Kelly’s ex-wife Marilyn Dishman said he died Saturday of cancer at his home.
Kelly came to fame in the early 1970s with his signature Afro hairstyle and prominent sideburns. Kelly scored with audiences with his one-liners and fight scenes in the 1973 martial arts classic. Kelly later starred in such films that leveraged his martial arts mastery, including “Three the Hard Way,” ‘’Black Belt Jones” and “Black Samurai.”
During a 2010 interview with salon.com, Kelly said he started studying martial arts in 1964 in Kentucky and later moved to Southern California where he earned a black belt in karate. He said he set his sights on becoming an actor after winning karate tournaments. Kelly also played college football.
The role of a lifetime, Bruce Lee’s “Enter the Dragon,” was his second. He had about a dozen film roles in the 1970s before his acting work tapered off.
In recent years, Kelly still managed to attract long lines of autograph seekers at comic book conventions despite the fact that his heyday was four decades ago. He looked back on those days fondly, particularly the movie that made him famous.
“It was one of the best experiences in my life,” he told salon.com was working on “Enter the Dragon.” ‘”Bruce was just incredible, absolutely fantastic. I learned so much from working with him. I probably enjoyed working with Bruce more than anyone else I’d ever worked with in movies because we were both martial artists. He was a great, great martial artist. It was a very good time.”
