Ian Keith
Biography
Born Keith Ross in Boston, Massachusetts, Ian Keith was a veteran character actor of the legitimate theater, and appeared in a variety of colorful roles in silent features of the 1920s. His stage training made him a natural choice for the new "talking pictures"; he played John Wilkes Booth in D. W. Griffith's first talkie, Abraham Lincoln. Keith had a major role in director Raoul Walsh's 1930 western The Big Trail. According to one Hollywood anecdote, Keith might have gone on to a stellar career as a leading man, but a dalliance with Walsh's wife on location is said to have cost him the chance to follow up his success. There may be some truth to this -- he didn't get the title role in the film version of Dracula (1931) -- but Keith did keep working in films, albeit minor ones, until 1932, when Cecil B. DeMille hired him for The Sign of the Cross. This established him as a dependable supporting player, and he went on to play dozens of roles - including Octavian (Augustus) in Cleopatra - in major and minor screen fare for the next three decades.
It Came from Beneath the Sea
Adm. Burns
Queen Christina
Magnus
The Crusades
Saladin - Sultan of Islam
Northwest Trail
Inspector McGrath
The Divine Lady
Honorable Charles Greville
Two Arabian Knights
Shevket
Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat
Dr. Paul Recknik
The Three Musketeers
de Rochefort
Dick Tracy vs. Cueball
Vitamin Flintheart
Dick Tracy's Dilemma
Vitamin Flintheart
G.B.H.
Zoo Disco - Michael
The Phoenix and The Carpet
Father (unknown episodes)
The Ten Commandments
Rameses I
Duel on the Mississippi
Jacques Scarlet
It Came from Beneath the Sea
Adm. Burns
New York Confidential
Waluska
Prince of Players
Ghost of Hamlet's Father in 'Hamlet'
The Black Shield of Falworth
King Henry IV
The Three Musketeers
Rochefort
Forever Amber
Tybalt (uncredited)
Nightmare Alley
Pete Krumbein
Dick Tracy's Dilemma
Vitamin Flintheart
Dick Tracy vs. Cueball
Vitamin Flintheart
Mr. Hex
Mr. Raymond
The Strange Woman
Lincoln Pittridge (uncredited)
Northwest Trail
Inspector McGrath
The Spanish Main
Captain Lussan
Identity Unknown
Maj. Williams
Fog Island
Dr. Lake
Under Western Skies
Professor Moffett
Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat
Dr. Paul Recknik
Five Graves to Cairo
Capt. St. Bride (uncredited)
Corregidor
Capt. Morris
All This, and Heaven Too
DeLangle
The Sea Hawk
Peralta
Comet Over Broadway
Wilton Banks
The Buccaneer
Senator Crawford
Mary of Scotland
Moray
The Three Musketeers
de Rochefort
The Crusades
Saladin - Sultan of Islam
Dangerous Corner
Martin Chatfield
Cleopatra
Octavian
Queen Christina
Magnus
The Sign of the Cross
Tigellinus
Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise)
Robert Lane
The Phantom of Paris
Marquis Du Touchais
Abraham Lincoln
John Wilkes Booth
The Big Trail
Bill Thorpe
The Divine Lady
Honorable Charles Greville
Two Arabian Knights
Shevket
