Frederick King Keller (born 1954 in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

) is an American director, producer, and screenwriter for film and television. He is also credited under the names Frederick K. Keller, Fred K. Keller and Fred Keller. He is the son of actor/screenwriter Frederick A. Keller. His father was a television pioneer who produced and directed the first weekly dramatic series seen on television. Besides acting and directing in theater his father also ran several art-house movie theaters in Buffalo which the young Fred became intimately involved with and which formed the root of his cinematic education. While earning his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in English from Hamilton College he was able to meet, study, and work with Nat Boxer, one of

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...

's favorite technicians, then at Hamilton's sister school Kirkland College. While still in school, Fred produced and directed several short films, one of which, ''A Winter's Tale'', was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. After producing and directing several short drama films for the Communications Office of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo (one of which, ''A Midnight Clear'', won a Gabriel Award), they asked him to develop and direct a feature-length film for local television entitled ''Skeleton Key''. Following the success of that endeavor and due to a connection made at college with the author Natalie Babbitt, Fred produced and directed the original film based on her book ''Tuck Everlasting''. He followed that up with another Babbitt adaptation, ''The Eyes of the Amaryllis''. His third independently produced and directed film was ''Vamping'', starring

Patrick Duffy Patrick Duffy (born March 17, 1949) is an American actor and director widely known for his role on the CBS primetime soap opera ''Dallas'', where he played Bobby Ewing, the youngest son of Miss Ellie, and the nicest brother of J.R. Ewing (pla ...

. Partly due to the success of these films, especially the Babbitt films for young audiences, Fred was engaged to direct half of the episodes for Nickelodeon's first sitcom, ''

Hey Dude ''Hey Dude'' is an American Western comedy series that aired from July 14, 1989 to August 30, 1991 with a total of 65 half-hour episodes produced over five seasons. The show was originally broadcast on Nickelodeon. The series, aimed primarily ...

'', shot entirely on location in Tucson, AZ. The directing of over 200 hours of television followed, including multiple episodes of ''

New York Undercover ''New York Undercover'' is an American Police procedural, police drama that aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox television network from September 8, 1994, to February 11, 1999. The series starred Malik Yoba as Detective J.C. Williams and ...

'', '' The Pretender'', ''

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

'', '' 24'', ''

CSI: Miami ''CSI: Miami'' (''Crime Scene Investigation: Miami'') is an American police procedural drama television series that ran from September 23, 2002 until April 8, 2012 on CBS. Featuring David Caruso as Lieutenant Horatio Caine, Emily Procter as Dete ...

'', '' Boomtown'', '' Numb3rs'', ''Life'' and '' Blue Bloods''. He has also been either the Producer or Supervising Producer on a number of shows including The Pretender, Boomtown and Blue Bloods. Most recently he returned to short form with the pilot for the serie
''Weight''
which won the 2016 WGA Award for Short Form New Media-Original. In addition to his film and television career Keller has also directed numerous plays and two operas.

References

External links

*
Fred K. Keller website
1954 births American film directors Film producers from New York (state) American male screenwriters American television directors Television producers from New York (state) Living people Artists from Buffalo, New York Screenwriters from New York (state) {{Tv-director-stub