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Victim was much more than a cabby

The man who died when his cab was hit was an artist, an actor and a loving father.

By VANESSA DE LA TORRE and GRAHAM BRINK
Published February 4, 2006

John Kelly had various roles, and cabdriver was just one of them, his relatives said Friday night.

He was a photographer who hated to have his picture taken. A sometime actor with a bit part in an award-winning film. A man who dabbled in ceramics, making mugs and oil lamps. He was divorced, with two daughters he loved in Tallahassee.

Early Thursday morning, Mr. Kelly of St. Petersburg was heading east on 22nd Avenue N when a Ford Taurus sped through a stop sign at the 47th Street N intersection. The car smashed into his Independent Taxi cab.

The driver of the Taurus, 18-year-old Leyana M. Rich of St. Petersburg, was arrested on charges of vehicular homicide, police said.

Mr. Kelly was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 53.

Before Mr. Kelly drove a taxi, he was just the little brother with a camera always hanging around his neck, laughing at the silliest jokes that only his relatives could understand, said his older sister, Donna Kelly of Connecticut.

The family lived in Lynbrook, Long Island. When Mr. Kelly moved to Manhattan after high school, he found himself rooming with photographers who navigated among celebrities, said his brother, Gene Kelly.

Into the late '70s and early '80s, John Kelly worked with rock 'n' roll photographer Bob Gruen, celebrated for his iconic shots of John Lennon in New York City.

There was Mr. Kelly at Studio 54, taking pictures of the performers, the crowd, the stars, the disco mirror ball.

But away from the glitter, there were the portraits he made of the city's homeless, said Donna Kelly. He gave those to relatives as gifts.

"Beautiful black and whites," she said.

When people call her brother a taxi driver, she wants to show them a collection of the work he has done. When he moved to Florida, they were snapshots of life scattered throughout Tallahassee and St. Petersburg.

He was an artist, said Donna Kelly.

"And when he had to, he took wedding photos," she said. "For years we told him you had to sell them at an art show, and he just couldn't deal with the marketing part. Just the art part.

"That's why he drove a cab."

There was also the acting. Gene Kelly said his brother got the first of several bit parts after moving to Florida and making contacts through photography. His latest screen time came in the short film Fields of Mudan, a winner at last year's Florida Film Festival.

Family members didn't know about the part until after his death. Mr. Kelly had many friends in the arts, and maybe one had asked him for a favor, relatives said.

Aside from Fields of Mudan and his appearances in the Fox TV show House, Mr. Kelly had credits in a string of obscure films: the wise fisherman in Natalie and Leonard (2004), the pilot/tattoo artist/priest in The Plunge (2003). He also appeared in Cater-Waiter and Wigstock: The Movie.

But his passion remained his two daughters and photography, said relatives.

Before his death Thursday, Mr. Kelly was creating a brand of commercial note cards: blank on the inside, one of his photographs on the outside, said Donna Kelly.

"It seemed that things were just starting to click, you know."

[Last modified February 4, 2006, 00:32:20]