Kelly Curtis, best known for her role in 1990’s horror film The Devil’s Daughter, has passed away.
Born Kelly Lee Curtis on June 17th 1956, Curtis was the first daughter of Hollywood’s golden couple Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis. When she was two, her parents welcomed their second daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis.
Curtis made her on-screen debut when she was just one-and-a-half, appearing in a small part in 1958’s The Vikings. This was one of several joint projects headlined by her famous parents.
Following her parents’ divorce in 1962, Curtis and her sister were raised by their mother and stepfather Robert Brandt in Idaho.
In the late seventies, Curtis graduated from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. Subsequently she would attend the renowned Actors Studio to study the craft of method acting. During this time, she was based in New York, opting to pursue a relationship with her estranged father and step siblings.
Making her professional debut as an adult in 1983, Curtis appeared in an episode of The Renegades. This would quickly be followed up by a supporting role in Trading Places with sister Jamie Lee.
Staying primarily in television, Curtis would further appear on shows like Silk Stalkings, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and The Sentinel. Curtis also appeared in television original movies, including False Arrest, Thanksgiving Day, and 1994’s ratings hit Search and Rescue.
However, it is arguably for her only starring role in 1991’s The Devil’s Daughter that Curtis is best remembered. Also known as The Sect, the psychological horror film was produced by genre legend Dario Argento, and directed by Stagefright’s Michele Soavi. The movie also places Curtis alongside genre legends including Herbert Lom and Giovanni Lambardo Radice.
In her later years, Curtis only worked in acting occasionally. Following a move to Bellevue, Idaho with her second husband John Marsh, the two collaborated to form Liberty Films. Through this venture, Curtis worked as a director on several documentaries, most notably, alongside her sister for 2013’s The Night She Came Home.
Curtis and Marsh also dedicated a great deal of their time to the renovation of their beloved Victorian property, before donating it back to the community. In some of her final credits, Curtis also worked as an assistant to her sister Jamie on films like Freaky Friday, Christmas with the Kranks, and You Again.
Kelly Lee Curtis died on May 30th 2026.
She is survived by her husband John, sisters Jamie, Allegra, and Alexandra, and her brother Benjamin. Her cause of death has not been disclosed. She was 69 years old.
Rest easy, Kelly.
