Kelly Curtis, an actress, documentarian and daughter of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, died Saturday morning, her younger sister, Jamie Lee Curtis, announced. She was 69.
Curtis died “in her home. In nature. At peace,” her sister wrote on social media. “She was my first friend and lifelong confidant. She was jaw droppingly beautiful, and a talented actress. She played a mean game of hearts, collected turtles, loved her family, nature, music, thrifting, travel, Facebook, and Pokémon Go. She was proud of her Danish roots and Hungarian Jewish ancestry and was a devoted American patriot.”
She died in Bellevue, Idaho, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. No cause of death has been revealed.
Kelly Curtis appeared in a small role with her sister in Trading Places (1983) and starred in the 1987 German comedy movie Magic Sticks and the 1991 Italian horror film The Devil’s Daughter, co-written and produced by Dario Argento.
She also had a recurring role as Lieutenant Carolyn Plummer on the first season of the 1996-99 UPN series The Sentinel and showed up on episodes of such shows as The Equalizer, Hunter, Silk Stalkings, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Judging Amy.
Born in Santa Monica on June 17, 1956, Kelly Lee Curtis made her first appearance on the screen in the adventure film The Vikings (1958), which starred her parents.
Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis with daughters Kelly (left), then 5, and Jamie, then 2 1/2, in September 1961.
She graduated from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, with a degree in business in 1972 and worked as a stockbroker, then studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute (she was a member of The Actors Studio). In 1982, she appeared onstage in Say Goodnight, Gracie.
She also directed the 2018 documentary Marby Jets Are Go, about an Australian high school track team, and served as an assistant to her sister on Freaky Friday (2003), Christmas With the Kranks (2004) and You Again (2010).
Her parents married in 1951, and after Jamie Lee was born in 1958, they divorced in 1962, when her mother wed financier Robert Brandt. They were together until Leigh’s death in 2004 at age 77. Brandt died in 2009 at 82.
Tony Curtis, who was married six times and died in 2010 at age 85, received an Oscar nomination for his turn in The Defiant Ones (1958) and starred in such classics as Sweet Smell of Success (1957) and Some Like It Hot (1958). Leigh also was nominated for an Oscar, for her performance in Psycho (1960), and she had memorable performances in Touch of Evil (1958) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962) as well.
Jamie Lee Curtis won an Oscar for her work in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022).
Kelly and her dad (birth name Bernard Schwartz) helped raise money to refurbish and restore the historic Dohàny Street Synagogue in Budapest, Hungary, through the Emanuel Foundation, named after Tony’s father, Emanuel Schwartz.
In addition to her sister, survivors include her second husband, John Marsh, a filmmaker, producer and professor emeritus at the College of Southern Nevada (the couple partnered on the documentary production company Liberty Films); her brother-in-law, actor-director Christopher Guest; and half-siblings Alexandra, Allegra, Ben and Nicholas.
