Robert Kellard

Tall, dark and very handsome-looking Robert Kellard remains a little known lead and support player of late 30s and 40s "B" action and multi-chapter cliffhangers. Born the younger of two boys in Los Angeles on April 23, 1915, initial interest was triggered by his actor father, Ralph Kellard. An aunt, Virginia Harned Courtenay, was also an actress and helped steer him for a short time. Attending Hollywood High School, Robert made his minor movie debut as a teenager in the film The Yankee at King Arthur's Court (1931), which was directed by a family friend. Following graduation, he supported himself in various menial jobs -- from cashier to carpenter and from lifeguard to seaman -- while waiting for his break, which wound up being a 1934 Broadway stage role in "Mother Lode" handed to him by another friend of the family, star actress Beulah Bondi.