---
name: "Pert Kelton"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/pert-kelton"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "14 October 1907"
died: "30 October 1968"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-20T04:05:27.056862+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Pert Kelton

Actor. Born 14 October 1907 in Great Falls, Montana, USA. Died 30 October 1968.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 14 October 1907, Great Falls, Montana, USA
- **Died:** 30 October 1968
- **Also known as:** Pert L. Kelton, Pert L. Bell
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 2: 1 acting, 1 other
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 70 (1), 1960s 78 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pert_Kelton, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7170789, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0447125/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/179384

## Streaming the US now

- **Tubi:** [*The Music Man*](https://film.one/film/the-music-man.md) (78)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Pert Kelton (14 October 1907 – 30 October 1968) was an American stage, film, radio and television actress. Born in Great Falls, Montana, she began performing in vaudeville with her parents as part of the act 'The Three Keltons' and made her Broadway debut in 1925 in Jerome Kern's *Sunny*. She appeared in numerous Broadway productions over four decades and in more than twenty Hollywood films during the 1930s, often in comedic supporting roles.

Kelton created the role of Mrs. Paroo in the original 1957 Broadway production of *The Music Man* and reprised it in the 1962 film adaptation. She was the original Alice Kramden in the early *The Honeymooners* sketches with Jackie Gleason in the 1950s. Her career was interrupted by blacklisting in the early 1950s. She received Tony Award nominations for featured performances in *Greenwillow* (1960) and *Spofford* (1968). Kelton was married to actor Ralph Bell and had two children.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, ibdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

### Performed in (1) — the average rests on these

- *The Music Man* (1962), Fi1m 78, as Mrs. Paroo — [page](https://film.one/film/the-music-man.md)

### Also credited (1) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited

- *You Can't Take It with You* (1938), Fi1m 70, as Inmate (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/you-cant-take-it-with-you.md)

## Complete filmography (37)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Comic* (1969), as Mama Bell
- *Occasional Wife* (1966), series, Actor
- *Love and Kisses* (1965), as Nanny
- *Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.* (1964), series, Actor
- *The Music Man* (1962), as Mrs. Paroo — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/the-music-man.md)
- *The Twilight Zone* (1959), series, as Mrs. Parkes — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-twilight-zone.md)
- *Summer Playhouse* (1954), series, Actor
- *Cavalcade of Stars* (1949), series, Actor
- *Whispering Enemies* (1939), as Virginia Daniels
- *Rhythm of the Saddle* (1938), as Aunt Hattie
- *Slander House* (1938), as Mazie Mason
- *You Can't Take It with You* (1938), as Inmate (uncredited) — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/you-cant-take-it-with-you.md)
- *Meet the Boy Friend* (1937), as Beulah Potts
- *The Hit Parade* (1937), as Eadie White
- *Women of Glamour* (1937), as Nan La Roque
- *Cinema Circus* (1937), as Pert Kelton
- *Laughing at Trouble* (1936), as Ella McShane
- *Cain and Mabel* (1936), as Toddy
- *Sitting on the Moon* (1936), as Mattie
- *Kelly the Second* (1936), as Gloria
- *Pan Handlers* (1936), Actor
- *Annie Oakley* (1935), as Vera Delmar
- *Mary Burns, Fugitive* (1935), as Goldie Gordon
- *A Night at the Biltmore Bowl* (1935), as Pert Kelton
- *Hooray for Love* (1935), as Trixie Chummy
- *Screen Snapshots Series 14, No. 8* (1935), Actor
- *Lightning Strikes Twice* (1934), as Fay
- *Bachelor Bait* (1934), as Allie Summers
- *Sing and Like It* (1934), as Ruby
- *The Meanest Gal in Town* (1934), as Lulu White
- *The Bowery* (1933), as Trixie Odbray
- *Bed of Roses* (1933), as Minnie Brown
- *The Albany Branch* (1931), as Pert Kelsey
- *Next Door Neighbors* (1931), as Mrs. Green
- *Their Wives' Vacation* (1930), as Mae Smith
- *Hot Curves* (1930), as Cookie
- *Sally* (1930), as Rosie

## Gallery

- ![Pert Kelton](https://film.one/media/person/1230288/gallery-f30841f3b186.jpg) Pert Kelton — NBC Radio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Pert_Kelton_1942.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Actress Pert Kelton](https://film.one/media/person/1230288/gallery-59251c12c51c.jpg) Actress Pert Kelton — Apeda Studio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Nvasouvenir192408nati_0153_Pert_Kelton.jpg/1280px-Nvasouvenir192408nati_0153_Pert_Kelton.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Publicity photo of Pert Kelton for Argentinean Magazine. (Printed in USA) (1934)](https://film.one/media/person/1230288/gallery-5291045b6b0d.jpg) Publicity photo of Pert Kelton for Argentinean Magazine. (Printed in USA) (1934) — produced by RKO pictures and supplied to Cine Mundial magazine, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Pert_Kelton_Argentinean_Magazine_AD.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Pert Kelton](https://film.one/media/person/1230288/gallery-d176030bf3d8.jpg) Pert Kelton — Image via TMDB
- ![Pert Kelton](https://film.one/media/person/1230288/gallery-dfcdf55c3543.jpg) Pert Kelton — Image via TMDB
- ![Pert Kelton](https://film.one/media/person/1230288/gallery-2df4ccdf394b.jpg) Pert Kelton — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Other awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play 1968: Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play (nominated)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/pert-kelton