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Kitty Kelley
An older woman with a blonde bob haircut sits at a table, holding a copy of Oprah: A Biography by Kitty Kelley. She wears a white shirt with a light blue jacket over it.
Kelley in 2010, promoting Oprah: A Biography
Born (1942-04-04) April 4, 1942 (age 82)
Spokane, Washington, U.S.
Website
www.kittykelleywriter.com

Katherine Kelley (born April 4, 1942) is an American journalist and writer best known for her unauthorized biographies of popular figures.

Early life

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Katherine Kelley was born on April 4, 1942, in Spokane, Washington.[1][2] The oldest of six children born to lawyer William Vincent Kelley and his wife Adele Martin Kelley, Kitty was often tasked with taking care of her younger siblings, in part due to her mother's difficulties with alcoholism.[3] The Kelleys were noted socialites: they were members of their local country club, hired housekeepers to maintain their property, and owned two vacation homes on Hayden Lake.[4]

Career

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1978–TKTK

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Kelley released her first book, The Glamour Spas, in 1975. Based on an article she had written for Washington Star News, the book described celebrity "fat farms" like the Main Chance in Arizona and the Golden Door in San Diego, where wealthy individuals went to lose weight and gossip.[5][6] By 1977, Kelley had hired an attorney to handle lawsuits against her for The Glamour Spas, including a threat from actor Burt Reynolds.[7] That same year, Kelley was caught in a feud with writer Barbara Howar after leaking parts of Howar's Laughing All the Way manuscript.[8] The Glamour Spas sold poorly, but publisher Lyle Stuart offered Kelley a $3,000 (equivalent to $16,063 in 2023) advance payment to write her follow-up, an unauthorized biography of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.[5][9]

2012–present: Transition away from biographies

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In a 2012 interview with Politico, Kelley said that it would be "very tough" to write another unauthorized biography, because people were "scared of revelation" and "of not being able to control" the product.[10] In April 2012, Kelley announced that her next project would be a book of photographs that her longtime friend Stanley Tretick had taken during John F. Kennedy's presidency. Kelley, who became the manager of Tretick's estate following his death in 1999, said that his photographs would be accompanied by an "insightful, heartwarming essay" on both the photographer and the president.[11] Tretick had extensively photographed the Kennedy administration while on assignment for Look, and he kept most of these pictures in a trunk, which Kelley acquired after his death.[12] While examining the details of the trunk, Kelley decided to curate his photography into a book.[13] Capturing Camelot: Stanley Tretick's Iconic Images of the Kennedys was published on November 13, 2012, through Thomas Dunne Books.[14] While curating photos for Capturing Camelot, Kelley discovered about 200 photos Tretick captured of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which became the basis for her next book.[13] Let Freedom Ring: Stanley Tretick's Iconic Images of the March on Washington was released on August 13, 2013.[15]

Critical reception

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Awards and honors

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Personal life

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While working as a VIP hostess at the 1964 New York World's Fair, Kelley met her first husband, Michael Edgley, who was working as a bartender at the Lion's Head Tavern.[16] They married in a Catholic ceremony in 1976.[17] At the time of their wedding, Edgley was a media director for the National Council on Aging, but he left the organization in 1980 to pursue a writing career and assist his wife with her biographical research.[18] Kelley and Edgley separated in 1987 and divorced two years later.[19][20]

Bibliography

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  • Jackie Oh! An Intimate Biography. New York, NY: Ballantine Books. 1978. ISBN 978-0-818-40265-4.
  • Elizabeth Taylor: The Last Star. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. 1981. ISBN 978-0-671-25543-5.
  • His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra. New York, NY: Bantam Books. 1986. ISBN 978-0-553-05137-7.
  • Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. 1991. ISBN 978-0-671-64646-2.
  • The Royals. New York, NY: Warner Books. 1997. ISBN 978-0-446-51712-6.
  • The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty. New York, NY: Doubleday. 2004. ISBN 978-0-385-50324-2.
  • Oprah: A Biography. New York, NY: Crown. 2010. ISBN 978-0-307-39486-6.
  • Capturing Camelot: Stanley Tretick's Iconic Images of the Kennedys. New York, NY: Thomas Dunne Books. 2012. ISBN 978-1-250-01883-0.
  • Let Freedom Ring: Stanley Tretick’s Iconic Images of the March on Washington. New York, NY: Thomas Dunne Books. 2013. ISBN 978-1-250-02146-5.
  • Martin's Dream Day. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers. 2017. ISBN 978-1-481-46766-7.

References

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  1. ^ "UPI Almanac for Monday, April 4, 2022". United Press International. April 4, 2022. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  2. ^ Hirshey, Gerri (October 30, 1988). "Oh Kitty!". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  3. ^ "'Poison Pen' Biography Turns the Tables on Kitty Kelley". Tulsa World. July 28, 1991. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  4. ^ Hirshey, Gerri (December 25, 1988). "Kitty Kelley Digs Dirt, Dollars: Nancy Reagan Next for Biographer of Celebrities". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Abramovitch, Seth (March 3, 2022). "Kitty Kelley, Queen of the Unauthorized Biography, Spills Her Own Secrets". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  6. ^ "'Fat farms' laid bare by gossipy new book". The Berkeley Gazette. July 7, 1975. p. 10-IG. Retrieved November 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Spa Book Is Hot". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. February 12, 1977. p. 4B. Retrieved September 13, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Smith, Helen C. (February 17, 1977). "Glamour Gossip From the Beauty Spas". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. p. 5B. Retrieved September 13, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ McGuigan, Cathleen (April 21, 1991). "The Scoop on Kitty Kelley". Newsweek. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  10. ^ Gavin, Patrick (December 17, 2012). "Kelley pulls curtain back on Camelot". Politico. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
  11. ^ "Kitty Kelley writes 'heartwarming' text on Kennedy". The Republican. Associated Press. April 18, 2012. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  12. ^ Jones, Karen (June 5, 2012). "BEA 2012: Kitty Kelley Captures Camelot". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  13. ^ a b McDonald, Megan (November 28, 2012). "Capturing Camelot: A Q&A with Kitty Kelley". Sarasota. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  14. ^ Wilson, Craig (November 13, 2012). "Kitty Kelley looks back on Kennedy's 'Camelot'". USA Today. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  15. ^ "Let Freedom Ring". Kirkus Reviews. June 16, 2013. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
  16. ^ Goldner, Diane (September 8, 1991). "The queen of dish". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  17. ^ "Kitty Kelley Wed To Michel Edgley". The New York Times. August 29, 1976. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  18. ^ Hirshey, Gerri (October 31, 1988). "Kitty Kelley doing it her way". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  19. ^ Hirshey, Gerri (November 1, 1988). "Kelley, women and the power of pay dirt". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  20. ^ "Claws out for kitty". The Observer. October 23, 2004. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
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