Keith Carradine

Keith Ian Carradine (born August 8, 1949) is an American actor who has had success on stage, film and television. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Tom Frank in Robert Altman's Nashville, Wild Bill Hickok in the HBO series Deadwood and FBI agent Frank Lundy in Dexter. In addition, he is a Golden Globe and Academy Award winning songwriter. As a member of the Carradine family, he is part of an acting dynasty that began with his father, John Carradine.

Family

Keith Carradine was born in San Mateo, California. He is the son of actress and artist Sonia Sorel (née Henius), and actor John Carradine.[1] His paternal half-brothers are Bruce and David Carradine, his maternal half-brother is Michael Bowen, and his full brothers are Christopher and Robert Carradine. His maternal great-grandfather was biochemist Max Henius, and his maternal great-grandmother was the sister of historian Johan Ludvig Heiberg.[2]

Keith Carradine met Shelley Plimpton in the Broadway musical Hair. She was married to actor Steve Curry, albeit separated, and she and Carradine became romantically involved. After Carradine left the show and was in California he learned that Shelley was pregnant and had reunited with Curry. He met his daughter, Martha Plimpton, when she was four years old, after Shelley and Steve Curry had divorced.

Carradine married Sandra Will on February 6, 1982. They were separated in 1993,[12] before Will filed for divorce in 1999.[13] The couple had two children: Cade Richmond Carradine (born July 19, 1982) and Sorel Johannah Carradine (born June 18, 1985).

On November 18, 2006, Keith Carradine married actress Hayley DuMond, in Turin, Italy.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Carradine

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He is an American actor who has had success on stage, film and television. In addition, he is a Golden Globe and Oscar winning songwriter. As a member of the Carradine family, he is part of an acting "dynasty" that began with his father, John Carradine.

Keith IanCarradine was born in San Mateo, California. He is the son of actress and artist Sonia Sorel (née Henius) and actor John Carradine. His paternal half-brothers are Bruce Carradine and the late David Carradine. His maternal half-brother is Michael Bowen, and his full brothers are Christopher and Robert Carradine.

Carradine's childhood was difficult. He said that his father drank and his mother “was a manic depressive paranoid schizophrenic catatonic — she had it all.” His parents were divorced in 1957, when he was eight years old. A bitter custody battle led to his father gaining custody of him and his brothers, Christopher and Robert, after the children had spent three months in a home for abused children as wards of the court. Keith said of the experience, "It was like being in jail. There were bars on the windows, and we were only allowed to see our parents through glass doors. It was very sad. We would stand there on either side of the glass door crying". He was raised primarily by his maternal grandmother, and he rarely saw either of his parents. His mother was not permitted to see him for eight years following the custody settlement.

After high school, Carradine entertained the thought of becoming a forest ranger, but opted to study drama at Colorado State University. He dropped out after one semester and drifted back to California moving in with his older half-brother, David. David encouraged Keith to pursue an acting career, paid for his acting and vocal lessons, and helped him get an agent.

CAREER

Stage

As a youth, Carradine had opportunities to appear on stage with his father, John Carradine, in the latter's productions of Shakespeare.[5] Thus, he had some background in theater when he was cast in the original Broadway production of Hair (1972), which launched his acting career. In that production he started out in the chorus and worked his way up to the lead roles[6] playing Woof and Claude. He said of his involvement in Hair, "I really didn't plan to audition. I just went along with my brother, David, and his girlfriend at the time, Barbara Hershey, and two of their friends. I was simply going to play the piano for them while they sang, but I'm the one the staff wound up getting interested in."

His stage career is further distinguished by his Tony-nominated performance, for Best Actor (Musical) as the title character in the Tony Award winning musical, the "Will Rogers Follies in 1991, for which he also received a Drama Desk nomination. He won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Foxfire with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, and appeared as Lawrence in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Imperial Theater. In 2008, he appeared as Dr. Farquhar Off-Broadway in Mindgame, a thriller by Antony Horowitz, directed by Ken Russell, who made his New York directorial debut with the production.

Film

Carradine's first notable film appearance was in director Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller, in 1971. He went on to play one of the principal characters, a callow, womanizing folk singer, Tom Frank, in Altman's critically acclaimed 1975 movie, Nashville (See "Music and song writing"). He had difficulty shaking the image of Tom Frank following the popularity of the film. He felt the role gave him the reputation that he was "a cad".

In 1977, Carradine starred opposite Harvey Keitel in Ridley Scott's The Duellists. He has also acted in several offbeat films of Altman's protégé Alan Rudolph, playing a disarmingly candid madman in Choose Me (1984), an incompetent petty criminal in Trouble in Mind (1985), and an American artist in 1930s Paris in The Moderns (1988).

