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The Final Resting Place of Brian Keith.
Brian Keith
14th.November 1921 - 24th.June 1997.
Actor in many films and TV series.
Located in the Garden of Serenity.
Cause of Death - Suicide.
Brian Keith was born Robert Keith Richey, Jr. in Bayonne, New Jersey to actor Robert Keith and stage actress Helena Shipman (born in Aberdeen, Washington). He made his acting debut in a silent film, Pied Piper Malone (1924) at the age of 3. After high school, he joined the U.S. Marines (1942-1945) where he served during World War II as an aerial gunner and received an Air Medal. This was one of his biggest accomplishments.
After the war, he became a stage actor, branching into films and then television. His biggest break came in 1966 when he landed the role of "Uncle Bill" on the popular television situation comedy Family Affair, a role which garnered him three Emmy nominations for Best Actor. The show made him a household name. He went on to star in such television series as The Brian Keith Show, Heartland, and Hardcastle and McCormick. He also starred in the six-part television series The Zoo Gang as "Stephen 'The Fox' Halliday", about a group of former underground freedom fighters from World War II, with Sir John Mills, Lilli Palmer, and Barry Morse.
Keith was a strong and capable actor who spent many years playing second leads and gruff sidekicks, but is best known for his role as "Uncle Bill" on the television series Family Affair (1966-1971). He was nominated for three Emmys during the popular series' long run.
He married three times, first to Frances Helm, then in 1955, to Judith Landon, and finally, in 1970, to Hawaiian actress, Victoria Young (née Leialoha), who later appeared on The Brian Keith Show (1972-74) as Nurse Punani. Keith fathered a total of four children, but also adopted three others with Judith Landon. One of his children with Victoria Young was Daisy Keith, who also became an actress, appearing with her father in the short-lived series Heartland in 1989.
During the later part of his life, he suffered from emphysema and lung cancer, despite having quit smoking 10 years earlier. He had posed for Camel cigarettes in an endorsement campaign in 1955. He was also experiencing financial problems. He was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on June 24, 1997 at the age of 75, just two months after his daughter, Daisy, had committed suicide.
He is buried next to Daisy at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
Kathy Garver, who played Cissy in Family Affair, was asked about the tragic death of her costar. Her reply serves as a fitting obituary for Brian Keith:
"It was so sad, but it was in line with who he was in real life. He was this very manly man, very in charge of his life, always doing things his way. When his daughter died and he was diagnosed with lung cancer and emphysema, and given only a few weeks to live, there was no way he was going to go out any way other than his way. I truly believe that."
(Chicago Sun-Times, June 23, 2006).