Louise Kelly Bailey, the last surviving member of the Five Dancing Kellys vaudeville act, which led to stardom for her older brother Gene Kelly, died Friday at the age of 93.

While Gene -- and younger brother Fred, who became a New York producer -- had more fame, it was Mrs. Bailey who kept the family dance tradition alive in Pittsburgh. For nearly 50 years she ran the dance studio that the Kelly family founded.

"There are a million elderly women in Pittsburgh who swear that Gene Kelly taught them to dance, but some of them must have learned it from Louise," said Pittsburgh Post-Gazette theater critic Chris Rawson.

She died in Dothan, Ala., where her daughter, Kathy Campbell, carries on the family tradition, running The Kelly School of Dance.

Mrs. Bailey was the fourth of five Kellys born in East Liberty. They later moved to Point Breeze. Their father, James Sr., sold gramophones. Their mother, Harriet, had loved dancing and acting as a teen and occasionally acted in local productions after her marriage. In 1940 she told a newspaper that Louise was the first of her children to join her on stage, when a very young child was needed for a play.

"I guess I transferred my stage ambitions to my five children," she said. She wanted them to learn music, dance and get a good education. They succeeded at all of it.

In grade school they were billed as the "Five Dancing Kellys," with their mother as manager and chaperone. When a national vaudeville act called The Seven Little Foys missed its Pittsburgh bookings, the Five Dancing Kellys were called to replace it.

They toured nationally. Their mother would take them out of St. Raphael's school in Morningside two weeks early to hit the road.

As a young child, Gene resisted dance lessons, considering them sissified. But Fred and Louise coached him prior to high school, when he chose to get serious and study with top dance masters in Chicago. The Five Dancing Kellys folded before Louise reached high school, Ms. Campbell said.

The two eldest had no continuing interest in show business. Harriet Joan became a school teacher, James Jr. an aeronautical designer. But Gene, Louise and Fred loved the stage and studio.

The family had started a dance studio in Squirrel Hill, with their father doing the books, their mother serving as receptionist and the children teaching to earn money for college.

"It was very successful and they made considerable money when other people were not. It was the Shirley Temple phenomenon," said Patricia Kelly, Gene's widow.

They named the school for Gene because he was already a rising star, but Louise did much of the work.

"It was called the Gene Kelly Studio, but Louise was really the architect," Mrs. Kelly said. She taught ballet and beginners, while Gene took advanced students.

"Louise was the closest to Gene of all the siblings," Mrs. Kelly said.

"He just adored her. There was an extreme warmth about Louise."

Even when he studied with the nation's top dance teachers, he welcomed her critique.

"She would call out when he had missed the mark. She would sit there and very, very patiently go through and watch him rehearse. He always said that Louise had a good eye for the basics and for ballet training," Mrs. Kelly said.

In the 1930s she often danced with Fred or Gene in local nightclubs, fashion shows and other events, said Michael Kelly, Fred's son, who lives in southern California.

Despite her own work schedule, she not only graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1936, but later earned a master's degree there in elementary education. She taught fourth grade in Munhall in the 1960s, her daughter said.

Gene was already a star on Broadway when Pearl Harbor was bombed. But he went off to war with the other Kelly boys. Louise officially took over the dance studio. She would run it for nearly 50 years.

In 1949 her piano player introduced her to Bill Bailey, who ran another dance studio where the same pianist worked. They married in 1949 and the Kelly studio became the Bill Bailey Studio of Dance.

Mrs. Bailey was tiny, standing no more than 5 feet tall. She had the same permanent twinkle in her eye that Gene was famous for but all five possessed, Michael Kelly said.

She never reminisced about her childhood in vaudeville, but loved to dance and teach, Ms. Campbell said. Her focus remained ballet, while her husband taught tap and jazz.

"She was a strict teacher. You had to do it and you did it right," Ms. Campbell said.

They eventually moved the studio to the North Hills. But when Mr. Bailey suffered health problems in the late 1980s, she closed it to take care of him. He died in 1995. She then moved to Alabama to be near her daughter.

"This is the end of a dynasty for Pittsburgh," said Michael Kelly.

Besides her daughter, she is survived by two grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be held in Pittsburgh later this week, but details had not been set. McCabe Bros. Funeral Home in Shadyside is handling arrangements.