and Kelly in an episode of the
NBC TV series
Police Woman, 1976. Kelly performed as guest artist and sometimes assistant choreographer for numerous television musical specials, including
Sammy and Friends (starring
Sammy Davis Jr.); co-choreographer of the BBC production of
Peter Pan, in which she also performed the role of Tiger-Lily;
Quincy Jones' TV tribute to
Duke Ellington,
We Love You Madly;
The Richard Pryor Show; and
Gene Kelly's
New York, New York, in which the two Kellys performed a duet. Kelly performed a dance solo at the
41st Academy Awards for the nominated title song from
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968). She appeared on the London stage in
Sweet Charity with dancer and actress
Juliet Prowse, for which Kelly won the London Variety Award for Best Supporting Actress. She starred in the record-breaking west coast premiere of ''
Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope at the Mark Taper Forum, for which she was awarded the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, Variety, and the first of three NAACP Image Awards. Kelly posed for a pictorial in the August 1969 issue of Playboy'' magazine, photographed by
Lawrence Schiller. '' (1969).
Chita Rivera is second from right. Kelly's film credits include the
Bob Fosse-directed film
Sweet Charity;
Soylent Green;
The Spook Who Sat by the Door;
The Andromeda Strain;
Uptown Saturday Night;
Lost in the Stars;
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling;
Drop Squad; and
Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored. Kelly had a regular role as Liz Williams on the first season of the sitcom
Night Court, for which she received an
Emmy Award nomination. Kelly also guest-starred in a variety of television movies and sitcoms, including
Sanford and Son,
Kojak,
Police Woman,
The Golden Girls,
Good Times,
Any Day Now and in the
Oprah Winfrey-produced TV mini-series
The Women of Brewster Place (based on the 1982
novel of the same name by
Gloria Naylor), in which she portrayed one half of a
lesbian couple (with
Lonette McKee) struggling against homophobia in an inner-city ghetto. Kelly was nominated for a second Emmy for her role in
The Women of Brewster Place. ==Personal life and death==