Kathleen Key (born Kitty Lanahan; April 1, 1903 – December 22, 1954) was an American

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

who achieved a brief period of fame during the silent era. She is best remembered for playing Tirzah in the 1925 film '' Ben-Hur''.

Early life and career

Born 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 Sou ...

, Key made her debut in the 1920 Australian film ''

The Jackeroo of Coolabong ''The Jackeroo of Coolabong'' is a 1920 Australian silent film starring renowned Australian sportsman Snowy Baker. It was the last of three films he made with the husband and wife team of director Wilfred Lucas and writer Bess Meredyth, both of ...

'', playing a lead role. From that point on to the end of the 1920s, Kathleen Key, sometimes credited as Kathleen Keys, starred in several films, but never really reached stardom itself, and never gained much notice for the roles she had, although there were some exceptions. In 1922, she was featured in ''Omar Khayyam'' (which was not released until 1925 as ''A Lover's Oath'') and played a

vamp The VaMP driverless car was one of the first truly autonomous cars Dynamic Vision for Perc ...

in '' Where's My Wandering Boy Tonight?''. The same year she signed to play with Charles

Buck Jones Buck Jones (born Charles Frederick Gebhart; December 12, 1891 – November 30, 1942) was an American actor, known for his work in many popular Western movies. In his early film appearances, he was credited as Charles Jones. Early life, milita ...

in ''Vamoos'' for Fox Film. Key spent a year in Australia as a leading lady in Snow Baker productions around this time. Prior to making ''Vamoos'', Kathleen starred with John Gilbert in ''St. Elmo'', also for Fox studios. She was cast as an "innocent young thing" rather than playing her usual vamp role. An early career highpoint was her selection as one of the 1923

WAMPAS Baby Stars The WAMPAS Baby Stars was a promotional campaign sponsored by the United States Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers, which honored 13 (15 in 1932) young actresses each year whom they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom. ...

; however, by the end of the decade Key’s had her last significant film role, as Colette in 1929’s ''The Phantom of the North'',. Her name does not appear in the credits of her four final films: as Rosalie Lawrence in ''Sweeping Against the Winds'' (1930), as an unnamed Guest in ''Thunder in the Night'' (1935), and in 1936, as a Dance Hall Girl in ''

Klondike Annie ''Klondike Annie'' is a 1936 American Western film starring Mae West and Victor McLaglen. The film was co-written by West from her play ''Frisco Kate'', which she wrote in 1921 and a story written by the duo Marion Morgan and George Brendan Dowe ...

,'' and finally, a bit part in ''One Rainy Afternoon.'' After these last, tiny roles, Key apparently retired from film altogether.

Personal life

In the early 1930s, Key had a well-known love affair with silent-film actor Buster Keaton, who was married at the time. As told in Marion Meade's biography of Keaton, the actor attempted to call off the relationship, but Key flew into a jealous rage and ransacked his

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

dressing room, which caused her to be virtually blacklisted afterward by the movie industry. Sidney Skolsky, a Daily News columnist, sent Keaton a joking telegram, reading: "Congratulations. Hear you are off Key." It was also reported that the dressing-room fracas was sparked by Keaton refusing to give Key a monetary loan.

Death

After her retirement in 1936, Keys spent the rest of her days in moderate comfort at the Motion Picture Country House in

Woodland Hills, California Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Geography Woodland Hills is in the southwestern region of the San Fernando Valley, which is located east of Ca ...

, where she died at the age of 51, from undisclosed causes, in 1954. She was interred at

Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery is located at 10621 Victory Boulevard in North Hollywood and Burbank, California. The cemetery has an entrance called the Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation that is the final resting place for aviation ...

.''Resting Places''
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Filmography

References

External links