John Kelly (6 December 1929 – 13 November 2012) was an Irish

racewalker Race walking, or racewalking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asses ...

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

runner, and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. He competed in the men's 50 kilometres walk at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

. John Kelly was born in

Loughmore Loughmore, officially Loughmoe ( ; or ''Luachma''), is a village in County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The village is best known for Loughmoe Castle, seat of the Barons of Loughmoe. It is one half of the Ecclesiastical parish, pa ...

, a village in

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. Kelly won the 1965

Philadelphia Marathon The Philadelphia Marathon (aka the Philadelphia Independence Marathon) is an annual marathon sporting event held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the third Sunday of November. The Philadelphia Marathon ranks among the top ten in the nation's large ...

, finishing the race in a time of 2:37:23 during a snowstorm. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s he was a member of various

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athletics clubs, including the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

, Southern California Striders and the Santa Monica Track Club. In the 1970s Kelly became a member of the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

and appears briefly in the musical film Star!, starring

Julie Andrews Dame Julie Andrews (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over eight decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Fi ...

and

Richard Crenna Richard Donald Crenna (November 30, 1926 – January 17, 2003) was an American actor and television director. Crenna starred in such motion pictures as '' Made in Paris'' (1966), '' Marooned'' (1969), '' Breakheart Pass'' (1975), '' The Evil'' ...

. In September 1973, he was a guest on

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show was the third installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Johnny Carson, it aired from October 1, 1962 to May 22, 1992, replacing ''T ...

References

External links

* 1929 births 2012 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Irish male race walkers Olympic athletes for Ireland Place of birth missing Athletes from County Tipperary 20th-century Irish sportsmen {{Ireland-athletics-bio-stub