Kelly Lee Curtis

Kelly Lee Curtis (June 17, 1956 – May 30, 2026) was an American actress. She was known for her roles in Magic Sticks (1987) and The Devil's Daughter (1991).

Early life

Kelly Lee Curtis was born on June 17, 1956, in Santa Monica, California, the elder child of actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. She was the older sister of actress Jamie Lee Curtis. Her paternal grandparents were Hungarian-Jewish immigrants, and two of her maternal great-grandparents were Danish. The rest of her mother's ancestry was German and Scots-Irish. She had four half-siblings from her father's later marriages: Alexandra Curtis, Allegra Curtis, Nicholas Curtis (who died of a drug overdose) and Benjamin Curtis.

Curtis made her first appearance on film as a young girl in the United Artists action-adventure The Vikings (1958), which starred her parents. Her parents divorced in 1962, and her mother later married Robert Brandt.

In 1978, she graduated from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, with a degree in business, and worked briefly as a stockbroker.

Career

Curtis studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. An article in the Los Angeles Times of July 28, 1982, about the play Say Goodnight, Gracie reads, in part, "Kelly Curtis is Ginny, sadly resigned to not being smart but smartly settled for honest responses. Here, writing and performance transcend one-note designation. Seated quietly, Curtis delivers a touching monologue that would have been the heart of another and better play, rather than a disarming moment of inspired simplicity."

She played Shirley in the comedy Magic Sticks (1987) and starred in the leading role of Miriam Kreisl in the horror film The Devil's Daughter (1991).

She was a regular cast member as Lieutenant Carolyn Plummer during the first season of the crime-action television series The Sentinel (1996). Her guest appearances on TV included roles in The Renegades (1983), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) and Judging Amy (1999). She also worked as a production assistant on several films with her sister, Freaky Friday (2003), Christmas with the Kranks (2004) and You Again (2010).

Personal life and death

Curtis married Scott Morfee (born 1954) on September 14, 1989. At the time the couple were working together on his musical theater piece, Shout and Twist, in which she appeared and also produced. 

She later married filmmaker John Marsh, with whom she made local documentaries. She died at her home in Bellevue, Idaho, on May 30, 2026, at the age of 69.

Her death was announced by her sister, Jamie Lee, on social media.