Ian Keith
Keith Macauley Ross, known by the stage name Ian Keith, was an American actor. He was a veteran character actor of the stage, and appeared in a variety of colorful film roles during the silent era. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, he was best known for his collaborations with director Cecil B. DeMille, appearing in five of his films between 1932 and 1956.
Early life
Born in Boston, Massachusetts to William Andrew Ross and Mahala 'May' Wilson Ross, Keith grew up in Chicago. He was educated at the Francis W. Parker School there and played Hamlet in a school production at age 16.
Career
In 1919, as Keith Ross, he acted with the Copley Repertory Theatre in Boston. On Broadway, as Ian Keith, he performed in The Andersonville Trial, Edwin Booth, Saint Joan, Touchstone, The Leading Lady, A Woman's a Fool - to Be Clever, Robin Landing, King Richard II, Best Sellers, Hangman's Whip, Firebird, Queen Bee, The Command Performance, The Master of the Inn, Laugh, Clown, Laugh!, As You Like It, The Czarina, and The Silver Fox.
He played John Wilkes Booth in D. W. Griffith's first sound film, Abraham Lincoln. Keith had a major role as a gambler in director Raoul Walsh's 1930 widescreen western The Big Trail starring John Wayne. In 1932, Cecil B. DeMille cast him in The Sign of the Cross. This established him as a dependable supporting player, and he went on to play dozens of roles—including Octavian in Cleopatra—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 both The [Three Musketeers (1935 film)|the 1935 version] and the 1948 remake of The Three Musketeers. In the 1940s he became even busier, working primarily in "B" features and westerns and alternating between playing good guys and bad guys. He appeared in a supporting role to Tyrone Power in Nightmare Alley 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" in Dick 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 in Robert Gordon's sci-fi epic, It Came From Beneath the Sea.
He also appeared on many television episodes in the 1950s, including starring in the premiere episode of The Nash Airflyte Theater in 1950. In 1955, he was seen on screen in his only Shakespeare role, when he made a cameo appearance as the Ghost opposite Richard Burton's Hamlet in a sequence from the Edwin Booth biopic Prince of Players. Cecil B. DeMille brought him back to the big screen for The Ten Commandments ; Keith played Ramses I.
Keith played Emmett Dayton in the radio soap opera Girl Alone.
Personal life
Keith was married four times:
Death
Keith died in Medical Arts Hospital in New York on March 26, 1960, and was cremated in Hartsdale, New York.
Partial filmography
Manhandled as Robert Brandt Her Love Story as Captain KavorChristine of the Hungry Heart as Ivan VianneyLove's Wilderness as Paul L'EstrangeEnticement as Richard ValyranMy Son as Felipe VargasThe Talker as Ned HollisterThe Tower of Lies as LarsThe Greater Glory as Pauli BirbachThe Lily as George ArnaudPrince of Tempters as Mario Ambrosio, later Baron Humberto GiordanoThe Truthful Sex as Tom BarnesThe Love of Sunya as Louis AnthonyWhat Every Girl Should Know as Arthur GrahamConvoy as SmithTwo Arabian Knights as ShevketA Man's Past as Dr. FontaineThe Street of Illusion as Edwin Booth BentonThe Lookout Girl as Dean RichardsonThe Divine Lady as Honorable Charles GrevillePrisoners as Nicholas CathyLight Fingers as Light FingersThe Great Divide as Steven GhentPrince of Diamonds as Rupert EndonAbraham Lincoln as John Wilkes BoothThe Big Trail as Bill ThorpeThe Boudoir Diplomat as Baron BelmarA Tailor Made Man as Dr. Von SonntagThe Sin Ship as Smiley MarsdenThe Phantom of Paris as Marquis Du TouchaisSusan Lenox as Robert LaneThe Deceiver as Reginald ThorpeThe Sign of the Cross as TigellinusQueen Christina as MagnusDangerous Corner as Martin ChatfieldCleopatra as OctavianThe Crusades as Saladin - Sultan of IslamThe Three Musketeers as de RochefortDon't Gamble with Love as John CraneThe Preview Murder Mystery as E. Gordon SmithMary of Scotland as James Stuart - Earl of Moray White Legion as Dr. Julian MurrayThe Buccaneer as Senator CrawfordComet Over Broadway as Wilton BanksThe Sea Hawk as PeraltaAll This, and Heaven Too as DeLangleRemember Pearl Harbor as Capt. HudsonFall In as Army Doctor The Payoff as Inspector ThomasThe Sundown Kid as J. Richard SpencerCorregidor as Capt. MorrisWild Horse Stampede as CarsonI Escaped from the Gestapo as GerardFive Graves to Cairo as Capt. St. Bride That Nazty Nuisance as Chief Paj MabThe Man from Thunder River as Henry StevensBordertown Gun Fighters as Cameo ShelbyAdventures of the Flying Cadets as Col. Lee Here Comes Kelly as L. Herbert Oakley - AttorneyCasanova in Burlesque as J. Boggs-RobinsonArizona Whirlwind as PoliniThe Chinese Cat as Dr. Paul RecknikCowboy from Lonesome River as Matt ConwayBowery Champs as Ken DuncanUnder Western Skies as Prof. MoffatFog Island as Dr. LakeIdentity Unknown as Major WilliamsPhantom of the Plains as Talbot Wilberforce Champneys aka Fancy CharlieSong of Old Wyoming as Lee LandowThe Spanish Main as Captain LussanNorthwest Trail as Inspector McGrathValley of the Zombies as Ormand MurksSinging on the Trail as Jerry EastonThe Strange Woman as Lincoln Pittridge Mr. Hex as Mr. Raymond, the HypnotistDick Tracy vs. Cueball as Vitamin FlintheartBorder Feud as Doc PetersDick Tracy's Dilemma as Vitamin FlintheartNightmare Alley as Pete KrumbeinForever Amber as Tybalt The Three Musketeers as RochefortThe Black Shield of Falworth as King Henry IVPrince of Players as Ghost of Hamlet's Father in 'Hamlet'New York Confidential as WaluskaIt Came from Beneath the Sea as Adm. BurnsThe Adventures of Rin Tin Tin as Roland TarletonDuel on the Mississippi as Jacques ScarletThe Ten Commandments as Rameses I