Gelien met actor Dick Clayton socially Clayton suggested that he become an actor.
When his superiors discovered his true age, they discharged him. While in the Coast Guard, he gained the nickname ' Hollywood' for his penchant for watching movies rather than going to bars while on liberty. Gelien joined the United States Coast Guard at age fifteen, lying about his age to enlist. Gelien was sent to Catholic school by his religious mother. As a teenager, Arthur Gelien (as he was then known) was a figure skater, competing in both singles and pairs. His mother re-assumed her maiden surname, Gelien, and changed her sons' surnames as well. He was raised in California, living with his mother, his brother, and his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Ida (née Sonnenfleth) Gelien the family resided in San Francisco, Long Beach and Los Angeles. Kelm's father was reportedly abusive, and within a few years of his birth, his parents divorced. Kelm's father was Jewish, and his mother was a Catholic German immigrant from Hamburg. Arthur Andrew Kelm was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of Gertrude ( née Gelien) and Charles Kelm.
