Thomas P. Kelly Jr., Veteran Educator and Filmmaker, Dies at 91

Ethan Shanfeld
·2 min read

Thomas P. Kelly Jr., professor and dean at Loyola Marymount University, died on April 7. He was 91.

Kelly was a professor emeritus and former dean of LMU’s College of Communication and Fine Arts and School of Film. During his 29-year tenure at LMU, he won several Teacher of the Year awards and was known for his passion for the arts and devotion to students.

He was also a filmmaker, actor and producer. He won an Oscar in 1967 for his documentary short “A Year Toward Tomorrow” and was nominated for his 1969 documentary short “A Space to Grow,” which focused on Upward Bound programs in Chicago.

At Providence College, Kelly wrote a musical that was a campus success and then pursued a career in theater. While working as an expeditor at Sikorsky Aircraft in Bridgeport, Conn., Kelly moonlighted at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival Theater, where he worked on productions like “King John.”

After earning a masters degree in drama at Catholic University of America, Kelly landed a job as an actor and company manager at Players, Incorporated (now known as the National Players), the longest-running classical touring company in the U.S. While managing the company across national and European tours, Kelly played Baptista and Tranio in “Taming of the Shrew” and Capulet in “Romeo and Juliet.”

In 1960, Kelly worked at Norwood Studios in Washington, D.C., as a writer, director and producer. He co-produced “A Visit to Washington With Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson on Behalf of a More Beautiful America,” which won a Peabody Award in 1966. Later, he served as the in-house film producer and writer at the Office of Economic Opportunity, the chief agency in President Johnson’s War on Poverty initiatives.

Tom is survived by his children, Thomas, Joseph, Regina, John, J. Matthew, Elizabeth and William; his grandchildren, Sean, Chantal, Joseph, Jr., Veronica, Amelia, Genevieve, Ava, Hudson, Riley, Vivienne and Marguerite; his brother-in-law Chris, and his sisters-in-law Mary, Anita and Nancy.

A memorial mass will be held on July 10 at American Martyrs Catholic Church in Manhattan Beach, Calif. In lieu of flowers, Kelly’s family asks that donations in Tom’s honor be made to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • Leaving the ECHR ‘not necessary,’ Cameron says

    Ministers are braced for legal challenges to the Rwanda plan and the judiciary has made 25 courtrooms available to deal with cases.

  • PRESS DIGEST- New York Times business news - April 24

    The City of Baltimore has said that the owner and manager of the cargo ship that brought down the Francis Scott Key Bridge last month are directly responsible for the accident and should not be allowed to avoid legal liability. - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will arrive in China on Wednesday to try to preserve the recent and delicate stabilization of ties between the United States and China, as tensions over trade, territorial disputes and national security threaten to derail relations again. - The U.S. Senate voted on Tuesday night to give final approval to a $95.3 billion package of aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending it to President Biden.

  • Embattled Stockton school board member denied participation in meeting

    A former Stockton Unified School District board president was denied the opportunity to appear remotely at the board of trustees's regular meeting on Tuesday, despite still being a board member, according to her attorney.

  • GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares jump on tech boost; fragile yen on intervention watch

    Asian stocks rose sharply on Wednesday led by tech stocks as investors' focus shifts to earnings from U.S. tech bellwethers this week, while the yen remained mired near 34-year lows, keeping traders wary of intervention from Japanese authorities. An after-hours surge in shares of EV maker Tesla following its promise of new models, and upbeat earnings from some U.S. companies lifted sentiment, spurring a rally in tech stocks across Asia, with Taiwan, South Korean and Japan's Nikkei leading the charge. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 1.6% higher, having climbed 1% on Tuesday, as stocks rebounded from last week's steep selloff.

  • Orsted says Taiwan wind project to power TSMC on track for 2025 finish

    Denmark's Orsted, the world's biggest offshore wind farm developer, said on Wednesday a project in Taiwan that will provide power for chipmaker TSMC is progressing well and is on track for completion next year. Orsted said in March of last year it had made a final investment decision to go ahead with its planned 920 megawatt (MW) Greater Changhua 2b and 4 offshore wind farms, which will mostly supply Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker.

