Jim Kelly, who appeared in many martial arts films in the 1970s, had died at age 67.
Kelly was known for appearing in the films Black Belt Jones , Enter the Dragon , and Three the Hard Way in the 1970s. Kelly’s ex-wife, Marilyn Dishman, said Jim lost his battle with cancer .
“Yesterday, June 29, 2013, James Milton Kelly, better known as Jim Kelly, the Karate expert, actor, my first husband and Sabrena Kelly-Lewis’s biological father died,” Dishman wrote in a Facebook note about his passing. “Sabrena needs all of your good thoughts and prayers. This is a difficult situation to process. Even I am having trouble processing it. Like his mother, there will be no service!”
Though he was one of the most recognizable faces of the martial arts films genre boom in the 1970s — alongside Bruce Lee — Jim Kelly said he became jaded with the negativity of the film industry and the roles he was being offered.
“I never left the movie business,” Kelly told the LA Times in 2010. “It’s just that after a certain point, I didn’t get the type of projects that I wanted to do. I still get at least three scripts per year, but most of them don’t put forth a positive image. There’s nothing I really want to do, so I don’t do it. If it happens, it happens, but if not, I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished.”
Even after moving away from acting, Jim Kelly led an interesting life. He became a professional tennis player, and gained popularity again when martial arts films of the 1970s found a new life in recent years. Kelly even appeared in a commercial with LeBron James in 2004.
Jim Kelly was a natural athlete for his entire life. The second cousin of Willie Mays, he was a star in baseball, football, and track and field. He started studying martial arts in 1964, later moving to California to get his black belt.
Jim Kelly died Saturday at his home in San Diego.
