Born

28 January 1875
St John, New Brunswick, Canada

Died

22 September 1949
Sydney, New Brunswick, Australia

Occupation

Actor and Author

Alternative Names

• Mollison, Ethel (maiden name)
• Moore, Ethel (former married name)

Summary

Ethel Kelly graced the stage at St John in Canada in 1893, to great acclaim. She was married young, but widowed shortly afteward, and used her maiden name in subsequent acting work in the United States. She arrived in Sydney in 1903, and, after touring with a production of Are You a Mason?, married metal merchant Thomas Herbert Kelly. An energetic woman, Ethel Kelly organised fancy-dress balls, acted in matinee productions to raise money for hospitals, wrote her own plays, took on work as a journalist for Smith's Weekly (she conducted the woman's page from 1922-23), and wrote two novels - Why the Sphinx Smiles (1925) and Zara (1927) - and a memoir, Twelve Milestones (1929).

Sources used to compile this entry: Rutledge, Martha, 'Kelly, Ethel Knight (1875-1949)', in Australian Dictionary of Biography Online, Australian National University, 2006, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090553b.htm.