He balanced stunts and stories

Sean Kelly ’79 had to hit Liam Neeson just right. But the fake scythe was a problem.

They were rehearsing a fight scene for the movie “Gangs of New York.” Kelly didn’t want to hurt Neeson’s injured shoulder, but the prop’s floppy rubber blade altered the stuntman’s swing. So Kelly changed his grip and popped Neeson with the mock, yet convincing, blow for which he was hired.

That anecdote begins Kelly’s memoir “A Different Take,” which details how he balanced two careers — stuntman for 25 years and journalist for 30.

Born in Washington, D.C., Kelly spent his childhood rushing between school, auditions and acting gigs in shows and commercials for toys and Wonder Bread. As a teenager, he became serious about basketball.

Noting Carolina’s hoops success, he decided that he must go there and play for coach Dean Smith. He made the junior varsity squad his first year and planned to practice over the summer to earn a spot on the varsity squad his sophomore year.

Instead, Kelly’s mother enrolled him in Carolina’s study abroad program in London. The experience changed his life.

UNC English professor Christopher Armitage took the class to The Old Vic for a performance of Harold Pinter’s “No Man’s Land,” starring renowned actors John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson. The class sat seven rows from the stage.

“It hit places in my soul. I understood that visit to The Old Vic, even then, better than everyone,” said Kelly, a drama major. “It distracted me completely from my focus of basketball.”  It was a revelation, he wrote: “There’s Coach Smith, but there’s also Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson.”

Sean Kelly (right) with Daniel Day Lewis in Martin Scorsese’s ‘Gangs of New York’. (Submitted photo)

“UNC, from the start, was like walking through a door to the world,” Kelly said. “Studying Shakespeare in England opened my eyes to what was to come. It changed my life completely for the better. UNC made you thirst for many aspirations and made you believe they were achievable.”

At Carolina, Kelly spent two years on the junior varsity squad and became one of Smith’s trusted team statisticians. He also deepened his acting skills, built sets and learned staging, lighting and performance. Creative writing and English professors encouraged Kelly to hone his writing.

The Washington Post hired Kelly as an editorial aide in 1980. Under future managing editor Bob Kaiser, he helped reporters cover the Pentagon, the White House, education and breaking news. Kelly also had freelance stories published in most sections of the paper.

“I walked into a job where the world fell into your lap every day,” Kelly said.

Seeking extra income, Kelly signed with a local talent agency. He got a small role in 1984’s “George Washington” miniseries. Next, he drove cars fast in “Protocol,” starring Goldie Hawn.

His stunt career had begun.

For the next 25 years, Kelly executed stunts in commercials, TV and movies. He crashed cars, fell from as high as 50 feet, escaped death in a glacier’s crevasse and almost drowned in swampy mud near a 9-foot alligator.

High points include catching supermodel Paulina Porizkova (“Her Alibi”), fighting Jack Nicholson (“Hoffa”) and doubling for him in “The Departed,” and being flattened by Bruce Willis (“12 Monkeys”). He worked with Daniel Day-Lewis, Holly Hunter, Angelina Jolie, Ving Rhames, Julia Roberts, Tom Selleck and many other actors as well as directors Barry Levinson, Martin Scorsese and John Waters.

Kelly’s credits include TV’s “Rescue 911” for seven years, “Homicide: Life on the Street” and HBO’s “The Wire.” His last stunt gig was as a taxi driver in 2016’s “Ghostbusters.”

All the while, he reared three daughters — Brigid Kelly Waters ’18, Clara Kelly Page and Courtney Kelly ’13 — with his wife, Cathy.

Sean Kelly ’79 with two of his daughters Brigid ’18 (left) and Clara (right) at a Carolina men’s basketball game. (Submitted photo)