Robert Keith
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Robert Keith
Biography
As a youth in his Indiana home town, Robert Keith picked up eating money as an illustrated-slide singer in movie houses. On stage from age 16, Keith worked in stock and on Broadway, taking time out from acting to write the 1927 play The Tightwad, a critical if not financial success. On the strength of The Tightwad, Keith was brought to Hollywood by Universal to write dialogue in the first years of the talkies; among his credits was the 1932 Tom Mix version of Destry Rides Again. He returned to Broadway to write another play, 1932's Singapore, then switched back to acting. Alternating between the films and the stage, Keith scored a personal triumph in the role of the philosophical Doc in the original 1947 Broadway production of Mister Roberts. He returned to Hollywood full time in 1949, etching such memorable screen characterizations as the weakling father of potential suicide Richard Basehart in Fourteen Hours (1951) and gimlet-eyed Inspector Brannigan in Guys and Dolls. Robert Keith was the father of actor Brian Keith, who during his own early years on stage billed himself as Robert Keith Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviFilmography:
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Robert Keith
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Robert Keith (actor)
For other people, see Robert Keith (disambiguation).
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2011) |
| Robert Keith | |
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 from Small Town Girl (1953) |
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| Born | Rolland Keith Richey February 10, 1898 Fowler, Indiana |
| Died | December 22, 1966 (aged 68) Los Angeles, California |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1924–64 |
| Spouse | Laura Corinne Jackson (1917-?) Helena Shipman (?-1926) Peg Entwistle (1927-29) Dorothy Tierney (1930-66) |
Robert Keith (February 10, 1898 – December 22, 1966) was an American stage and film actor who appeared in several dozen films, mostly in the 1950s as a character actor.
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Early life and career
Keith was born Rolland Keith Richey in Fowler, Indiana, the son of Mary Della (née Snyder) and James Haughey Richey.[1] His first wife was Laura Anne Corinne Jackson, the daughter of a prominent Cedar Rapids, Iowa family. He is noted for the variety of his performances both as weak-willed and strong characters such as the father in Fourteen Hours (1951) and a psychopathic killer in The Lineup. His best known performances are as the ineffectual sheriff and father of biker Marlon Brando's love interest in the 1953 film The Wild One and as tougher, no-nonsense cop, this time Brando's antagonist, in the film musical, Guys And Dolls.
Keith also had a starring role in Douglas Sirk's Written on the Wind. He had roles on television, including a role as Richard Kimble's father in The Fugitive and lead roles on episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents ("Ten O'Clock Tiger") and The Twilight Zone ("The Masks"), which was his last screen effort, in the role of Jason Foster, the rich New Orleans patriarch to a self-centered, greed-riddled family awaiting their benefactor to die.
Personal life
Keith's second wife was stage actress Helena Shipman, with whom he had a son in 1921, actor Brian Keith who starred in many Disney films and in the TV show Family Affair. On April 18, 1927 Keith married Peg Entwistle. They were divorced in 1929. He remained married to his fourth wife, Dorothy Tierney, until his death on December 22, 1966.
References
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Robert Keith (actor) |
- Robert Keith at the Internet Movie Database
- Robert Keith at the TCM Movie Database
- Robert Keith at the Internet Broadway Database
- Robert Keith at Find a Grave
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This article about a United States film actor or actress born in the 1890s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
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This article about an American television actor born in the 1890s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
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Mentioned in
Sirius
(1995 Album by Various Artists)
Robert Keith
(Actor, Writer, Drama/Romance)
Let It Snow, Vol. 2
(1996 Album by Various Artists)
Signs of Life
(1997 Album by Various Artists)
Reggae Ska, Vol. 1: Big Ship Ole Fung
(1997 Album by Various Artists)
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