Biography
Art Ellison was born in 1899 in Potsdam, New York, and relocated with his family to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1914. At 18, he began working in the credit department of the Kansas City Power and Light Company (KCP&L), where he remained until his retirement in 1966. Ellison's first acting role came in 1924 during a musical comedy benefit for the Kansas City Women's Athletic Club building fund. Following this experience, he joined the Chanticleer Players, an amateur Kansas City group that performed one-act plays. He worked backstage and appeared in farce pantomimes and tableaux between acts. In 1930, Ellison became a member of the amateur Black-Friars, taking on lead and character roles while managing various behind-the-scenes responsibilities. Much of his stage work was with local productions at the University of Kansas City Playhouse (later the University of Missouri-Kansas City Theater), the Resident Theater, the Missouri Repertory Theater, and the Johnson County, Kansas Playhouse. Additionally, he performed with the Provincials, Jewish Community Theater, and Starlight Theater. During World War II, Ellison contributed by performing in USO shows and recording recruitment materials for the armed forces. He played several parts in "The Air Adventures of Jimmie Allen," a 1940s radio series produced in Kansas City and nationally syndicated, and appeared on WDAF-TV's inaugural program as well as other radio and television productions, particularly for Kansas City Power and Light. He frequently acted in industrial films produced by Kansas City's Calvin Company and some by the Centron Corporation of Lawrence, Kansas. Ellison featured in Centron director Herk Harvey's 1962 feature film "Carnival of Souls," filmed in Lawrence. After retiring from KCP&L in the mid-1960s, he joined the Actors Equity Association and dedicated himself fully to acting. Balancing Kansas City theater and industrial film work, he secured roles in Hollywood films such as "Paper Moon" and "Shoot it Black--Shoot it Blue," along with network TV movies "Friendly Persuasion" and "Mary White," all shot on location in the Kansas/Missouri region and utilizing local actors. In 1979, Ellison suffered a stroke that halted his acting career for a decade. He died in 1994 at the age of 94. Known for his precise dialect work and makeup skills, Ellison earned several theater awards and was a respected figure in the Kansas City acting community. His twelve scrapbooks documenting theater and acting activities in Kansas City from 1924 to 1992 are preserved in the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
