Meet Gene Kelly’s three children Kerry, Timothy and Bridget and discover where they are now

Nearly three decades after his death, Gene Kelly remains one of Hollywood’s most recognizable stars. With his athletic dancing, easy charm and groundbreaking choreography, the Singin’ in the Rain star transformed the movie musical, creating sequences that are still instantly recognizable more than 70 years later.

But away from the cameras, Gene was also a father of three: Kerry Kelly Novick, Timothy Kelly and Bridget Kelly, born across his first two marriages.

His eldest daughter Kerry has perhaps been the most visible custodian of her father’s legacy, regularly sharing memories of the Hollywood icon and most recently participating in the 2025 documentary Gene Kelly – Réalt an Rince, which explored his Irish heritage and featured a previously unseen family archive.

His younger children, Timothy and Bridget, have largely remained out of the spotlight, despite growing up with one of the biggest stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Join HELLO! as we look into the lives of Gene Kelly’s three children.

Kerry Kelly Novick

Gene welcomed his first child, daughter Kerry, in October 1942 with his first wife, actress and dancer Betsy Blair.

Kerry was born just months after her father’s breakthrough movie role opposite Judy Garland in For Me and My Gal, meaning she witnessed almost his entire ascent from rising performer to Hollywood legend.

Even as a little girl, Kerry reportedly shared her father’s love of music. A 1949 Photoplay profile written by her mother described the pair singing together and claimed that, at five, Kerry already knew the words to at least a dozen songs she had learned from Gene.

She was also said to bear a striking resemblance to her famous father, sharing his eyes, mouth and mannerisms. But rather than following Gene into showbusiness, Kerry forged a very different career.

She became a child and adult psychoanalyst and studied under celebrated psychoanalyst Anna Freud. She and her husband, Jack Novick, have worked extensively with children and families and co-authored a number of books together.

Kerry has three children of her own and nine grandchildren, and has frequently spoken about the Gene Kelly the public never saw.

She recalled that her father’s interest in children ran through both his personal and professional life, telling Fox News that he supported her decision to pursue her own career rather than pushing her towards entertainment.

Kerry has also helped preserve some of Gene’s lesser-known work. In 2014, she collaborated with the National Library of Medicine on its preservation and exploration of Combat Fatigue Irritability, a 1945 U.S. Navy training film directed by and starring Gene that dealt with the psychological effects of war.

More recently, she appeared in the documentary Gene Kelly – Réalt an Rince, offering intimate memories of her father’s life and his deep connection to Ireland. The documentary’s director, Brian Reddin, described Kerry as having an “encyclopedic knowledge” of Gene’s career because she had been there almost from the beginning.

Timothy Kelly

Gene’s only son, Timothy, was born in March 1962, two years after the actor married his second wife, dancer and choreographer Jeanne Coyne.

According to Gene’s biographer Clive Hirschhorn, Jeanne found a memorable way to tell her husband she was expecting while he was away working on Gigot in Paris.

She reportedly sent Gene a birthday card informing him that she had his present “inside her”. Timothy was just 11 when his mother died from leukemia in 1973, leaving Gene to raise him and his younger sister Bridget. 

It marked a profound change in the actor’s life. According to PBS’ American Masters, Gene was determined to be more present for his younger children and turned down work that would take him away from Los Angeles, including the opportunity to direct Cabaret in Munich.

Timothy later studied at the University of Southern California’s film school, although unlike his father, he largely stayed away from life in front of the camera.

In a 1984 interview with People, the then 22-year-old revealed that while he hadn’t inherited his father’s famous dancing feet, there were some remarkable physical similarities between them.

“Our shirt, sleeve, neck, shoulder size, everything is the same,” he said. The interview came in the same year that a devastating fire destroyed Gene’s Beverly Hills home. The blaze wiped out a vast collection of memorabilia from the star’s career, including his honorary Academy Award, as Gene and his children watched the house burn.

Bridget Kelly

Gene’s youngest child, Bridget, was born in 1964 to Gene and Jeanne. Her arrival apparently provided another memorable Hollywood story. According to Hirschhorn’s biography, Gene was waiting at Cedars of Lebanon hospital for news that Jeanne had given birth when a newspaper columnist telephoned to congratulate him.

The problem? Gene hadn’t yet been told his daughter had arrived. He later joked that he knew it was impossible to keep a secret in Hollywood, but thought finding out about his own daughter’s birth from a reporter was “ridiculous”.

Like Timothy, Bridget lost her mother at a young age and was subsequently raised by Gene, who dramatically scaled back his international career to remain close to his children.

She later attended college in Paris and has chosen to live a largely private life away from Hollywood. That privacy appears to have been important within the Kelly household. Despite Gene’s extraordinary fame, his children were not pushed into becoming performers or public figures themselves.

Gene Kelly as a father

Gene’s relationship with fatherhood evolved considerably during his lifetime. His marriage to Betsy Blair ended in 1957, when Kerry was a teenager. Three years later, he married Jeanne, with whom he welcomed Timothy and Bridget. Jeanne’s death in 1973 left him a widowed father with two young children.

Kerry has since offered a rare glimpse at the man behind the movie-star image, describing a father who took children’s ideas seriously and encouraged independence.

His family life wasn’t without painful moments. Following Gene’s death in 1996 at the age of 83, Kerry later said that she and her siblings were devastated that they had not had the opportunity for the goodbye they had hoped for before their father was cremated.

Yet his children have continued to ensure that the private Gene Kelly is remembered alongside the man dancing through the rain. For Kerry in particular, that has meant speaking about his work, supporting retrospectives and sharing personal stories and family archives that offer a different perspective on the Hollywood legend.

And almost 30 years after his death, Gene’s influence remains enormous. Singin’ in the Rain, An American in Paris and On the Town continue to introduce new generations to the distinctive, athletic style of dance that changed the movie musical forever.