BY KAREN BOSSICK

Kelly Curtis was born to Hollywood royalty. But she never traded on that, choosing instead to live her life with a humble spirit, a graciousness and generosity that was a blessing to those who were lucky enough to spend time with her.

Curtis passed away peacefully at her home in Bellevue, Idaho, early Saturday morning on May 30. She was 69—just over two weeks away from her 70th birthday.

The eldest daughter of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, Kelly Lee Curtis was born June 17, 1956, on Father’s Day. She grew up with her sister Jamie Lee Curtis in Los Angeles with frequent visits to Sun Valley with her mother and stepfather Robert Brandt, a stockbroker.

Kelly Curtis was an enthusiastic and gracious hostess.

The family first visited Sun Valley in 1963 and Leigh quickly made Sun Valley her second home, writing a novel about the resort’s early years called “House of Destiny” and having a ski run named for her on Baldy.

Kelly Curtis made her film debut as a 2-year-old in the 1958 movie “The Vikings,” which starred her father, mother and Kirk Douglas.

She went on to earn a degree in business from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., working briefly as a stockbroker. But she was drawn to acting on stage and before the camera.

A member of the Actors Studio, she appeared in such film and TV productions as “Trading Places,” “The Renegades,” “The Sentinel,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “Magic Sticks” and “The Devil’s Daughter” Her last acting credit was in 1999 as a guest on the TV show “Judging Amy.”

Kelly Curtis often exhibited a lighthearted theatrical flair, even when filming local musicians.

She also worked behind the scenes on several film projects with her sister Jamie Lee Curtis, including “Freaky Friday,” “Christmas with the Kranks” and “You Again.”

Curtis occasionally talked about her days as the child of movie stars, but she really lit up when she recounted how she and her father raised money to restore the Dohany Street Synagogue in Budapest, Hungary, through the Emmanuel Foundation, which  was named after Tony Curtis’s father Emmanuel Schwartz.

She met her second husband John P. Marsh, a film professor in 1995, and they readily became joined at the hip, marrying in 2010. They refurbished an 1880 Victorian home that sat along the railroad tracks when the train ran through Bellevue.

There, Kelly reveled in cooking for friends in her turn-of-the-century kitchen with its pass-through window from the kitchen to the dining room. And a few years ago, as the world was emerging from the Covid pandemic, she and Marsh hosted a luncheon for the Blaine County Heritage Court Ladies on a 90-degree day that kept turning the lemonade ice to water.

She never arrived empty handed when accepting a dinner invitation from others, bringing a jar of her favorite new salad dressing recipe or Thin Ribbon Candy that she said she’d loved as a child.

Curtis was involved with The Artist Group and the Wood River Jewish Community where she fervently embraced her Hungarian Jewish heritage, studying Judaism and participating in High Holy Day and other services.

And she and her husband John Marsh established themselves as a creative team they called Liberty Films.

They traveled to dusty rodeos and outdoor concerts, a jaunty sun hat on Kelly’s head, to film what they called “folklorist films” about local artists and musicians. Their mission was to archive Idaho Americana in the free recordings that Marsh generously hands out.

They made fun recordings of local musicians, the Sawtooth Valley Gathering, Lost N Lava Festival and the Highway 30 music festival, And they created documentaries about the late Olympian Dick Fosbury’s campaign for the Idaho legislature and the Australian connection to the Simplot Games in Pocatello, even traveling to Australia to get footage.

Curtis suffered from health issues that too often confined her to bed. But she never expressed bitterness. When she was having a good day, she let loose, kicking up her heels dancing away at the Bellevue Labor Day celebration and reveling in walks through nature’s beauty.

Affectionately known as “Auntie Cookie,” she was devoted to her family and Pokemon Go, said Jamie Lee Curtis on a Facebook post: "She was jaw droppingly beautiful and a talented actress. She played a mean game of Hearts, collected turtles, loved her family, nature, music, thrifting, travel, Facebook, and Pokémon Go.

“She will be remembered for her loving generosity, fierce opinions, endless curiosity, unique style, and her powdered, almond, crescent cookies at Christmas, hence her name, Auntie Cookie."

Marsh said that his wife will be buried in the Bellevue Cemetery with a yahrzeit, a Jewish ceremony observed a year from her death. At this time, the family is not planning a funeral or memorial service, but the WRJC will say Kaddish for her at Friday’s Shabbat services.

Marsh added that he and Kelly have long been working to give their property in Bellevue, which served as a temporary hospital during mining disasters, to the Idaho State Historical Society for preservation and caretaking.

Jamie Lee Curtis said her sister always signed off any message or farewell with a Hungarian blessing: “Isten Veled, God is with you.”

“Isten Veled to you, Kelly,” she added. "Isten Veled to my sister of the sun and the moon, my Tai. I'll see you on down the line."