
Kathleen Key
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
1903-04-01
Day of Death
1954-12-22 (51 years old)
Place of Birth
Buffalo, New York, USA
Kathleen Key
Biography
From Wikipedia:
Kathleen Key (April 1, 1903 – December 22, 1954) was an American actress who achieved a brief period of fame during the silent era. She is best remembered for playing Tirzah in the 1925 film Ben-Hur. Key was the great-great granddaughter of Francis Scott Key, composer of "The Star Spangled Banner", and a distant cousin of author F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Born Kitty Lanahan in Buffalo, New York, she debuted in films in 1920 in the film The Jackeroo of Coolabong, playing a lead role. From that point on to the end of the 1920s, Kathleen Key, sometimes credited as Kathleen Keys, starred in several films, but never really reached stardom, and was never given much credit for the roles she had, although there were some exceptions.
In the early '20s, Key had a well-known love affair with silent-film actor Buster Keaton, who was married at the time. As told in Keaton's biography, the actor attempted to call off the relationship, but Key flew into a jealous rage and ransacked his MGM dressing room, which caused her to be virtually blacklisted afterward by the movie industry. It is also stated that Keaton refused to give Key a monetary loan. A telegram, sent by one of Keaton's friends who had heard about the argument, comically read: "Congratulations. Hear you are off Key."
After her retirement in 1936, Keys spent the rest of her days in moderate comfort at the Motion Picture Country House in Woodland Hills, California, where she died at the age of 51 in 1954. Her interment was located at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.
Known For
Acting
(1936)
(1935)
Thunder in the Night
as Party Guest
(1930)
(1929)
The Phantom of the North
as Colette
(1927)
Irish Hearts
as Clarice
(1927)
Hey! Hey! Cowboy
as Emily Decker
(1926)
Money Talks
as Vamp
(1926)
The Flaming Frontier
as Lucretia
(1926)
The Desert's Toll
as Muriel Cooper
(1926)
Under Western Skies
as Milly Lewis
(1925)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
as Tirzah
(1925)
The Big Parade
as Miss Apperson (uncredited)
(1925)
1925 Studio Tour
as Self
(1925)
A Lover's Oath
as Sherin
(1924)
The Sea Hawk
as Andalusian Slave Girl
(1924)
Revelation
as Madonna
(1924)
The Trouble Shooter
as Nancy Brewster
(1923)
North of Hudson Bay
as Estelle MacDonald
(1923)
Reno
as Yvette - The Governess
(1923)
The Rendezvous
as Varvara
(1923)
Hell's Hole
as Mabel Grant
(1923)
The Man from Brodney's
as Neenah
(1922)
Bells of San Juan
as Florrie Engel
(1922)
West of Chicago
as Señoria Gonzales
(1922)
(1921)
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
as Georgette (uncredited)
(1921)
The Fighting Breed
as Enid MacDonald (as Ethel Payton)
(1920)
The Rookie's Return
as Gloria