We’re already eleven days into 2015, so New Year’s Eve/Day is already way behind us. Still, I’d like to pay one final tribute to one of the world’s biggest party holidays with this Where Are They Now? entry? Let’s see if you can guess which film this actress is most known for.
Roz Kelly was born in New York in July 1943. She started pursuing a career in the world of acting at age 25 and started booking bit parts in small and independent productions from 1968-1973. This all changed, though, when she landed a recurring role in “Happy Days” in 1976. On the iconic sitcom, Kelly played the role of Pinky Tuscadero, The Fonz’s girlfriend, in three episodes and was so popular with fans that she was brought back in a guest spot on the spin-off, “Blansky’s Beauties” in 1977. Around this time she also concluded recurring roles – as many different characters – on “Starsky and Hutch” and “Kojak.”
Free from obligation to “Happy Days,” Roz kept on landing parts in some of America’s biggest shows of the time. She appeared in “The Dukes of Hazard” in 1979, “The Love Boat” from 1978-1979, and “Charlie’s Angels” from 1979-1980. Although she appeared as a supporting character in horror’s Curse of the Black Widow (1977), Roz got her first big brush with blood red fame in 1980 when she played the lead role of Diane Sullivan in New Year’s Evil. Diane is a world famous punk rocker hosting a huge party. Eventually a killer calls in saying he’ll kill one woman as each time zone hits 12am, ending with Diane herself. He succeeds in his grisly game, but is unable to finish off Diane and commits suicide.
Her career started to stall shortly after. In 1981 she played the female lead in horror-comedy Full Moon High. Her last on screen credit was in a guest starring role in a long forgotten television show in 1983.
So, where is Roz Kelly now?
Well, Roz wasn’t heard of for quite some time afterwards. Eventually, she popped up doing what a lot of former stars do now – doing segment commentaries on daytime television. She appeared in a 1996 episode of “Judge Judy” where she sued a plastic surgeon for giving her a leaky breast implant. Then, in 1998, she appeared in an episode of “The Jenny Jones Show” where she was part of a Past Sitcom Stars segment. Shortly after that, she was arrested for firing gunshots through a neighbor’s window because their car alarm woke her up. She ended up in the slammer two years later for beating a man with her cane, which violated her parole. Roz Kelly has remained relatively out of the spotlight after that. Rumor has it she has a lot of health problems – and maybe drug problems – right now, but these are unconfirmed rumors. Either way, I’d love to see her get it together and take another stab at attacking. I know there would be people happy to see her again.
