Tom Keene (actor)

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Tom Keene , actually George Duryea , pseudonym Richard Powers (born December 30, 1896 in Rochester , New York , † August 4, 1963 in Woodland Hills , California ) was an American actor .

life and career

George Duryea's parents died early and he was raised by relatives. After studying at Columbia University and Carnegie Tech , he turned to acting, initially with a theater company in Maine . He played the role of Abie in a production of the hit comedy Abie's Irish Rose . After making his cinema debut in a short film in 1923 , Duryea turned to acting with the start of talkies in the late 1920s.

In Cecil B. DeMille's drama The Godless Girl , Duryea was given the leading male role alongside Lina Basquette and Marie Prevost . Afterwards, however, he found it difficult to find further work, whereupon he chose the stage name Tom Keene - by which he is best known today - and went into the western genre . In the 1930s and 1940s, Keene starred in numerous B-Westerns, including two flicks for the then unknown Rita Hayworth , most of which turned out to be profitable at the box office. Some of his westerns were shown by ZDF in yesterday's Western program series. A great opportunity to improve his career in 1934 offered the collaboration with the renowned director King Vidor , in whose social drama Our Daily Bread about the Great Depression he was given the male lead. The film was a financial failure, however, and Keene stayed with B-Western for the years that followed.

In the 1940s, when his career as a star of B-Westerns was coming to an end, he chose a second stage name with Richard Powers . Under this name he took on supporting roles as a character actor in various genres, including as a detective in the film noir Im Kreuzfeuer alongside Robert Mitchum . In the 1950s he was a guest actor in a number of television series. He also worked in the insurance and real estate businesses during this time. He took his last film role in 1959, this time again under the name Keene, as Colonel Tim Edwards in Ed Wood's legendary trash strip Plan 9 from outer space .

Tom Keene was married to actress Grace Stafford from 1919 until their divorce in 1940 . He died of cancer in 1963 at the age of 66 and was buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale .

Filmography (selection)

  • 1923: The Just a Little Late Club (short film)
  • 1929: The Godless Girl (The Godless Girl)
  • 1929: Gold hunter in California  (Tide of Empire)
  • 1930: Tol'able David
  • 1931: Tom Keene, King of the Steppes (Freighters of Destiny)
  • 1932: In the Rocky Mountains  (Beyond the Rockies)
  • 1933: The Cheyenne Kid
  • 1934: Our Daily Bread (Our Daily Bread)
  • 1936: Lady of California (Rebellion)
  • 1937: Gun smuggling in Louisiana (Old Louisiana)
  • 1941: Dynamite Canyon
  • 1941: The Driftin 'Kid
  • 1944: Up in Arms
  • 1944: Jungle Woman
  • 1947: The Colt sits loosely  (Thunder Mountain)
  • 1947: In the Crossfire (Crossfire)
  • 1948: Berlin Express (Berlin Express)
  • 1948: Gun Man
  • 1948:  Return of the Bad Men
  • 1950: Desperadoes of the West
  • 1952: Red Planet Mars
  • 1956: Fury (TV series, 3 episodes)
  • 1955: Dig That Uranium
  • 1956: Corky and White Shadow (TV series, 18 episodes)
  • 1956: Blood on My Hands (Tension at Table Rock)
  • 1958–1960: The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (TV series, 6 episodes)
  • 1959: Plan 9 from Outer Space

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Chuck Anderson: Tom Keene. Retrieved November 14, 2017 .
  2. Tom Keene | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos | AllMovie. Retrieved November 14, 2017 .
  3. Chuck Anderson: Tom Keene. Retrieved November 14, 2017 .
  4. Tom Keene | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos | AllMovie. Retrieved November 14, 2017 .
  5. Chuck Anderson: Tom Keene. Retrieved November 14, 2017 .
  6. Tom Keene (1896-1963) - Find A Grave Memorial. Retrieved November 14, 2017 .