Brian Keith

Brian Keith (November 14, 1921 – June 24, 1997) was an American film, television, and stage actor, who in his four decade-long career gained recognition for his work in movies such as the 1961 Disney film, The Parent Trap, the 1966 movie, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, and the 1975 movie, The Wind and the Lion. On television, two of his best known roles were that of a widowed uncle turned bachelor, Bill Davis, in the 1960s sitcom, Family Affair, and the title character of a tough judge, in the 1980s drama, Hardcastle and McCormick. He also starred in his own sitcom which featured actresses Shelley Fabares and Victoria Young, his real-life ex-wife.

Early life

Keith was born Robert Alba Keith^[1] in Bayonne, New Jersey, to actor Robert Keith and stage actress Helena Shipman, a native of Aberdeen, Washington.^[2] His parents were divorced and he moved to Hollywood and started his acting career, at the tender age of 2. He made his acting debut in the silent film Pied Piper Malone (1924) at the age of 3. His mother continued to perform stage and radio, while Robert's grandmother, Apker helped to raise him in Long Island, New York. From there, she taught young Brian to read, while he was reading books over his age level. He fondly remember from his parents while on stage was he spent a lot of hours back stage, being quiet, prior to reading for hours and Helena was told that little Brian was a good baby because she'd put him in the dressing room in one of her dresser draws. He remained calm and was quiet and would sleep through the entire show. From 1927 through 1929, Keith's stepmother was Peg Entwistle, a well-known Broadway actress who committed suicide by jumping from the "H" of the famous Hollywood sign in 1932.

Military service

After graduation from East Rockaway High School in 1939, in East Rockaway, New York, he joined the United States Marine Corps (1942-1945). He served during World War II as an air gunner and received an Air Medal.

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. He resumed to the box office in 1953, after being all grown up, and had left the military, eight years later, with Arrowhead, co-starring Charlton Heston. He guest starred in Harbor Command, Wendell Corey's 1950s drama about the United States Coast Guard and starred in his own first series, Crusader, as the fictional journalist Matt Anders, who tries to free captive peoples from communist countries. He won much acclaim for his starring role in Sam Peckinpah's short-lived The Westerner (1960).

He is also fondly remembered for his role as the father of twins in the 1961 film The Parent Trap, co-starring Hayley Mills and Maureen O'Hara. His performance as Theodore Roosevelt in The Wind and the Lion (1975) is also particularly well-remembered and regarded, being considered among the best portrayals of an American president on film. Keith later portrayed Roosevelt's predecessor, William McKinley, in Rough Riders, his final film.

Gruff, but likable character actor

Since 1952, he made his debut on 3 episodes of Tales of Tomorrow. These three episodes had led him to other roles such as Police Story, a 1950s anthology show, Eye Witness, The United States Steel Hour, Robert Montgomery Presents, The Motorola Television Hour, Campbell Playhouse, 2 episodes of The Mask, The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse, The Elgin Hour, The Adventures of Ellery Queen, 3 episodes of Studio 57, Jane Wyman Presents: The Fireside Theatre, The Ford Television Theatre, Wire Service, Climax!, Zane Grey Theater, Rawhide, Laramie, The Untouchables, The Americans, Outlaws, The Virginian, The Fugitive, 2 episodes of Wagon Train, 5 episodes of 77 Sunset Strip, 2 episodes of Major Dad, Touched By An Angel, Walker, Texas Ranger, among many others. His final guest-starring role was on 3 episodes of Spider-Man.

Television roles

Family Affair

All of his movies he starred in the box office, including, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966), had led him to his starring role on a new sitcom for CBS, where his biggest break, however, 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 Award nominations for Best Actor in A Comedy Series. The show made him a household name. It was also the answer to such successful 1960s & 1970s sitcoms that dealt with widowhood and/or many single parent issues such as: The Andy Griffith Show, My Three Sons, The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, Here's Lucy, Julia, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family and Sanford And Son, that these shows lead towards Family. 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. During its first season in 1966, it was an immediate hit, ranking #15 in the Nielsen Ratings, and it was an overnight sensation.

Also starring on the show was an already established British character actor Sebastian Cabot as Mr. Giles French. Midway throughout the series' run, the show also starred several unfamiliar actresses and/or actors (who were Brian Keith lifelong fans): Kathy Garver as older niece Catherine "Cissy" Patterson-Davis, the late Anissa Jones as Ava Elizabeth "Buffy" Paterson-Davis and Johnny Whitaker as Jonathan "Jody" Patterson-Davis. Most of the relatively newcomers got along real well with the veteran star, esp. Whitaker, who became a "second uncle" to him, both on- and off- the set.

He was offered the role of Deke Thornton in The Wild Bunch also by Sam Peckinpah, but he turned it down because of Family Affair. This led to a dispute between the two former friends.

