Keenan, Frank

(1858-1929)

   Born James Francis Keenan in Dubuque, Iowa, the actor had careers in legitimate theatre, vaudeville, and motion pictures. He made his debut in 1879 with the Boston Museum Stock Company. From the 1890s through the 1920s, he acted frequently on Broadway. The New York Times review (4 December 1907) of his performance as General Warren in The Warrens of Virginia (in which little Mary Pickford made her stage debut in a child role) observed, "Indeed, the acting is generally of an excellent quality, Mr. Keenan, as is his habit, getting into the skin of the part and developing in Gen. Warren a character that must have had at least one counterpart among the sincere and chivalrous defenders of the lost cause. His performance has a quality of rich and mellow humor, and is fluently expressive of deeper feelings." Keenan's own play The Oath was produced in 1910. In 1927, he directed The Praying Curve.