David Patrick Kelly is an American actor and musician who has appeared in numerous films and television series. He is best known for his role as the main antagonist in the cult filmThe Warriors. Kelly is also known for his collaborations with Spike Lee, in the films Malcolm X, Crooklyn, and Chi-Raq, and with David Lynch, appearing in Wild at Heart as well as Twin Peaks and its 2017 revival. Kelly's other credits include roles in 48 Hrs., Commando, The Crow, The Funeral and Last Man Standing, The Longest Yard, as President Harry S. Truman in Flags of Our Fathers, and a recurring role in The Blacklist.
In his debut role of Luther in the 1979 cult film The Warriors, Kelly screeches the famous line, "Warriors...come out to play-ee-ay!!", which he improvised. In the 1982 film 48 Hrs., starring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy, director Walter Hill rewrote a role for Kelly and again named the character "Luther". Kelly's film credits include Commando, in which he played Sully, The Crow, Crooklyn, Hammett, Wild at Heart, Dreamscape, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, Last Man Standing, Songcatcher, K-PAX, the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard, Flags of Our Fathers, John Wick, and Chi-Raq. He also appeared in the 1996 video gameRipper.
Television
Kelly's television guest appearances include Twin Peaks, Miami Vice, Moonlighting, ', Ghostwriter, Third Watch, Hack, Kidnapped, Law & Order, ', , Gossip Girl, Louie, Blue Bloods, The Blacklist, and Feed the Beast.
Stage
He performed in a few Off-Off-Broadwaytheater productions during the 1970s and 1980s. These included Wilford Leach's C.O.R.F.A.X. , produced at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in 1975, and 's An Altar to Himself, as adapted by and and directed by Virlana Tkacz at La MaMa in 1989. He also appeared in the April 1974 production of Mr. Jello, written and directed by George Birimisa, and then performed a song for which he wrote the music from Mr. Jello, at a benefit hosted by La MaMa to honor H.M. Koutoukas, called "For the Benefit of Harry", also in 1974. In 1976, he performed in La MaMa's "Cracker Club Country Fair Gala" in segments from Paul Foster's Silver Queen and Leonard Melfi's Horse Opera. Kelly originated the role of Da in Once on Broadway, which was awarded the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical. In 1998, he played Feste in the Lincoln Center production of Twelfth Night. Kelly has frequently appeared at the Hartford Stage Company in Hartford, Connecticut, starring in the title roles in Georg Buchner's Woyzeck and Molière's Tartuffe. He also played Iago in Othello and Hoss in Sam Shepard's Tooth Of Crime. At the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he played the title role in Luigi Pirandello's Enrico IV and starred in an adaption of the Yuan dynasty classic Snow in June. He has also appeared in four plays by avant-garde playwright Richard Foreman: Pearls for Pigs, The Mind King, Film Is Evil/Radio Is Good, and The Cure. In 2015, he appeared as Michaud, alongside Keira Knightley, in the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Thérèse Raquin in the Studio 54 space.
Music
As a composer and musician, Kelly participated in New York's rock and cabaret scene, playing such legendary venues as Max's Kansas City, Reno Sweeney's, CBGB, and The Lower Manhattan Ocean Club. He also wrote the music for the titular song of George Birimisa's Mr. Jello, which was produced at La MaMa in 1974. In May 2008, he released a CD of his original music titled David Patrick Kelly: Rip Van Boy Man, which contained new songs and live recordings from his club days in 1975.
Awards
Kelly played Dropshadow in David Lynch's film Wild At Heart, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1990. Kelly sang and played mandolin on the Grammy Award-winning soundtrack for the musical Once. He received a Connecticut Critics Circle Award for his performance in Tartuffe at Hartford Stage, and was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for his performance in Nathan Louis Jackson's When I Come To Die at LCT3 in Manhattan. In 1998, Kelly received an Obie Award for sustained excellence for his theater work in classics, new plays, and the avant-garde.
Personal life
Kelly married theater actress and writer Juliana Francis at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery in Manhattan on August 14, 2005. They have a daughter named Margarethe Jane Kelly born in 2008.
