Tommy Kelly, Who Starred in ‘Adventures of Tom Sawyer,’ Passes Away

Tommy Kelly has passed away in Greensboro,N.C. He was 90 years old.

You say who was Tommy Kelly? He was in movies out in California for many years. He was done in Hollywood by the time he turned 25. The famed producer David O. Selznick handpicked the freckle-faced Kelly, then a 12-year-old student at a Catholic school in the Bronx, to play Tom Sawyer in the United Artists film. Legend has it that 25,000 youngsters from around the county had auditioned to play the part.

I had a chance to meet Tommy Kelly back in the Nighties when the retired actor came to National Tom Sawyer Days. He was a very nice man, and we talked for about an hour. We talked about Hollywood and, of course, Hannibal. He was a very nice man to talk with, even with that New York voice.

To find out more about Tommy Kelly, you can go to The Mark Twain Museum in Hannibal.