Robert Emmett Keane

Biography

Robert Emmett Keane was one of Hollywood's more overworked character players to be found near the bottom of the credit list. An ex-vaudevillian, he appeared on Broadway from as early as 1914 and at the London Hippodrome two years later, invariably specialising in musicals and comedies. Keane did not enter films until 1929, but thereafter amassed an impressive record of almost 200 screen appearances, often for the smaller studios like RKO, Columbia and Monogram. A natural farceur with immaculate attire and trademark toothbrush moustache, he turned up in an assortment of roles ranging from timid clerks to dignified hotel managers, jewellers, headwaiters, judges and pathologists. In addition, he had a nice sideline in crooked defense attorneys, drunks and conmen, his expressive features equally adept at conveying befuddlement, querulousness or exasperation. The congenial Keane remained gainfully employed until his retirement in 1958. He was married to the New York-born actress Claire Whitney.