By the end of its 5th season in 1971, Family Affair was still the most popular show, by then, CBS has decided to put an ax on the show, after 138 episodes. The reason for the cancellation is because of the infamous rural purge --- which cancelled all the Southern shows to make room for adult-oriented sitcoms like the already #1 sitcom, All in the Family.

Brian Keith's friendship with Johnny Whitaker's family began in the mid-1960s, when he was guest-starring on one of his mentor's movies, which eventually led him to a co-starring role on Family Affair, and said, "I had done The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966) with Brian Keith; and he and I got along real well. We never had any scenes together in The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming. But his hotel room was right down the hall from mine, and he would always come right after work, and say, 'Can Johnny Whitaker come out to play?' And so, we did, and at the time he had 1 daughter, 1 on the way; and had just adopted another child, I believe, cause he love kids and was feeling homesick and saw me in the play, you know?" Whitaker said of the show Family Affair was supposed to have another child actor that Keith's character had wanted to come to fruition, "So, the original role of Jody was set for a 10-year-old boy. Cissy was supposed to be a 16-year-old girl, and Buffy was a 6-year-old girl. So, Jody was the middle child, and when Brian had suggested that they take a look at this little kid, that he just was on a series with, you know, but, he was sick, and he said 'Oh you're a handful of teams.'" The last thing Johnny said was about Brian being exhausted from all the hard work, coming through an apartment on- the set, "Take a look a him, just for a next-door neighbor or something, but he's got a lot of talent and he was cute, and all this, so I went on the set, I was one of the only 6-year-old boys, but they had Anissa & Pamela [voice of Lucy], as I remember and lots of other shows, and a couple of other girls, and they just had me talk and read some lines with them, and then, when Anissa & I got together, the producers said, 'You know what? This is it! Magic for television twins." Years after the show's cancellation, both Keith & Whitaker have each had their own successful careers, but never had they kept in touch together. Daisy's death in 1997, drew both Keith & Whitaker very closely, for 1 last time, as Whitaker delivered his condolences to such a grieving star, while his mentor was still battling cancer. According to a 1997 interview on Entertainment Tonight with Brian Keith, he said Whitaker looked his name up in the phone book and surprisingly called his house, which questioned Whitaker, which almost led to a misunderstanding with each other, but had enjoyed a wonderful reunion together [over the phone], for 1 last time, before Keith took his own life. In 2007, a decade before his mentor’s passing, he & co-star Kathy Garver were both invited to the TV Land Awards to pay respects to their mentor, this was done the year before the two were both invited to have their mentor posthumously have their star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame, where Garver was one of the presenters.

Hardcastle & McCormick

Keith once again returned to series television in 1983 with, Hardcastle and McCormick, the latter in the role of a cranky retired judge named Milton C. Hardcastle. Familiar actor Daniel Hugh Kelly co-starred as ex-con Mark McCormick in the ABC crime drama with elements of comedy. The chemistry of Keith & Kelly were both a hit in the 1980s. Keith continued playing the role until its cancellation in 1986.

Other roles

Keith went on to star as the pediatrician Dr. Sean Jamison in the NBC sitcom The Brian Keith Show, filmed in California but set in Hawaii and also known as The Little People. Co-star Shelley Fabares played his daughter, Dr. Anne Jamison. Michael Gray played Ronnie Collins, a student doctor in the first season. Nancy Kulp and Roger Bowen appeared in the second season. Keith's third and last wife, the former Victoria Young, appeared in the role of Nurse Puni.

Keith had lead roles in Archer, and his final TV role, Heartland.

Keith also starred in the role of Steven "The Fox" Halliday in the six-part television miniseries, The Zoo Gang, about a group of former underground freedom fighters from World War II. The show also starred Sir John Mills, Lilli Palmer, and Barry Morse.

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. In The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, where he played the unexcitable police chief of an island where a Soviet submarine runs aground, however, his character had to have Russian translated to him by Alan Arkin's character.In his last film, Keith played President William McKinley in Rough Riders (1997). Director John Milius dedicated Rough Riders to "Brian Keith, Actor, Marine, Raconteur."

On June 26, 2008, the Hollywood Walk of Fame installed a star in Brian Keith's honor on the world famous sidewalk in California.

Personal life

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 (1972–1974) 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.

He attended the funeral of longtime friend Michael Landon in 1991.

Illness and suicide

During the later part of his life, Keith suffered from emphysema and lung cancer despite having quit smoking ten years earlier (he appeared in an endorsement campaign for Camel cigarettes in 1955). He was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound^[3] in Malibu, California on June 24, 1997, two months after his daughter Daisy committed suicide. It was also reported that he had financial problems and suffered from depression throughout his final days. Keith's family were joined by many mourners at a private funeral, including Family Affair co-stars Johnny Whitaker and Kathy Garver, and Hardcastle & McCormick co-star Daniel Hugh Kelly.