  • US Senate passes bill that could see TikTok banned

    The app's owner, ByteDance, has nine months to sell its stake or face being blocked in the US.

  • Toyota's scandal-hit Daihatsu aims to resume vehicle development this year

    Scandal-hit Toyota Motor subsidiary Daihatsu aims to fully resume developing vehicles by as early as the end of this year, the president of the compact carmaker told reporters, adding that he saw opportunities in South America and Africa. Daihatsu last year said it had rigged safety tests for some 88,000 small cars, most of them sold under the Toyota brand, with the scandal posing a reputational risk for Japan's largest automaker. New President Masahiro Inoue was dispatched from Toyota to turn Daihatsu around and put it on a path to growth.

  • Arrests follow barricades and encampments as college students nationwide protest Gaza war

    Standoffs between pro-Palestinian student protesters and universities grew increasingly tense on both coasts Wednesday as hundreds encamped at Columbia University faced a deadline from the administration to clear out while dozens remained barricaded inside two buildings on a Northern California college campus. Both are part of intensifying demonstrations over Israel's war with Hamas by university students across the country, leading to dozens of arrests on charges of trespassing or disorderly conduct. Columbia's President Minouche Shafik in a statement Wednesday set a midnight deadline to reach an agreement with students to clear the encampment, or “we will consider alternative options.”

  • Mets vs. Giants Highlights

    Mike Yastrzemski and the Giants defeat DJ Stewart and the Mets, 5-1

  • Mariners vs. Rangers Highlights

    Julio Rodríguez and the Mariners defeat Adolis García and the Rangers, 4-0

  • TV tonight: the fascinatingly diverse world of bar and bat mitzvah

    The coming-of-age ceremonies of different Jewish traditions are explored in an insightful new BBC documentary. Plus: salvage diving in the bitter seas of Nova Scotia. Here’s what to watch this evening

  • FOREX-Dollar suffers PMI hangover, Aussie jumps on inflation surprise

    The dollar nursed its wounds on Wednesday following big tumbles against the euro and sterling, but the yen remained mired near 34-year lows even as Japanese officials stepped up intervention warnings. The Australian dollar made the most of a weakened greenback as it rallied on the back of hotter-than-expected local consumer price data, leading markets to abandon hopes for any rate cuts from the Reserve Bank of Australia in the near-term. "The Australian dollar has benefited from a re-evaluation of the RBA's monetary policy path, but geopolitical risks remain."

  • Brain op failings at trust for more than decade

    One man wasn’t told that probes had been placed in the wrong place for nearly eight years.

  • Scraptoft farmer 'heartbroken' as lamb killed in dog attack

    Will Renner says his flock has been attacked three times in the last 10 days of lambing season.

  • Australian police execute search warrants as part of a 'major operation' over church stabbings

    Detectives and secret service agents investigating the stabbing of a bishop in a Sydney church executed search warrants in the city on Wednesday as part of a major operation, officials said. The Joint Counter-Terrorism Team, which incorporates federal and state police as well as the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the nation’s main domestic spy agency, said in a statement there is no current threat to public safety. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said the operation was related to a knife attack in a Sydney church on April 15 in which an Assyrian Orthodox bishop and priest were injured.

  • Protect young people from crime, Londoners say

    We've been speaking to Londoners to find out how crime and violence is affecting their lives.

  • Report claims shorter, unhealthier lives in Kent

    The report says life expectancy is below the average for England in some parts of Kent.

  • Peterborough store selling solely local products looks to expand

    A city centre store stocking items from local entrepreneurs says it is bucking the High Street trend.

  • Torchlit march held in Yerevan to mark mass deaths of Armenians

    Thousands gathered for a torchlit procession in Yerevan on Tuesday to commemorate those Armenians killed in Ottoman Turkey more than a century ago.

  • Grade II listed hotel could be converted into flats

    The owner of the hotel and health club wants to turn the Edwardian mansion into 15 flats.