- He was only 16 years older than Luke Halpin, who played his son Sandy in Flipper (1964).
- Kelly was near fatally-injured when a borrowed motorcycle exploded on Thanksgiving Day 1970. He was left with a paralyzed right arm and leg, speech and memory problems. The accident ended his acting career.
- Best known for his portrayal of a responsible widowed father as "Porter Ricks" on the Flipper (1964) TV series.
- The near-fatal injuries incurred in that 1970 motorcycle accident forced him out of the lead role in 1971's The Love Machine (1971) (Per newspaper accounts, this casting had been approved by author Jacqueline Susann). The lead role then went to John Phillip Law.
- Brian was the third (3rd) child and second (2nd) son of Anne Veronica (O'Brien) and Harry F. Kelly, Sr. Harry Kelly, Sr., served as Governor of Michigan during World War II and as a justice on the State Supreme Court of Michigan, retiring from the Bench just before his death in 1971.
- Uncle of actor Brian d'Arcy James.
- Brian was certified by the US Marine Corps in both self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA), underwater demolition and reconnaissance. A First Lieutenant, he served in Korea and Japan in the mid-1950s.
- Had a daughter, Hallie; a son, Devin; three (3) brothers (one of whom is his fraternal twin, Harry, Jr.), two (2) sisters, and a granddaughter and grandson.
- Author Philip K. Dick didn't like Hampton Fancher, who wrote the screenplay Blade Runner adapted from Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. However, Fancher's friend, Brian Kelly, had better luck, and because of a meeting between Kelly and Dick, the movie (years later) was able to be adapted: Francher later said that there would've been no movie without Brian Kelly.
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