A version of this story on Michael Kelly first appeared in the print edition of TheWrap Magazine’s Comedy/Drama/Actors Emmy Issue.
In a series full of schemers, plotters and underhanded double-crossers, nobody on “House of Cards” schemes, plots and double-crosses with quite as much cold-blooded flair as Doug Stamper.
The chief of staff to devious President Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey), Stamper is the ultimate political hitman, played by Michael Kelly with enough deadly relish to land him Emmy and SAG Awards nominations last year.
“I like walking down the street and hearing, ‘Stamper — f—, yeah!’” said Kelly, 47, with a laugh.
“I get weird requests from girls asking me to choke them in a picture, or give a really menacing stare. It happens a lot, and I oblige.”
But Kelly said his favorite moment on the series remains a prank he played on Spacey when Kelly was preparing to shoot a bathtub scene.
“I was walking by the Oval Office [set], and they were shooting a scene where Underwood shows the Russian president out of the Oval Office,” he said.
“So I ran over there. Kevin opened the door and I was standing there naked except for my nude thong. He had a somewhat rude comment, but it was a good time.”
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