Introduction
Cinema Scholars continues our multi-part series on the extraordinary legacy, talent, and life of the Carradine family. This week we take a deep dive into the life and career of Keith Carradine. Last week’s article on John and David Carradine can be found here.
Keith Carradine
Keith Carradine was born into a legacy of acting, inheriting the unique Carradine charm. While not a famous pop-culture legend like his brother David, nor a lovable horror icon like his father John, Keith can boast his own significant signature in talent. On-screen, Keith emits silkier and sexier energy than his brothers or father.
Keith Carradine’s gifts with music also would set him apart within his family as a virtuoso musician and songwriter. He also enjoys a career path that is equally filled with success in both television, film, and stage.
Early Life
Keith Ian Carradine was born on August 8, 1949. He was the middle son born to John Carradine’s second marriage to actress Sonia Sorel. His older brother Christopher was born in 1947 and his younger brother Robert was born in 1954. Two years after Robert’s birth, John and Sonia divorced. The divorce was messy and included a difficult custody battle.
All three children were forced to stay in a court-appointed facility for three months during the custody dispute. In interviews, Keith describes this as a traumatizing time as the brothers were not allowed direct contact with their parents. Sorel eventually lost custody of John due to her unstable behavior, as well as having an affair with a 19-year-old artist. The young brothers would not be allowed to see their mother for years after the divorce.
Gambling It Away
John remarried in 1957 to Doris Grimshaw. She had two children of her own, Michael and Dale, who were adopted by John. Keith describes his upbringing as middle class with a very full house. Although his father had earning potential, gambling and other poor choices led to the family living in humble means.
In a 1991 interview on Fresh Air, Keith describes a time his father gambled away his $40,000 paycheck from his role on Tarzan the Magnificent (1960). Keith claims the elder Carradine made a stop in London after the shoot and not only lost the entire $40,000 but continued to gamble until he owed several times the sum. The large family was forced to relocate into a much smaller home to make ends meet after this folly.
Although John did not make the best financial decisions at times, he was a dedicated provider. Keith admits in an interview with New York Times in 2006 that his father trashed his own career to support his family. Keith said his father took off-beat horror roles in order to pay the bills and keep his family fed and afloat.
Education and Hair
Keith began to flirt with acting in high school where he participated in the school’s theater department. After graduating, he floundered a bit in his career path. He considered becoming a forest ranger, then changed his major to drama, before dropping out completely from school. At this point, Keith’s brother David came to the rescue.
David moved his younger brother in with him and introduced him to his own agent. David also supported Keith financially and was pivotal in jumpstarting his acting career. Keith had a beautiful voice and his musical talents would give him an edge in his career. He accompanied David to interview for a role in the original production of Hair. Keith played the piano while David auditioned.
The casting team noticed Keith during David’s audition. He was asked to sing one of his original songs. In a delightfully surprising turn, Keith ended up landing a part. He would eventually play the leads, Woof and Claude. The show ran for seven years, but Keith left after 11 months and moved on to his first success in films.
Cinematic Debut
In a follow-up to his career on stage, Keith was cast in McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), directed by Robert Altman. It would be one of several collaborations with the director, which also included Thieves Like Us (1974) and Nashville (1975).
Nashville was Keith’s lift-off to fame as not only was the film well-received, but the actor won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for his original composition I’m Easy. The song also won him a Golden Globe for the same category.
Keith followed up his musical success with a short singing career, releasing two albums, I’m Easy (1976) and Lost & Found (1978). I’m Easy did well, but his second album wasn’t as popular. While Keith would continue to use his musical talents throughout his career, his focus soon returned to acting.
Back to Cinema
In 1977, Keith Carradine would be cast as Lieutenant d’Hubert in Ridley Scott’s film, The Duelists. Playing opposite Harvey Keitel and Albert Finney, the film would go on to win Best Debut Film at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival.
Carradine also landed a central role as Spencer in the film Southern Comfort (1981) by director Walter Hill. He then went on to collaborate with Alan Rudolph on many films such as Choose Me (1981), Trouble in Mind (1985), and The Moderns (1988), which co-starred Geraldine Chapline and John Lone. In The Tie That Binds (1995), Keith plays the villainous John Netherwood alongside Daryl Hannah.
