitagraph comedians, including John Bunny

John Bunny

John Bunny was an American actor and was one of the first comic stars of the motion picture era. Between 1910 and his death in 1915 Bunny was one of the top stars of early silent film, as well as an early example of celebrity...

 and his successor Hughie Mack

Hughie Mack

Hughie Mack was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in 195 films between 1910 and 1928.He was born in Brooklyn, New York and died in Santa Monica, California.-Selected filmography:...

, as well as child star Bobby Connelly

Bobby Connelly

Robert Joseph "Bobby" Connelly was an American child actor of silent films. He is one of the first male child stars of American motion pictures beginning his career in 1913 at the age of four.-Career:...

.

Like many stars of early film, Dorothy's career dwindled with the popularity of two-reelers

Short subject

A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...

. She would leave film altogether after the filming of Vitagraph serial The Secret Kingdom in 1917.

Filmography

• The Awakening (1917) .... Marguerite
• The Maelstrom (1917) .... Peggy Greye-Stratton... aka Millionaire Hallets' Adventure (USA)
• The Money Mill (1917) .... Helen Ogden
• The Secret Kingdom (1916) .... Madame Savatz
• The Scarlet Runner
  The Scarlet Runner
  The Scarlet Runner is a 1916 drama film serial directed by William P.S. Earle and Wally Van. The film is considered to be lost.-Plot summary:...
  
   (1916) .... Miss Collingwood
• The Law Decides (1916) .... Florence Wharton
• Artie, the Millionaire Kid (1916) .... Annabelle Willowby
• Salvation Joan (1916) .... Madeline Elliston
• The Supreme Temptation (1916) .... Annette
• From Out of the Big Snows (1915)
• The Wheels of Justice (1915) .... Julia Dean
• Four Grains of Rice (1915)
• The Awakening (1915)
• A Wireless Rescue (1915)
• The Battle of Frenchman's Run
  The Battle of Frenchman's Run
  The Battle of Frenchman's Run is a 1915 comedy film featuring Harry Carey.-Cast:* Harry Carey* George Cooper* Frank Currier* J. Herbert Frank* Dorothy Kelly* Albert Roccardi* Charles Wellesley* Mrs. Wellesley* Charles West -...
  
   (1915)
• Twice Rescued (1915)
• Mother's Roses (1915) .... Helen Morrison
• In the Days of Fanny (1915)
• My Lost One (1915)
• Pawns of Mars (1915)
• Forcing Dad's Consent (1914)
• The Greater Love (1914)
• Within an Ace (1914)
• A Double Error (1914)
• The Unwritten Play (1914)
• The Wheat and the Tares (1914)
• The Greater Motive (1914)
• The Apple (1914)
• The Toll (1914)
• Two Stepchildren (1914)
• The Crime of Cain (1914)
• The Antique Engagement Ring (1914)
• Sonny Jim at the North Pole (1914)
• The Vanity Case (1914)
• An Easter Lily (1914)
• 'Fraid Cat (1914)
• The Drudge (1914)
• The First Endorsement (1914)
• Sonny Jim in Search of a Mother (1914)
• The Flirt (1913)
• The Tables Turned (1913)
• The Glove (1913) .... The Wife
• An Unwritten Chapter (1913)
• The Snare of Fate (1913) .... Marion Marbury
• An Infernal Tangle (1913)
• A Modern Psyche (1913) .... June
• Tricks of the Trade (1913)
• Disciplining Daisy (1913) .... Daisy
• Bunny Versus Cutey (1913)
• Playing with Fire (1913) .... Marion Harrington
• Bunny's Honeymoon (1913) .... Dorothy
• O'Hara's Godchild (1913) .... Mrs. Tom O'Grady
• The Weapon (1913)
• The Skull (1913)
• Ma's Apron Strings (1913) .... Molly Bush
• My Lady of Idleness (1913)
• All for a Girl
  All for a Girl (1912 film)
  All for a Girl is a 1912 American short silent film romantic comedy, directed by Frederick A. Thomson and written by Wallace Reid.-Cast:*Dorothy Kelly .... Claire Taylor*Leah Baird .... Mrs. Gardner*Kate Price .... The Cook...
  
  (1912) .... Claire Taylor
• O'Hara, Squatter and Philosopher (1912) .... Aileen Sullivan
• The Model for St. John (1912)
• Bettina's Substitute; or, There's No Fool Like an Old Fool (1912)
• None But the Brave Deserve the Fair (1912)
• The Counts (1912) .... Gladys
• Popular Betty (1912) .... A Jealous Rival
• The Lovesick Maidens of Cuddleton (1912) .... One of the Lovesick Maidens
• Rip Van Winkle (1912/I) .... Steenie As An Adult
• Suing Susan (1912) .... The Maid
• Aunty's Romance (1912) .... A Stenographer
• The Troublesome Step-Daughters (1912) .... A Step-Daughter
• On the Pupil of His Eye (1912) .... The Senator's Ward
• Pseudo Sultan (1912) .... A Dancer
• A Tale of Two Cities (1911)

External links

• Photo at Silent Ladies
• Small Biography at Allmovie