---
name: "Ian Keith"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/ian-keith"
fi1m_id: "ian-keith"
imdb_id: "nm0445246"
tmdb_id: 84230
wikidata_id: "Q541016"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "24 February 1899"
died: "26 March 1960"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 65
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-09-25T02:06:35.223490+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Ian Keith

## Identity

Ian Keith

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/ian-keith
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** ian-keith
- **IMDb ID:** nm0445246
- **TMDB ID:** 84230
- **Wikidata ID:** Q541016
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Keith, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q541016, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0445246/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/84230

Actor. Born 24 February 1899 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Died 26 March 1960.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 24 February 1899, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- **Died:** 26 March 1960
- **Active:** 1934–1956
- **Also known as:** Keith Macaulay Ross, Keith Ross, Ian Keith Ross, Иэн Кит
- **Average Fi1m score:** 65, as actor, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 64 (1), 1940s 64 (1), 1950s 67 (1)
- **Score spread:** 0 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 0 of 1 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Drama 3, History 2, Romance 2
- **Screen time:** 8 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $125m across 2 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Keith, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q541016, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0445246/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/84230

## Biography

Ian Keith was an American actor. Born Keith Ross in Boston, Massachusetts, he began his career on the stage with the Copley Repertory Theatre in Boston in 1919 and made his Broadway debut in the early 1920s.

He appeared in silent films from 1924 and transitioned successfully to sound pictures, becoming a reliable supporting player in historical epics. He worked frequently with Cecil B. DeMille and played roles including Octavian in *Cleopatra* (1934), Rochefort in *The Three Musketeers* (1935 and 1948), and Rameses I in *The Ten Commandments* (1956). He also appeared as Magnus in *Queen Christina* (1933) and in films such as *The Big Trail* (1930), *Nightmare Alley* (1947) and *The Sea Hawk* (1940).

Keith maintained a stage career throughout his life, returning to Broadway in later years in productions including *Saint Joan* (1956) and *The Andersonville Trial* (1959). He died in New York City in 1960.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, ibdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (3)

- *The Ten Commandments* (1956), Fi1m 67, as Rameses I — [page](https://film.one/film/the-ten-commandments.md)
- *All This, and Heaven Too* (1940), Fi1m 64, as DeLangle — [page](https://film.one/film/all-this-and-heaven-too.md)
- *Queen Christina* (1934), Fi1m 64, as Magnus — [page](https://film.one/film/queen-christina.md)

## Complete filmography (89)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Ten Commandments* (1956), as Rameses I — Fi1m 67, [page](https://film.one/film/the-ten-commandments.md)
- *Duel on the Mississippi* (1955), as Jacques Scarlet
- *It Came from Beneath the Sea* (1955), as Adm. Burns
- *New York Confidential* (1955), as Waluska
- *Prince of Players* (1955), as Ghost of Hamlet's father in "Hamlet"
- *The Black Shield of Falworth* (1954), as King Henry IV
- *The Three Musketeers* (1948), as Rochefort
- *Ford Theatre* (1948), series, Actor
- *Forever Amber* (1947), Actor
- *Nightmare Alley* (1947), as Pete Krumbein
- *Dick Tracy's Dilemma* (1947), as Vitamin Flintheart
- *Border Feud* (1947), as Doc Peters
- *Dick Tracy vs. Cueball* (1946), as Vitamin Flintheart
- *Mr. Hex* (1946), as Mr. Raymond, the Hypnotist
- *The Strange Woman* (1946), as Lincoln Pittridge (uncredited)
- *Singing on the Trail* (1946), as Jerry Easton
- *Valley of the Zombies* (1946), as Ormond Murks
- *Northwest Trail* (1945), as Inspector McGrath
- *Song of Old Wyoming* (1945), as Lee Landow
- *The Spanish Main* (1945), as Captain Lussan
- *Phantom of the Plains* (1945), as Fancy Charlie
- *Identity Unknown* (1945), as Maj. Williams
- *Fog Island* (1945), as Dr. Lake
- *Under Western Skies* (1945), as Professor Moffett
- *She Gets Her Man* (1945), as Oliver McQuestion
- *Cowboy from Lonesome River* (1944), as Matt Conway
- *Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat* (1944), as Dr. Paul Recknik
- *Arizona Whirlwind* (1944), as Polini
- *Casanova in Burlesque* (1944), as J. Boggs-Robinson
- *Here Comes Kelly* (1943), as L. Herbert Oakley
- *Nazty Nuisance* (1943), as Chief Paj Mab
- *Bordertown Gun Fighters* (1943), as Cameo Shelby
- *The Man from Thunder River* (1943), as Henry Stevens
- *Five Graves to Cairo* (1943), as Capt. St. Bride (uncredited)
- *I Escaped from the Gestapo* (1943), as Gerard
- *Wild Horse Stampede* (1943), as Carson
- *Corregidor* (1943), as Capt. Morris
- *The Sundown Kid* (1942), as J. Richard Spencer
- *Keep 'Em Sailing* (1942), as FBI Director Sinclair
- *The Payoff* (1942), as Inspector Thomas
- *Fall In* (1942), as Army Doctor
- *Remember Pearl Harbor* (1942), as Capt. Hudson
- *The Sea Hawk* (1940), as Peralta
- *All This, and Heaven Too* (1940), as DeLangle — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/all-this-and-heaven-too.md)
- *Comet Over Broadway* (1938), as Wilton Banks
- *The Buccaneer* (1938), as Senator Crawford
- *White Legion* (1936), as Dr. Julian Murray
- *Mary of Scotland* (1936), as Moray
- *The Preview Murder Mystery* (1936), as E. Gordon Smith
- *Don't Gamble with Love* (1936), as John Crane
- *The Three Musketeers* (1935), as Count de Rochefort
- *Hollywood Extra Girl* (1935), as Crusades Actor (uncredited)
- *The Crusades* (1935), as Saladin
- *Dangerous Corner* (1934), as Martin Chatfield
- *Cleopatra* (1934), as Octavian
- *Queen Christina* (1934), as Magnus — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/queen-christina.md)
- *The Sign of the Cross* (1932), as Tigellinus
- *The Deceiver* (1931), as Reginald Thorpe
- *Susan Lenox* (1931), as Robert Lane
- *The Phantom of Paris* (1931), as Marquis Max Du Touchais
- *The Sin Ship* (1931), as Smiley Marsden
- *A Tailor-Made Man* (1931), as Dr. Gustav von Sonntag
- *The Boudoir Diplomat* (1930), as Baron Belmar
- *Abraham Lincoln* (1930), as John Wilkes Booth
- *The Big Trail* (1930), as Bill Thorpe
- *Prince of Diamonds* (1930), as Rupert Endon
- *The Great Divide* (1929), as Steven Ghent
- *Light Fingers* (1929), as Light Fingers
- *Prisoners* (1929), as Nicholas Cathy
- *The Divine Lady* (1928), as Honorable Charles Greville
- *The Look Out Girl* (1928), as Dean Richardson
- *The Street of Illusion* (1928), as Edwin Booth Benton
- *A Man's Past* (1927), as Dr. Fontaine
- *Two Arabian Knights* (1927), as Shevket
- *Convoy* (1927), as Smith
- *What Every Girl Should Know* (1927), as Arthur Graham
- *The Love of Sunya* (1927), as Louis Anthony
- *The Truthful Sex* (1926), as Tom Barnes
- *The Prince of Tempters* (1926), as Mario Ambrosio, later Baron Humberto Giordano
- *The Lily* (1926), as George Arnaud
- *The Greater Glory* (1926), as Pauli Birbach
- *The Tower of Lies* (1925), as Lars
- *The Talker* (1925), as Ned Hollister
- *My Son* (1925), as Felipe Vargas
- *Enticement* (1925), as Richard Valyran
- *Love's Wilderness* (1924), as Paul L'Estrange
- *Christine of the Hungry Heart* (1924), as Ivan Vianney
- *Her Love Story* (1924), as Captain Kavor
- *Manhandled* (1924), as Robert Brandt

