Paula Alma Kelly (October 21, 1942 – February 8, 2020)[1][2] was an American actress, singer, dancer and choreographer in films, television and theatre.

Kelly's other Broadway credits include The Dozens (1969), Paul Sills' Story Theatre (1971), Ovid's Metamorphoses (1971), and Sophisticated Ladies (1981), based on the music of Duke Ellington, appearing with Gregory Hines and Phyllis Hyman.

degree, Kelly performed as a soloist with major modern dance companies such as Martha Graham, Donald McKayle, and Alvin Ailey.

Kelly had a regular role as Liz Williams on the first season of the sitcom Night Court, for which she received an Emmy Award nomination.

Kelly also guest-starred in a variety of television movies and sitcoms, including Sanford and Son, Kojak, Police Woman, Golden Girls, Good Times, Any Day Now and in the Oprah Winfrey-produced TV mini-series The Women of Brewster Place (based on the 1982 novel of the same name by Gloria Naylor), in which she portrayed one half of a lesbian couple (with Lonette McKee) struggling against homophobia in an inner-city ghetto.