Andrew Keir

Andrew Keir (né Buggy, 3 April 19265 October 1997) was a Scottish actor who appeared in a number of films made by Hammer Film Productions in the 1960s. He was also active in television, and especially in the theatre, in a professional career that lasted from the 1940s to the 1990s.

He starred as Professor Bernard Quatermass in Hammer's film version of '' Quatermass and the Pit'' (1967). He also appeared in the big screen version of the ''Doctor Who'' story ''The Dalek Invasion of Earth'', ''Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.'' (1966). He originated the role of Thomas Cromwell in Robert Bolt's play '' A Man for All Seasons'' (1960).

His obituary in ''The Times'' described him as possessing "considerable range and undeniable distinction."

Early life and career

Keir was born in Shotts, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He was the son of a coal miner, and had five brothers and one sister. At 14, he left school to work down the coal mine alongside his father. He started acting by chance, when he went to meet a friend at the Miners' Welfare Hall, and one member of the cast of an amateur dramatics production being performed at the Hall had failed to turn up. Keir was persuaded to take the minor role of a farmer in the play, and enjoyed the experience so much that he later became a regular in the group's performances.

The group entered a competition in Inverness, where Keir's talent was spotted and he was offered the chance to become a professional actor at the Unity Theatre in Glasgow. Since this was after the start of the Second World War, he could not easily leave his occupation as a miner; he was only able to accept the offer after he obtained a medical diagnosis of pneumoconiosis, which freed him from his work in the mine.

After a few months at the Unity Theatre, he was offered a place at Glasgow's Citizens' Theatre by director Tyrone Guthrie. He accepted, and remained with the Citizens Theatre company for nine years. At the Citizens', he was a contemporary of Phyllida Law and Fulton Mackay; Keir and Mackay used to escort Law from the theatre to the local tram stop so that she would not be accosted by local gangs because of the English accent that she had developed at drama school.

Keir made his film debut in 1950 in ''The Lady Craved Excitement'', and performed in his first major screen role in ''The Brave Don't Cry'' (1952). The film concerned the rescue of a group of miners trapped underground after an accident in the pit, with Keir playing a miner who places a bet on a horse race via the mine's telephone system while trapped; he was given the final line of dialogue, as he emerges from the pit following his rescue and asks who won the race.

Major film and theatre roles

He began to win increasingly prominent film roles throughout the course of the 1950s, appearing in the Ealing comedy ''The Maggie'' (1954) and the ''Titanic'' film '' A Night to Remember'' (1958), in which he portrayed 2nd Engineer John Henry Hesketh He played Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa in the 1963 Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor vehicle ''Cleopatra''.

Keir also continued to act on the stage. He played Robert Burns in the pageant ''I, Robert Burns'' in 1959, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of the poet. In 1960 Keir initiated the role of Thomas Cromwell in the original theatrical production of Robert Bolt's play ''A Man for All Seasons''. Keir's performance in this part was praised by ''The Times'' as being "an arresting figure". In 1964, he was a member of the original West End cast of Lionel Bart's musical ''Maggie May'', playing the trade union leader.

He had first appeared on television on the BBC
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