That same year, he would work with Walter Hill again in Wild Bill playing Buffalo Bill Cody. Keith continues to enjoy a busy career starring in movies such as Cowboys & Aliens (2011), Terrior (2014), Ray Meets Helen (2017), and The Year of the Dog (2021).
Working With Family
Keith played “Middle Caine” in the training sequences of the legendary television show Kung Fu, although he is uncredited for the role. The show turned his brother David into a worldwide star. Keith also appeared on the stage with his father John as Dude in the play Tobacco Road in a one-time performance.
As Keith became more prolific in films throughout the 1970s, he would occasionally audition for the same part as his brother David. Both he and David had auditioned for the role of Bellocq in Pretty Baby (1978), as well as for the part of Woody Guthrie in Bound For Glory (1976), directed by Hal Ashby.
Keith was cast in Pretty Baby, along with co-stars Susan Sarandon and then 11-year-old Brooke Shields. David, on the other hand, had snagged the role in Bound For Glory. In his Fresh Air interview, Keith states that the competition with his brother was friendly, with no animosity.
Keith Carradine would eventually work alongside both Robert and David in the film The Long Riders (1980). The siblings in real life would play the Younger brothers, starring opposite real-life brothers Dennis and Randy Quaid. The Quaids would play the Miller brothers in the film.
Broadway and Television
Much like John and David, Keith Carradine would continue to keep one foot on the boards of the stage throughout his career. In 1982, he played Dillard Nations for six months in the original Broadway run of Foxfire. Later he starred as Will Rogers in The Will Rogers Follies, the 1991 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical.
He played this role for two years as part of the original cast. The show would later be filmed as a TV movie. Keith would also star in the stage musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in 2005. Carradine continued to star in dozens of TV movies and television shows.
In 1983, Keith was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for his role as Foxy Funderburke in the show Chiefs. Other notable roles included Wild Bill Hickock in the TV Series Deadwood and Special Agent Lundy in Dexter. He also starred in Fargo, Damages, The Big Bang Theory, and most recently Fear the Walking Dead.
Personal Life
During his work in Hair, Keith began a love affair with Shelley Plimpton. At the time, she was separated, but still married to Steve Curry, who played Woof, the lead in the production. Shelley became pregnant with Keith’s daughter, Martha Plimpton. Keith admitted that as a young man, the prospects of raising a baby scared him away.
Keith would meet Martha Plimpton for the first time when she was four years old. The actress and singer gave credit to Shelley for being a great mother. Subsequently, Carradine has had an active relationship with his daughter and shows his support publicly.
In 1982, Keith Carradine married Sandra Will, a co-star in the film Choose Me (1984). They had two children together, Cade and Sorel Carradine. The couple separated in 1993 and then divorced in 1999 in a scandalous dispute.
Sandra became romantically involved with a notorious private investigator, Anthony Pelicano, during her separation from Keith. She allowed Anthony to wiretap Keith’s phone line illegally to gather evidence in their divorce. Subsequently, Keith sued Will and Pelicano for the invasion of privacy.
Sandra eventually pleaded guilty to perjury, having originally denied that Pelicano had tapped Carradine’s phone. Her cooperation reduced her sentence to probation and community service. Pelicano was convicted of a laundry list of crimes due in part to her testimony. Keith was able to settle the lawsuit against Will before it went to trial.
In 1997, during the production of A Hunter’s Moon, which co-starred Burt Reynolds, Keith Carradine would meet his future wife, actress Hayley DuMond. They two would wed in Italy in 2006 and have remained married to this day.
In Summation
With an illustrious and ongoing career, Keith Carradine is an honor to his family name. He exudes an affable air about him as he oozes the charming charisma so unique to his Carradine ilk. A joy to watch on screen, we no doubt will have much more wonderful entertainment coming our way from him.
Stay tuned for our continued Spotlight of the iconic Carradine acting dynasty. In the next installment of this multi-part series, we will turn the Spotlight on to Robert Carradine and Martha Plimpton.
