James Keach

Biography

Leaner, and often cast as meaner, than his older brother Stacy Keach, James Keach has moved from playing usually supporting, often adversarial or villainous, roles to producing and directing for TV and the big screen. Tall, with a "blue collar" air, he sported a mustache for most of his twenty year acting career (1971-91). Keach began on stage in various roles at the prestigious New York Shakespeare Festival before segueing to the small screen as Orville in an acclaimed PBS biography of the Wright Brothers in 1972. He made his feature debut in a small role in "Sunburst" (1975) and went on to appear in supporting roles in "Death Play" (1976), Alan J. Pakula's "Comes a Horseman" (1978) and Jon Troell's remake of "Hurricane" (1979).It took Walter Hill's "The Long Riders" (1980) to help establish Keach. With his brother Stacy, he co-executive produced, co-wrote and co-starred in this revisionist Western. The film's hook had real-life brothers portraying legendary outlaws: David, Keith and Robert Carradine were the Youngers; Randy and Dennis Quaid were the Millers; Nicholas and Christopher Guest were the Fords; and the Keach brothers played Frank and Jesse James. With an effective Ry Cooder score and stunning visuals, "The Long Riders" received excellent reviews and is considered a minor classic. He went on to supporting roles as a motorcycle cop in Harold Ramis' "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983), and as Catherine Hicks' husband in John Byrum's remake of "The Razor's Edge" (1984) and gave a snortingly amusing turn as a Gestapo-like traffic officer in "Moving Violations" (1985).