David Keith
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
Keith maintains a cattle ranch in Tellico Plains, Tennessee.
He contributed three songs to the soundtrack of the film "Raw Justice" (1994).
Biography
Tennessee-born and bred with a handsome broad face and solid build, David Keith has frequently excelled playing virile, Southern characters at home in his own native idiom. He began his career as a member of the Clarence Brown Theatre Company at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where he earned his Equity card appearing in musicals like "Brigadoon" and "The Music Man." After graduation, Keith moved to NYC and acted at Connecticut's Goodspeed Opera House in the country and western musical "The Red Bluegrass Western Flyer Show" (1977). Relocating to L.A., he landed a guest shot on the popular ABC sitcom "Happy Days" in 1978 and then co-starred in the extremely short-lived sitcom "Co-Ed Fever" (CBS, 1979), a knock-off of the hit feature "Animal House" that aired only once. Keith appeared in support of Carol Burnett and Ned Beatty in the award-winning drama "Friendly Fire" (ABC, 1979) and starred as an American athlete romancing a Soviet gymnast (Stephanie Zimbalist) in the 1980 NBC miniseries "The Golden Moment--An Olympic Love Story."
Registering strongly in his feature debut as a bodyguard to Bette Midler's rock star in "The Rose" and in his follow-up as a bigoted redneck in "The Great Santini" (both 1979), Keith went on to play a prisoner who trusts too much in the system in "Brubaker" (1980), a childhood friend of Robert Hays in the witless "Take This Job and Shove It" (1981) and a mechanic romancing Kathleen Quinlan in "Independence Day" (1982). His breakout performance came that year as Richard Gere's seemingly stalwart buddy Sid Whorley in Taylor Hackford's "An Officer and a Gentleman," after which he starred as the nice guy cadet who wants to end the hate at a South Carolina military academy in "The Lords of Discipline" (1983). A government experiment led to his acquiring psychokinetic powers that were not quite the equal of his daughter (Drew Barrymore) in "Firestarter" (1984), but he and the all-star cast played second fiddle to the real star of this Stephen King adaptation, the special effects.
Keith made an auspicious feature directorial bow with "The Curse/The Farm" (1987), a horror film about a meteorite that lands on a Tennessee farm causing the food and water to become contaminated. He also helmed and starred in the Indiana Jones knock-off "The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck" (1988), as well as the music video for Patty Loveless' "Blame It on Your Heart" (1992). A fine singer who had once considered a career in music before a string of film and TV assignments altered his course, he contributed vocals to the soundtrack of "The Curse" and picked up his first screen credit as song performer on Donald Cammell's bizarre thriller "White of the Eye" (also 1987), in which he starred as the psycho husband of Cathy Moriarty. Keith then had a blast as Elvis Presley in the whimsical "Heartbreak Hotel" (1988), singing for the 'King' on a number of his famous tunes, including the title song, "How Great Thou Art" and "That's All Right," among others. As a songwriter, he collaborated with Leon Russell on the theme for the short-lived sitcom "Flesh 'n Blood" (NBC, 1991), in which he also starred.
Keith won critical acclaim for his titular turn in the CBS miniseries "Guts & Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North" (1989) but reverted to mostly supporting roles in diverse feature fare like "The Two Jakes" (1990), David S Ward's baseball comedy "Major League II" (1994) and the children's movies "The Indian in the Cupboard" and "Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain" (both 1995). After he starred in the ABC movie "Whose Child Is This? The War for Baby Jessica" (1993) and garnered praise as Jim Bowie in the ABC miniseries "James Michener's Texas" (1994), the chance to work with co-creator and executive producer Steven Spielberg lured him back as a series regular on the ABC police drama "High Incident" (1996-97), although the result was the same as his earlier forays to episodic TV. Following B-features like "Judge and Jury" (1996) and a steady diet of made-for-TV movies, Keith finally surfaced in two mainstream pictures in 2000, portraying a gung-ho marine leading a mission to capture spy secrets from a German submarine in "U-571" and joining Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding Jr for "Men of Honor," the inspirational true-life story of Carl Brashear, the Navy's first African-American Master Diver. Keith kept busy in supporting roles and television fare such as the ABC TV re-make of Steven King's classic horror novel "Carrie" (2002) and Sci-Fi's original cable telepic "Sabretooth," then tackled another high-profile, big screen supporting outing as boxer Jack 'The Devil' Murdock, a down-and-out prizefighter whose tragic fate inspires his blind-but-gifted son to become the comic book super hero "Daredevil" (2003). Vastly different in direction was his role in the Hilary Duff melodrama "Raise Your Voice" (2004) as a father reluctant to let his talented daughter attend a performing arts school in Los Angeles.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1977
