Robert Emmett Keane

The embodiment of businesslike dignity, actor Robert Emmett Keane was active in films from his 1929 debut in the talkie short Gossip through the 1956 second feature When Gangland Strikes. Because of his distinguished, above-reproach demeanor, Keane was often effectively cast as confidence men, shady attorneys and mystery murderers: after all, if he can convince the gullible folks people on-screen that he's honest, it's likely the audience will fall for the same line. Keane is warmly remembered by Laurel and Hardy fans for his roles in three of the team's 20th Century-Fox films of the '40s, playing con artists in two of them (A-Haunting We Will Go and Jitterbugs). In the early '50s, Keane played Captain Brackett in the national touring company of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical triumph South Pacific. In private life, Robert Emmett Keane was the husband of Claire Whitney. - Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide