Kelly Curtis, the American actress and older sister of Jamie Lee Curtis, has died at the age of 69. Jamie Lee Curtis announced the news in a Facebook post, saying her sister passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by nature. In her tribute, she described Kelly as her “first friend and lifelong confidant” and remembered her as beautiful, talented, generous, curious and full of strong opinions and distinctive style.
Curtis was known for her work in film and television, including an appearance alongside Jamie Lee Curtis in the 1983 comedy Trading Places. She also served as her sister’s assistant on several projects, including Freaky Friday, Christmas With the Kranks and You Again. On television, she played Lieutenant Carolyn Plummer in the first season of UPN’s action series The Sentinel and had guest roles in a number of shows such as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The Equalizer, Hunter, Silk Stalkings, LateLine and Judging Amy.
In film, Curtis appeared in the 1987 comedy Magic Sticks and the 1990 television movie Thanksgiving Day, which also starred Mary Tyler Moore. Her other screen credits included False Arrest and The Sect. In more recent years, she turned to directing documentaries. Her last credited work included Marby Jets Are Go in 2018, which followed the highs and lows of an Australian high school track team, and Curling in Stanley in 2019, which documented the first “Sawtooth Outdoor Bonspiel” curling tournament in Stanley, Idaho.
Born in Santa Monica in 1956, Curtis made her big-screen debut as a child in the 1958 action-adventure film The Vikings, which starred her parents, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. Jamie Lee Curtis’s tribute also highlighted her sister’s love of family, nature, music, thrifting, travel, Facebook and Pokémon Go, as well as her pride in her Danish roots and Hungarian Jewish ancestry.
Jamie Lee Curtis said Kelly Curtis will be remembered for her loving generosity, her “endless curiosity,” and the Hungarian blessing she often used to sign off messages: “Isten Veled,” meaning “God is with you.” Curtis’s death marks the loss of a performer who moved between acting, assisting, and directing across a long career that touched both film and television.
