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Doris Keane (December 12, 1881 – November 25, 1945) was an American actress, primarily in live theatre.
In 1920, she made a silent film of ''Romance'' distributed by the then newly formed
Obitsforlife: Ronda Keane Muschenheim (nee Gould) Obituary
Retrieved March 10, 2015 (Wayback Machine; Retrieved March 28, 2018) He acknowledged his paternity but never married Doris. Ronda married Dr , a New York-based thoracic specialist, in 1951.
Doris Keane was an avid reader, leaving behind an extensive library, including The Upanishads. She was a favorite subject for artists of the day, among them the sculptor
Doris Keane
photo at NYP Library
Doris Keane
portrait at the Univ of Louisville, Macauley's Theatre collection
Doris Keane
and Jacob Ben-Ami in 1924 Edward Steichen portrait
Univ. of South Carolina) {{DEFAULTSORT:Keane, Doris 1881 births 1945 deaths People from St. Joseph, Michigan American silent film actresses American stage actresses Deaths from cancer in New York (state) 20th-century American actresses
Early life and family
Keane was born in Michigan to Joseph Keane and Florence Winter. She was educated privately in Chicago, New York, Paris, and Rome and at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.Career
Her first professional role was in ''Whitewashing Julia'' in 1903. This was a small role, but she went on to play leading roles in ''The Happy Marriage'' in 1909 and ''The Lights o' London'' in 1911. In 1913, she played Margherita Cavallini inEdward Sheldon
Edward Brewster Sheldon (Chicago, Illinois, February 4, 1886 – April 1, 1946, New York City) was an American dramatist. His plays include ''Salvation Nell'' (1908) and ''Romance'' (1913), which was made into a motion picture with Greta Garbo.
...
's ''Romance
Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to:
Common meanings
* Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings
* Romance languages, ...
''. Her leading man in this long-running play was William Courtenay
William Courtenay ( 134231 July 1396) was Archbishop of Canterbury (1381–1396), having previously been Bishop of Hereford and Bishop of London.
Early life and education
Courtenay was a younger son of Hugh de Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon ( ...
, who played the part of a priest. Sheldon originally had offered the male lead to his friend John Barrymore
John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly att ...
, but Barrymore turned it down, preferring to still do comedies. Sheldon reportedly fell in love with her and yearned for her all his life. She played this part in the United States and Europe for the next five years and returned in revivals regularly during the 1920s.
In 1918 at the Lyric Theatre, London she was the star of 'Roxana', a comedy by Avery Hopwood. She played the role of Roxana Clayton opposite Basil Sydney.
In 1920, she made a silent film of ''Romance'' distributed by the then newly formed United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...
. Her male lead in the film was Basil Sydney
Basil Sydney (23 April 1894 – 10 January 1968) was an English stage and screen actor.
Career
Sydney made his name in 1915 in the London stage hit ''Romance'' by Edward Sheldon, with Broadway star Doris Keane, and he costarred with Keane in t ...
. She played Catherine the Great in ''Czarina'' in 1922 after Sheldon had revised the play especially for her.
Personal life
She married Basil Sydney, 13 years her junior, in 1918; they divorced in 1925. She had one child, Ronda Keane (1915–2008), born in Cannes, France in 1915. Ronda's father was the financierHoward Gould
Howard Gould (June 8, 1871 – September 13, 1959) was an American financier and the son of Jay Gould.
Early life
Gould was born in Manhattan on June 8, 1871 to railroad financier Jay Gould (1836–1892) and Helen Day Miller (1838–1889). He ...
.Retrieved March 10, 2015 (Wayback Machine; Retrieved March 28, 2018)
Jacob Epstein
Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American-British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1911.
He often produce ...
and the portraitist De Laszlo. There are at least two Royal Doulton
Royal Doulton is an English ceramic and home accessories manufacturer that was founded in 1815. Operating originally in Vauxhall, London, and later moving to Lambeth, in 1882 it opened a factory in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, in the centre of Engl ...
figurines of her, one holding the monkey that was part of the play ''Romance''.
Death
On November 25, 1945, Keane died of cancer in New York City at theLeRoy Sanitarium
The LeRoy Sanitarium, later called the LeRoy Hospital, was a medical facility in New York, New York. It was founded in 1928 by Alice Fuller LeRoy and closed in 1980.
Notable patients
*actress Marguerite Clark entered as a patient and then died th ...
.
References
External links
* *Doris Keane
photo at NYP Library
Doris Keane
portrait at the Univ of Louisville, Macauley's Theatre collection
Doris Keane
and Jacob Ben-Ami in 1924 Edward Steichen portrait
Univ. of South Carolina) {{DEFAULTSORT:Keane, Doris 1881 births 1945 deaths People from St. Joseph, Michigan American silent film actresses American stage actresses Deaths from cancer in New York (state) 20th-century American actresses