Brian Keith

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Brian Keith (November 14, 1921 – June 24, 1997) was an American stage, film and television actor.

Contents 1 Early life, military service 2 Acting career 3 Personal Life and Death 4 Film, Stage, and Television Credits 4.1 On Stage (Partial List) 4.2 Television 4.3 Movies 5 Trivia 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Early life, military service

Brian Keith was born Robert Keith Richey, Jr. in Bayonne, New Jersey, to actor Robert Keith and stage actress Helena Shipman (born in Aberdeen, Washington). He made his acting debut in the silent film Pied Piper Malone (1924) at the age of three. After high school, he joined the U.S. Marines (1942-1945). He served during World War II as an aerial gunner and received an Air Medal.

[edit] Acting career

After the war, Keith became a stage actor, branching out into films and then television. A strong and capable actor, Keith spent many years playing second leads and gruff sidekicks. His biggest break came in 1966 when he landed the role of "Uncle Bill" Davis on the popular television situation comedy Family Affair, a role that earned him three Emmy nominations for Best Actor. The show made him a household name.

He is also fondly remembered for his role as the father of twins in the 1961 film The Parent Trap costarring Haley Mills, and Maureen O'Hara. His performance as Theodore Roosevelt in The Wind and the Lion (1975) is also particularly well-remembered and regarded.

Keith went on to star in such television series as The Brian Keith Show, Heartland, and Hardcastle and McCormick. He also starred in the six-part television series The Zoo Gang, about a group of former underground freedom fighters from World War II, as "Stephen 'The Fox' Halliday". The show also starred Sir John Mills, Lilli Palmer, and Barry Morse.

[edit] Personal Life and Death

Keith married three times, first to Frances Helm; then, in 1955, to Judith Landon; and finally, in 1970, to Hawaiian actress Victoria Young (née Leialoha), who later appeared on The Brian Keith Show (1972-74) as Nurse Puni. Keith fathered four children but also adopted three others with Judith Landon. Daisy Keith, one of his children with Victoria Young, became an actress and appeared with her father in the short-lived series Heartland in 1989.

During the later part of his life, Keith suffered from emphysema and lung cancer, despite having quit smoking ten years earlier (he had posed for Camel cigarettes in an endorsement campaign in 1955). Keith was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on June 24, 1997, at the age of 75, two months after his daughter Daisy had committed suicide.

He is buried next to Daisy at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

Kathy Garver, who played his niece Cissy in Family Affair commented, "It was so sad, but it was in line with who he was in real life. He was this very manly man, very in charge of his life, always doing things his way. When his daughter died and he was diagnosed with lung cancer and emphysema and given only a few weeks to live, there was no way he was going to go out any way other than his way. I truly believe that." (Chicago Sun-Times, June 23, 2006).

[edit] Film, Stage, and Television Credits

[edit] On Stage (Partial List)

• Da (1978)
• Darkness at Noon (1951)
• Mister Roberts (1948)
• Heyday (1946)

[edit] Television

Keith worked steadily in television from the 1950s until the end of his life and made numerous guest appearances. Series in which he had a starring role are listed here.

• Walter and Emily (NBC, 1991-1992)
• Heartland (CBS, 1989)
• Pursuit of Happiness (ABC, 1987)
• The Murder of Sherlock Holmes (Pilot for Murder, She Wrote) (CBS, 1984)
• Hardcastle and McCormick (ABC, 1983-1986)
• Archer (NBC, 1975)
• The Zoo Gang (ITV, 1974)
• The Brian Keith Show (NBC, 1972-1974)
• Family Affair (CBS, 1966-1971)
• The Westerner (NBC, 1960)
• The Crusader (CBS, 1955-1956)

[edit] Movies

• Rough Riders (1997)
• The Second Civil War (1997)
• Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story (1996)
• Under a Killing Moon (1994)
• Wind Dancer (1993)
• After the Rain (1990)
• Welcome Home (1989)
• Young Guns (1988)
• Death Before Dishonor (1987)
• Sharkey's Machine (1981)
• Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981)
• The Mountain Men (1980)
• Meteor (1979)
• Centennial (1978)
• Hooper (1978)
• Nickelodeon (1976)
• Joe Panther (1976)
• The Wind and the Lion (1975)
• The Yakuza (1975)
• Scandalous John (1971)
• Something Big (1971)
• The McKenzie Break (1970)
• Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (1970)
• Gaily, Gaily (1969)
• Krakatoa, East of Java (1969)
• With Six You Get Eggroll (1968)
• Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)
• Way… Way Out (1966)
• Nevada Smith (1966)
• The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966)
• The Rare Breed (1966)
• The Hallelujah Trail (1965)
• Those Calloways (1965)
• The Pleasure Seekers (1964)
• The Raiders (1964)
• A Tiger Walks (1964)
• Savage Sam (1963)
• Moon Pilot (1962)
• The Deadly Companions (1961)
• The Parent Trap (1961)
• Ten Who Dared (1960)
• The Young Philadelphians (1959)
• Appointment with a Shadow (1959)
• Villa! (1958)
• Violent Road (1958)
• Sierra Baron (1958)
• Desert Hell (1958)
• Fort Dobbs (1958)
• Hell Canyon Outlaws (1957)
• Chicago Confidential (1957)
• Run of the Arrow (1957)
• Dino (1957)
• Nightfall (1957)
• Storm Center (1956)
• 5 Against the House (1955)
• Tight Spot (1955)
• The Violent Men (1955)
• The Bamboo Prison (1954)
• Jivaro (1954)
• Alaska Seas (1954)
• Arrowhead (1953)
• The Other Kind of Love (1924)
• Pied Piper Malone (1924)

[edit] Trivia

• Keith spoke fluent Russian, which led to his casting as a Russian in two roles: the Soviet Premier in World War III with Rock Hudson; and as a Soviet scientist in Meteor with Natalie Wood.
• When CBS requested that he pose for Christmas publicity shots connected with Family Affair, Keith refused on the basis that this was exploitative of the holiday.
• From Maureen O'Hara: Tough Brian Keith was a natural at comedy.
• Keith played the incumbent President of the United States in two films about Theodore Roosevelt directed by John Milius. He played Roosevelt himself in The Wind and the Lion (1975), and William McKinley in Rough Riders (1997) which was his last film. Milius dedicated Rough Riders to "Brian Keith, Actor, Marine, Raconteur."

[edit] References

• BrainyQuote / Maureen O'Hara

[edit] External links

• Hollywood.com biography
• Brian Keith at the Internet Movie Database
• Brian Keith at the Internet Broadway Database
• Brian Keith article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
• America's "Uncle Bill" Ends His Own Life
• Camels And Brian Keith Ad 1955
• Brian Keith's Gravesite
• S.T.A.R. for Brian Keith Campaign