Kelly was born in Dyersburg, Tennessee on the day the John Robinson Circus, his father's employer, was doing its last show.
He finished school during World War II, and joined the Navy at age 18 and spent approximately three years in the Pacific participating in major operations in Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
[1] Despite being raised around the circus, he pursued a career in the railroad business after the war, becoming a switch tender and also a mechanic.
The elder Kelly was not happy with his son's decision to play an almost identical character, although the latter claimed his version of Weary Willie was less sad, and the two were estranged for years.
[2] While traveling to a Kodak performance in San Diego, California, Kelly drove to Tombstone, Arizona on a sightseeing detour.
[4] Throughout his life, Kelly donated his time to several charities including The Make A Wish Foundation, The American Cancer Society, Save The Children Foundation, and FACES—The National Association for the Craniofacially Handicapped and was honored by Presidents, First Ladies, Kings and Queens, and numerous heads of state.
Also lying on the field of blue felt was a plaque inscribed "Emmett Kelly Jr., Arizona Rangers, Tombstone Company, 1982, Badge # 405.
Not long after he went on the road with Willie, his son, Paul Anthony Kelly, lost a leg in a train accident.
Kelly Jr. heard of the accident and came home, but after a brief visit departed, saying "Willie’s got itchy feet."
He married his second wife, Nancy Jean Hanns of Hartford City, Indiana, on July 10, 1978, while in Philadelphia.