Frank Keenan

Frank Keenan (April 8, 1858 – February 24, 1929)[as James Francis Keenan][1] was an American stage and film actor and stage director and manager during the silent-film era. He was among the first stage actors to star in Hollywood, and he pursued work in film features for a number of years.

For the Irish hurling manager and player, see Frank Keenan (hurler).

Frank Keenan
Keenan, 1916
Born
James Francis Keenan

(1858-04-08)April 8, 1858
Dubuque, Iowa, U.S.
DiedFebruary 24, 1929(1929-02-24) (aged 70)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeHollywood Forever Cemetery
OccupationActors
Years active1900–1925
Spouse(s)
Katherine Agnes Long
​
(
m. 1880; died 1924)

Margaret White
​
(
m. 1924; div. 1927)

Leah May
​
(
m. 1928)
Children2, including Hilda Keenan
RelativesKeenan Wynn
(grandson)
Tracy Keenan Wynn
(great-grandson)
Jessica Keenan Wynn
(g.-g.-granddaughter)

Early life

Born to Irish Catholic parents in Dubuque, Iowa, Keenan acquired his education both there and at Boston College.[2]

Career
Poster for Keenan's performance of A Poor Relation (1900)
Blanche Bates and Keenan in the original Broadway production of The Girl of the Golden West (1905)
Advertisement (1919)

In New York, he became a star, a celebrated Shakespearean actor who later specialized in King Lear. He was a noted Broadway matinee idol, and his name appearing at the top of showbills. He acted in such hits as The Capitol, A Poor Relation and The Girl of the Golden West. He played the title role in Macbeth opposite Nance O'Neil. At one point, he briefly operated his own theater, the Berkeley Lyceum in New York, which brought him recognition as both actor and director.[3]

Keenan made his screen debut under the direction of Reginald Barker in The Coward (1915). His career lasted into his late 60s, and he was a leader in the Actors' Equity Association. His last stage appearance, at 68, was as a Southern colonel in Black Velvet.[2]

Family

Keenan was married for many years to Katherine Agnes Long, who often acted with him. The Keenans had two daughters, Frances and Hilda, both of whom were stage and film actresses.[4] His wife Katherine died in 1924; the same year, he married a young music teacher, Margaret White, from Los Angeles, but divorced her in 1927. By October 1928, at age 70, Frank Keenan remarried again, to a 41-year-old actress, Leah May from Atlanta, Georgia. By daughter Hilda he was the grandfather of actor Keenan Wynn and, in turn, the great-great grandfather of Jessica Keenan Wynn.

Filmography

Actor
  • The Public Defender (1917)
  • More Trouble (1918)
  • Gates of Brass (1919)

Director
  • Dollar for Dollar (1920)
  • Smoldering Embers (1920)
  • Brothers Divided (1919)
  • The Silver Girl (1919)

Producer
  • Brothers Divided (1919)

Writer
  • The World Aflame (1919)

Stageplays
  • Sherlock Holmes (1928)
  • Peter Weston (1923)
  • Hon. John Grigsby (1902)
  • At the Threshold (1905)
  • Strolling Players (1905)
  • The System of Dr. Tarr (1905)
  • The Lady Bookie (1905)
  • The Lady Across the Hall (1905)
  • A Passion in the Suburb (1905)
  • The Cardinal's Edict (1905)
  • A Woman's Pity (1905)
  • The Warrens of Virginia (1907)

Death

Keenan died of pneumonia in his Hollywood mansion, and is buried next to his first wife at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

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References
  1. American and British Theatrical Biography, p.544 c.1979 by J. P. Wearing ISBN 0-8108-1201-0
  2. "American biography : a new cyclopedia". archive.org. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
  3. Eaton, Walter Prichard (1910). The American Stage of Today. New York, NY: P.F. Collier & Son.
  4. Who Was Who on Screen, p.247 2nd Edition c.1977 by Evelyn Mack Truitt ISBN 0-8352-0914-8
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