Geoffrey Keen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Geoffrey Keen | |
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 Geoffrey Keen |
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| Born | August 21, 1916 Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England |
| Died | November 3, 2005 (aged 89) Northwood, Middlesex, England |
Geoffrey Keen (21 August 1916 – 3 November 2005) was an English actor who appeared in supporting roles in many famous films.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Keen was born in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England, the son of stage actor Malcolm Keen.[1] He was educated at Bristol Grammar School. He then joined the Little Repertory Theatre in Bristol for whom he made his stage debut in 1932. After a year in 'rep' he stayed for a year in Cannes before being accepted for a place at the London School of Economics. In a last minute change of mind, he entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he won the Bancroft Gold Medal after only one year. He had just joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1939 when the war started. Keen enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps, though also managed to appear in an Army instructional film for Carol Reed.
[edit] Career
Keen made his full film debut in 1946 in Riders of the New Forest but soon appeared in better known films for Reed such as: Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol and The Third Man. He quickly became one of the busiest character actors, typically doing five films a year. He also continued to perform on stage, for instance as Iachimo in Peter Hall's 1957 production of Cymbeline, and a sadistic Turkish General in Terrence Rattigan's controversial Ross (1960).
Keen was cast mainly as establishment figures, including ministers, senior police officers and military figures. He often portrayed balding, cold-hearted, sarcastic executives or lawyers. On television, he was one of the leads in BBC TV's long-running drama about the oil industry, The Troubleshooters between 1965 and 1971.
On the big screen, he played the role of Fredrick Gray, the Minister of Defence in six James Bond films between 1977 and 1987:
- The Spy Who Loved Me (in this film Bond calls him "Freddie" — in private, after the briefing at the naval base — when Gray tells him that he is to go to Egypt.)
- Moonraker
- For Your Eyes Only
- Octopussy
- A View to a Kill
- The Living Daylights
He also appeared in such notable films as The Spanish Gardener, Doctor Zhivago, Cromwell and Born Free, as well as in numerous TV programmes. He even appeared in a leading role in the Hammer Horror Film Taste the Blood of Dracula that starred Christopher Lee, playing a rather sarcastic Victorian/Edwardian gentleman who is one of a circle of 3 seeking wicked pleasures who betray Dracula. In all Keen had appeared in 100 films before he retired in 1991. He married three times and had a daughter.
