Pete Kelly's Blues (film)

Pete Kelly's Blues (film)

Pete Kelly's Blues is a 1955 film based on the 1951 original radio series. It was directed by and starred Jack Webb in the title role. Janet Leigh is featured as party girl Ivy Conrad, and Peggy Lee portrays alcoholic jazz singer Rose Hopkins (a performance for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role). Ella Fitzgerald makes a memorable cameo as singer Maggie Jackson (a character played by a white actress in the radio series). Lee Marvin, Martin Milner and a very young Jayne Mansfield also make early career appearances in minor roles.

Much of the catchy dialogue in the film was inspired by the radio series Pat Novak for Hire, in which Webb starred for a time before creating Dragnet.