His remains are buried next to those of his daughter Daisy at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

Quotes

Brian: “In other words...you can't be a misogynist and expect women to appreciate you.” (Source: Born-Today.com)

Brian: “It was the craziest thing I've ever seen. You like to see two teams compete like that, but you like to see your team execute better down the stretch. Give credit to Chapel Hill, they made a great 3-point shot to get us into overtime, and I wasn't sure how we were going to pull it out. We had people on both sides fouling out of the game, but we hung in there and somehow pulled this out.” (Source: QuoteDaddy.com)

Brian who said in 1968 about starring his own movies: "I've made I don't know how many pictures. Forty, I guess. I've seen only about a half dozen of them. We made Reflections in a Golden Eye in Rome last spring. I really enjoyed working with Liz and Brando and that great director, John Huston. But the kind of picture I enjoy seeing is something like The Parent Trap. That was a charming thing with Hayley Mills playing my twin daughters. I saw that four times. I even took my wife's parents to see it. I like it so much I forgot I was in it, as a matter of fact." (Source: PhotoplayMagazine.com)

Brian on trying to live a long life: "If I live to be a hundred--and I hope I do--I won't have time to read all the books I want to read, or talk to the people I want to know. Not party talk. That's a waste of time. Real talk." (Source: PhotoplayMagazine.com)

Brian on his handsomeness: “What for? I don't go to the Daisy or any of that. We don't give parties under a striped awning out over the lawn for two hundred people, four of whom we like." (Source: PhotoplayMagazine.com)

Brian who said in 1969 on playing the role of an on-screen uncle, as he played the role of a real-life father: "This is the type of show I love, because it reminds me of what happiness I have with my wife and our children." (Source: PhotoplayMagazine.com)

Brian who said in 1984 about leaving Family Affair, to spend time with his family in Hawaii, before casting as Hardcastle: "I get tired of sitting home and doin' nothing. If I'm doing something eight months of the year, I don't mind loafing the other four. But, lately, I've been finding fewer and fewer movies I'd like to do. And when that happens, I get hard to live with. Then this thing came along. I read it. I liked it. This character Hardcastle: I figured I could live with him for five years if I had to. There was something going on there. You don't get a helluva lot of character in series TV. They're more likely to star the car." (Source: TVGuide.com)

Brian who became very antsy about the car that was needed in every script: "I don't pay any attention. The stunt people take care of all that. All I do is get in and out of the Coyote [the car Skid drove, which required anyone riding in it to enter and exit through the window], which is no mean trick. You can't get into the S.O.B. without bending yourself into a pretzel. Me, I'd rather drive a pickup." (Source: TVGuide.com)

Brian on beating out 3 others actors for the role of Hardcastle: "I never heard of these guys. Of course, I can be talking to 40 Academy Award winners and never know the difference. People in Muncie, Indiana, probably know more about them than I do. But I figure what the hell, if they're smart enough to hire me, they must have something." (Source: TVGuide.com)

Brian: “The only attraction is the time. I work just 70 days a year on the show. I can still make two, three movies a year if I want to... If it were Bonanza , walking around the Ponderosa, tied up nearly all year, no-o-o chance. That's a fate worse than death." (Source: TVGuide.com)

Work

Stage

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

Television

• Target: The Corruptors! (ABC, guest star)
• Sam Benedict (NBC, guest star)
• Crusader (CBS, 1955–1956, 52 episodes in title role)
• The Westerner (NBC, 1960)
• The Outlaws (1961-1961) as Sven Johannsen
• Alfred Hitchcock Hour: "Night of the Owl" (CBS, 1962)
• Fear in a Desert City (Pilot for The Fugitive) (1963)
• Family Affair (CBS, 1966–1971)
• The Brian Keith Show (NBC, 1972–1974).
• The Zoo Gang (ITV, 1974)
• Archer (NBC, six episodes, 1975)
• How the West Was Won (originally titled The Macahans) (ABC, 1977) as General Stonecipher
• The Chisholms (CBS, 1979) as Andrew Blake
• Hardcastle and McCormick (ABC, 1983–1986)
• The Murder of Sherlock Holmes (Pilot for Murder, She Wrote) (CBS, 1984)
• Pursuit of Happiness (ABC, 1987)
• Heartland (CBS, 1989)
• Walter and Emily (NBC, 1991–1992)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: "Progress" (Syndicated, 1993)
• Spider-Man (1994 TV series) - Uncle Ben
• Touched by an Angel (CBS, 1996)

Film

References

External links

United States Marine Corps portal

• Brian Keith at Find a Grave Retrieved on 2009-5-14
• Brian Keith at the Internet Broadway Database Retrieved on 2009-5-14
• Brian Keith at the Internet Movie Database Retrieved on 2009-5-14
• Brian Keith at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• America's "Uncle Bill" Ends His Own Life
• Camels And Brian Keith Ad 1955