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Ian Keith | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Keith inDick Tracy's Dilemma (1947) | |
| Born | Keith Ross (1899-02-27)February 27, 1899 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | March 26, 1960(1960-03-26) (aged 61) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1924–1959 |
| Spouses | |
Ian Keith (bornKeith Ross; February 27, 1899 – March 26, 1960) was an American actor.
Born inBoston, Massachusetts, Keith grew up in Chicago. He was educated at the Francis Parker School there and played Hamlet in a school production at age 16.[1]
Keith was a veteran character actor of the stage, and appeared in a variety of colorful roles in silent features of the 1920s.
In 1919, as Keith Ross, he acted with the Copley Repertory Theatre in Boston.[2] On Broadway, as Ian Keith, he performed inThe Andersonville Trial (1959),Edwin Booth (1958),Saint Joan (1956),Touchstone (1953),The Leading Lady (1948),A Woman's a Fool - to Be Clever (1938),Robin Landing (1937),King Richard II (1937),Best Sellers (1933),Hangman's Whip (1933),Firebird (1932),Queen Bee (1929),The Command Performance (1928),The Master of the Inn (1925),Laugh, Clown, Laugh! (1923),As You Like It (1923),The Czarina (1922), andThe Silver Fox (1921).[3]
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He playedJohn Wilkes Booth inD. W. Griffith's first sound film,Abraham Lincoln. Keith had a major role as a gambler in directorRaoul Walsh's 1930widescreenwesternThe Big Trail starringJohn Wayne. In 1932,Cecil B. DeMille cast him inThe Sign of the Cross. This established him as a dependable supporting player, and he went on to play dozens of roles—including Octavian (Augustus) inCleopatra—in major and minor screen fare for the next three decades.
He became one of DeMille's favorites, appearing in many of the producer's epic films. He portrayed Count de Rochefort in boththe 1935 version andthe 1948 remake ofThe Three Musketeers. In the 1940s he became even busier, working primarily in"B" features and westerns and alternating between playing good guys (a chief of detectives inThe Payoff, a friendly hypnotist inMr. Hex, a blowhard politician inShe Gets Her Man) and bad guys (a murder suspect inThe Chinese Cat, a crooked lawyer inBowery Champs, a swindler inSinging on the Trail). He appeared in a supporting role toTyrone Power inNightmare Alley (1947) as a former vaudevillian turned carny who has succumbed to alcoholism. He also had a definite flair for comedy, and his florid portrayal of the comic-strip ham actor "Vitamin Flintheart" inDick Tracy vs. Cueball was so amusing that he repeated the role in two more films.
He played tough-guy military roles, such as Admiral Burns inRobert Gordon's sci-fi epic,It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955).
He also appeared on many television episodes in the 1950s, including starring in the premiere episode ofThe Nash Airflyte Theater in 1950.[4] In 1955, he was seen on screen in his onlyShakespeare role, when he made acameo appearance as the Ghost oppositeRichard Burton'sHamlet in a sequence from theEdwin Booth biopicPrince of Players. Cecil B. DeMille brought him back to the big screen forThe Ten Commandments (1956); Keith playedRamses I.
Keith played Emmett Dayton in the radio soap operaGirl Alone.[5]
Keith died in Medical Arts Hospital in New York on March 26, 1960,[6] and was cremated in Hartsdale, New York.[7]