## Gallery

- ![Ian Keith](https://film.one/media/person/1231491/gallery-edae2bfd040f.jpg) Ian Keith — film screenshot (RKO Pictures), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Ian_Keith_in_Dick_Tracy_vs._Cueball.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Ian Keith, vaudeville entertainer Subjects (LCTGM): vaudeville](https://film.one/media/person/1231491/gallery-e354a71a476b.jpg) Ian Keith, vaudeville entertainer Subjects (LCTGM): vaudeville — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Ian_Keith%2C_vaudeville_entertainer_%28SAYRE_4304%29.jpg/1280px-Ian_Keith%2C_vaudeville_entertainer_%28SAYRE_4304%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Ian Keith in the film Dick Tracy's Dilemma - cropped screenshot (1947)](https://film.one/media/person/1231491/gallery-55dcd585f007.jpg) Ian Keith in the film Dick Tracy's Dilemma - cropped screenshot (1947) — RKO Radio Pictures, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Ian_Keith_-_Dick_Tracy%27s_Dilemma_%281947%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Ian Keith, silent film actor and vaudeville entertainer Subjects (LCTGM): actors](https://film.one/media/person/1231491/gallery-8cceac2eb42a.jpg) Ian Keith, silent film actor and vaudeville entertainer Subjects (LCTGM): actors — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Ian_Keith%2C_silent_film_actor_and_vaudeville_entertainer_%28SAYRE_213%29.jpg/1280px-Ian_Keith%2C_silent_film_actor_and_vaudeville_entertainer_%28SAYRE_213%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Ian Keith](https://film.one/media/person/1231491/gallery-beab50d0bf18.jpg) Ian Keith — Image via TMDB
- ![Ian Keith](https://film.one/media/person/1231491/gallery-6fcb70501f2f.jpg) Ian Keith — Image via TMDB
- ![Ian Keith as Orlando in "As You Like It" at the American National Theater, on page 17 of the July 1923 Shadowland.](https://film.one/media/person/1231491/gallery-e9284e364b43.jpg) Ian Keith as Orlando in "As You Like It" at the American National Theater, on page 17 of the July 1923 Shadowland. — Richard Burke, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Ian_Keith_-_As_You_Like_It_-_Jul_1923_Shadowland.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Still from the American historical drama film The Divine Lady (1929). Subjects (LCTGM): motion pictures, actresses, actors](https://film.one/media/person/1231491/gallery-a5b87ffc8a1d.jpg) Still from the American historical drama film The Divine Lady (1929). Subjects (LCTGM): motion pictures, actresses, actors — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/The_Divine_Lady_%28SAYRE_14297%29.jpg/1280px-The_Divine_Lady_%28SAYRE_14297%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/ian-keith