Other works include Emperor of the North Pole (1973), Pretty Baby (1978). He also appeared with his brothers David and Robert as the Younger brothers in Walter Hill's 1980 film, The Long Riders. Keith played Jim Younger in that film. In 1981, he appeared again under Hill's direction in Southern Comfort. In 1994, he had a cameo role as Will Rogers in Rudolph's 1994 film about Dorothy Parker, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. He co-starred with Daryl Hannah as homicidal sociopath John Netherwood in the 1995 thriller The Tie That Binds.

Music and song writing

In addition to acting, the Carridine family is musically gifted. This is particularly true of Keith. His brother, David, said in an interview that Keith could play any instrument that he wanted to, including bagpipes and the French horn. Like David, Keith integrated his musical talents with his acting performances. In 1976, he performed a song he wrote, "I'm Easy," in the movie Nashville. It became a popular hit, and Carradine won a Golden Globe and an Oscar for Best Original Song for the tune. This success led to a brief singing career, as he signed a contract with Asylum Records and released two albums - I'm Easy (1975) and Lost & Found (1978). In 1984 he appeared in the video for Madonna's single Material Girl. In the early 1990s he played the lead role in the Tony Award winning musical, the "Will Rogers Follies".

Television

In 1972, Keith Carradine appeared briefly in the first season of the hit television series, Kung Fu, which starred his brother, David. He played a younger version of David's character, Kwai Chang Caine. Other T.V . appearances include My Father My Son, a television movie in 1988. In 1983 he appeared as Foxy Funderburke, a murderous pedophile, in the television miniseries Chiefs, based on the Stuart Woods novel of the same name. His performance in Chiefs earned him a nomination for a Emmy Award in the "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Special" category. Carradine starred in the ABC sitcom Complete Savages, and played Wild Bill Hickok in the HBO series Deadwood.

Probably, diverting from his darker roles during this period, Keith played one of his best TV characters, now as the father of a molested child in Judgment, a deeply disturbing film made by HBO (also here). One scene involving an extremely violent situation with his 8 year old son is, arguably, one of the most daring takes ever done by the actor.[citation needed]

He hosted the documentary Wild West Tech series on the History Channel for one season before handing the duties over to his brother, David. In the 2005 miniseries Into the West, produced by Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks, Carradine played Richard Henry Pratt. He has appeared numerous times on the hit Showtime series Dexter as FBI Special Agent Frank Lundy. Carradine made appearances on the show's second and fourth seasons. Carradine is also credited with guest starring twice on the suspense-drama Criminal Minds as the psychopathic serial killer, Frank Breitkopf. He also guest starred in season 2 of the Starz series Crash.

Personal life

Keith Carradine met Shelley Plimpton when they both were in the Broadway musical Hair. The two became romantically involved. After Keith had left the show and gone back to California he learned that Shelley was pregnant. “I said, ‘You’re on your own,’ basically,” Carradine admitted. "I said, ‘I can’t deal with this.’ I was 19 and, as I said, it was probably my low point.” He had a change of heart and finally met his daughter, Martha Plimpton, when she was four years old. He said of Shelley, "She did a hell of a job raising Martha. I was not there. I was a very young man, absolutely terrified. She just took that in, and then she welcomed me into Martha’s life when I was ready.”

Carradine married Sandra Will on February 6, 1982. The marriage lasted until they were separated in 1993. They had two children: Cade Richmond Carradine, (born July 19, 1982) and Sorel Johannah Carradine (born June 18, 1985). In 2006, Sandra pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury for lying to a grand jury about her involvement in the Anthony Pellicano wire tap scandal. Sandra hired, and then became romantically involved with, Pellicano after her divorce from Carradine. Allegedly, Pellicano tapped Carradine's telephone and recorded calls between him and companion Hayley DuMond at Sandra's request. On November 18, 2006, Carradine married Hayley DuMond, an actress and long-time girlfriend, in Torino, Italy. They met in 1997 when they co-starred in the Burt Reynolds film The Hunter's Moon.

He, along with brothers David, and Robert are direct descendants of Dutch diamond merchant, Killaen van Rensselaer, who settled the province of "Rensselaerwyck, NY", now known as "Albany, NY", via their paternal Grandmother, Genevieve Winifred Richmond. Genevieve Richmond, mother of John Carradine (born "Richmond Reed Carradine), was one of the first female brain surgeons in North America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Carradine

• Reference: Biographical Summaries of Notable People - SmartCopy: Jun 5 2020, 1:56:17 UTC