Played Scotty in "Red Bluegrass Western Flyer Show", a country-western musical at Goodspeed Opera House, East Haddam, Connecticut
1978
TV debut, guest appearance as Fred Collins on episode of "Happy Days" (ABC)
1979
TV-movie debut in the award-winning "Friendly Fire" (ABC)
1979
Debut as series regular, "Co-Ed Fever" (CBS)
1979
Registered strongly in his feature debut, "The Rose", as a soldier-cum-bodyguard for star Bette Midler's character; also acted in that year's "The Great Santini", adapted from the novel by Pat Conroy
1980
Starred opposite Stephanie Zimbalist in NBC miniseries, "The Golden Moment: An Olympic Love Story"
1980
Supported Robert Redford in prison-themed "Brubaker"
1982
Breakthrough screen role, the suicidal naval officer Sid Worley in "An Officer and a Gentleman"
1983
Starred as a senior asked to keep an eye on first black cadet (played by pro boxer Mark Breland) who is being systematically tortured by a secret society called 'The Ten' in "The Lords of Discipline", based on the Pat Conroy novel; set in 1964 South Carolina in a military school patterned after The Citadel
1984
Headlined all-star cast (including Oscar-winners George C Scott, Art Carney and Louise Fletcher) in "Firestarter", based on the Stephen King novel
1985
Returned to the stage, portraying Duane Wilson in Colorado and Connecticut productions of "Harvey"
1986
Acted in two plays in his native Tennessee, "Geater Tuna" and "Bus Stop", the latter at his alma mater
1987
Starred as psycho husband of Cathy Moriarity in Donald Cammell's bizarre thriller "White of the Eye"; first credit as song performer
1987
Directorial debut, "The Curse"
1988
Helmed "The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck"; also co-starred
1988
Portrayed Elvis Presley in "Heartbreak Hotel"; also credited as song performer
1989
Played title role in CBS miniseries "Guts & Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North"
1990
Acted in the disappointing sequel to "Chinatown", "The Two Jakes", directed by and starring Jack Nicholson
1991
Starred as Southern con man Arlo Weed in NBC sitcom "Flesh 'n' Blood"; also co-wrote (with Leon Russell) theme song and provided background vocals
1992
Helmed music video for Patty Loveless' "Blame It on Your Heart"
1993
Starred in the ABC movie "Whose Child Is This? The War for Baby Jessica"
1994
Portrayed Jim Bowie in ABC miniseries "James Michener's Texas"
1995
Played the miniature cowboy Boone in the family film "The Indian in the Cupboard"
1996
Returned from hell after his death-row execution to avenge his wife in "Judge and Jury"
1996
Co-starred in ABC police drama "High Incident", executive produced by Steven Spielberg
1998
Appeared as a sleazy photographer leading a double life in HBO's disappointing "Poodle Springs"; Bob Rafelson directed from Tom Stoppard's adaptation of the Robert Parker novel which plumped an aging Phillip Marlowe smack in the middle of the 1960s
2000
Co-starred as a gung ho Marine leading a mission to capture spy secrets from a German submarine in "U-571"
2000
Portrayed Captain Hardigan in "Men of Honor", starring Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding Jr
2001
Had supporting role in "Behind Enemy Lines"
2002
Played a detective in the ABC televison remake of Steven King's "Carrie"
2002
Appeared in the indie road drama "World Traveler"
2002
Starred in the Sci-Fi original telepic "Sabretooth," about a genetically engineered prehistoric tiger
2003
Played boxer Jack 'The Devil' Murdock, father of the comic book superhero "Daredevil"
2004
Cast as Hilary Duff's father in the teen drama "Raise Your Voice"
2006
Played Vice President Walker, opposite Mariel Hemingway in "In Her Line of Fire"
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Keith maintains a cattle ranch in Tellico Plains, Tennessee.
He contributed three songs to the soundtrack of the film "Raw Justice" (1994).
About his passion for the University of Tennesse Volunteers football program and for Tennessee in general: "I've been a 'Vol' since I was 13, sitting on the sidelines. I'm a very competitive person. Competition isn't healthy in show business, so this way, I get my ya-yas out with the team. They're my outlet for my aggression."I prefer it back there [Tennessee]. Coming to L.A. is like going to the zoo. You can't take it seriously because this isn't how people really are." --David Keith to Jefferson Graham in USA Today, April 15, 1996
