Ian Keith

Ian Keith

Ian Keith became a well regarded fixture on the Broadway stage during the 1920s, but from 1924 through the remainder of the decade he expanded his acting into a string of silent movies as well. To begin the next decade, he appeared in the cast of Abraham Lincoln (1930), one of the later movies of D.W. Griffith. His forte was perhaps already becoming obvious -- his role was that of John Wilkes Booth. Keith had a sly look, and there was an irritated but deadpan demeanor and a side-of-the-mouth delivery to his speech that marked him as a great villain. And he played many -- including a surprising number in historic costume. There was never any emotional nuance, but his straight delivery was always completely effective. He figured prominently in some of the most ambitious of the early sound epics: The Sign of the Cross (1932), Cleopatra (1934), and The Crusades (1935) of Cecil B. DeMille, and in the latter Keith was -- a sort of good guy -- the great Sultan Saladin (surely a strange miscast but DeMille obviously liked him -- he showed up in the much later The Ten Commandments (1956) as well). He was the nemesis of John Gilbert in Queen Christina (1933) and of a similar cast in Mary of Scotland (1936), the early John Ford classic with Katharine Hepburn. He also portrayed an odd twist in the first sound The Three Musketeers (1935). Counter to the book, his Rochefort is the plotting genius, not Cardinal Richelieu, as it should be. Incidentally, he reprised Rochefort, but more in keeping with the original character, in The Three Musketeers (1948) version for Gene Kelly. In between those years were a lot of B level movies of everything from the comics to murder mysteries to mark a downturn said to be the result of too much nightlife. He still did Broadway intermittently throughout his career amid early TV theater and episodic fare from the late 1940s through the 1950s. The stage remained his first choice. At the time of his death he was appearing in "The Andersonville Trial" (1960) on Broadway.
Ian Kelly

Ian Kelly

Writer and actor Ian Kelly's career spans film, theatre and tv from Broadway to London's West End and National Theatre, and from Merchant Ivory to Harry Potter to classics of modern Russian cinema. He is also a bestselling historical biographer, and award winning West End playwright and screenwriter. He now co-writes with Julian Fellowes (The Rothschilds) as well as developing tv and film projects in France, the UK and USA. His first full length play, Mr Foote's Other Leg, based on his book the same title, broke all box office records at Hampstead Theatre before transferring straight into the West End, directed by Sir Richard Eyre, starring Sir Simon Russell Beale. Raised in Philadelphia, the West Country and North West of England of British parents, Kelly graduated from both Cambridge University and UCLA's film school on scholarships before embarking on twin acting and writing careers. Film work includes, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2 (Hermione's father), The King's Man, Creation, The Children Act, In Love and War, Howards End and the Russian films Admiral Kolchak and Voina (War) - Nominated for Best Actor, Montreal Film Festival TV work includes Downton Abbey, Sensitive Skin, The Moth, Silent Witness, Hetty Wainthropp, Just William, Beau Brummell, Underworld, Time Trumpet, Drop the Dead Donkey Theatre work includes (Broadway, West End, National Theatre) The Pitmen Painters (original cast) Mr Foote's Other Leg, A Busy Day. Off Broadway; Cooking for Kings, Beau Brummell. Also: Arcadia (Manchester; Nominated Best Actor), Relative Values, Pygmalion, Henry V, Twelfth Night, Arsenic and Old Lace, Single Spies, Macbeth, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, The Changeling, Hippolytus. As a writer: books include biographies of Beau Brummell, Casanova, Antonin Carême, Samuel Foote and the official biography of Vivienne Westwood (co written with Dame Vivienne). Plays include; Mr Foote's Other Leg (Hampstead and West End) Cooking for Kings (Off Broadway) and Playing for Stalin - commissioned for the Salzburg Festival. The scenario of the Kenneth Tindall ballet, Casanova, was written by Kelly, based on his biography of Casanova (Outstanding Achievement in Dance Award, 2017, Sadlers Wells, BroadwayWorld). Kelly is co-writing with Kit de Waal a play for Birmingham Rep on Frank Barber, Britain's first Black schoolteacher. His first radio play, The Painted Hall, was broadcast in 2022 starring Jane Asher and Hugh Bonneville. As a screenwriter, current works include The Rothschilds, for MGMtv, co-writing with Julian Fellowes, Cooking for Kings, (based on the biography of Carême) for l'Insense Films and Endemol Shine, Paris, also Messiah, for SDG Productions, Sundance, ep 2 of Arabia, for MBC Dubai, The Serpent and the Moon, co-writing with Julian Fellowes, Burns, originally for LionsgateUK, Fortunes, for Lionsgatetv, Northcliffe, for Quidem Films, Alexandre Dumas, co-writing with Candace Allen, and an untitled 18th century comedy series for Mercury/Kudos

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