56
marries young actor Jack Kelly, her co-star in They Rode West
14 October 56
marries actor Jack Kelly, brother of Broadway actress Nancy Kelly, in Quartzide, Arizona. The ceremony is performed by a justice of the peace at 2 a.m. Later in the day, they return to Hollywood. He's 29; she's 28. The press gives her age as 26. It's the first marriage for each. About the surprise wedding the press notes that six days before the elopement, she told a magazine writer: "Marriage isn't for me. I'm a career girl."
10 November 56
she and Kelly have their church ceremony
December 57
she and Kelly are the latest Hollywoodites to buy a home in Palm Springs
January 58
she and Kelly put the finishing touches on a "Maverick" script for Warner Brothers, the TV hit he stars in
March 58
confesses to address her spouse lovingly as "Kelly" because she says he doesn't seem like "Jack" to her
May 58
she and Kelly visit New York City. He's a native of Astoria, New York.
November 58
she and Kelly reside in Studio City, California
3 December 58
she and her husband guest at the Los Angeles Press Club's "gang dinner"
May 59
she and Kelly dine with columnist Earl Wilson at Danny's Hideaway. There she tells Wilson: "Did you ever hear how I got the name of May Wynn? I was good and mad about it when I heard they were going to change my name to May Wynn because that was the name of the girl I was to play in The Caine Mutiny. So I was all set for Harry Cohn whose idea I heard it was. The day he called me in I was boiling mad. He said 'What's all this bit about changing your name to May Wynn? I think it's a horrible name.' I was so obstinate and so mad I shouted 'I love the name!' He said 'All right, your name's May Wynn.' Two days later I went to him on bended knee and said I'd made a mistake but he said 'You were such a smart aleck, your name is staying May Wynn.' And it has until now."
June 59
she and Kelly will take an early vacation at the Hawaiian Village Hotel in Honolulu, with a stop-off in San Francisco before returning to work
November 59
tells columnist Harrison Carroll that she and Jack are celebrating their third wedding anniversary on two days, October 14 and November 10
April 60
she and Kelly plan a summer tour and take piano lessons at home
May 60
she and Kelly form their own independent film company, Majak Productions. They hope to make a film version in England of a novel entitled The Trouble with Paradise.
October 60
she and her husband Jack Kelly are shopping for a larger house
December 62
columnist Earl Wilson reports that she and Kelly are writing a Broadway show
24 February 64
the Kellys separate
July 64
despite the fact that their marriage has been regarded as one of the happiest in Hollywood, she and Jack Kelly announce a trial separation. He's off for a stage show in Chicago; she may resume acting.
19 October 64
divorces Kelly in Los Angeles. They have no children. She testifies that he stayed out all night several times. "When I asked where he had been, he would say it was none of my business," she says.
columnist Dorothy Kilgallen reports that Kelly's lawyer reached an out-of-court settlement in his divorce case with May