David Keith (actor) Biography: Wife, Age, Parents, Net Worth, Children, Wikipedia, Movies

Biography

David Lemuel Keith is an American actor and director born on May 8, 1954, in Knoxville, Tennessee.

He is the son of Hilda Earle, a worker for the Knox County Board of Education, and Lemuel Grady Keith Jr. He began his career as a member of the Clarence Brown Theatre Company at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where he earned his Equity card, appearing in musicals. He graduated from the University of Tennessee with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Theatre.

After performing onstage in Chicago, Keith received the chance to star in a television series called Co-ed Fever in 1979, but the show was cancelled after its first episode. For the next few years, he floated from film to film in largely forgettable roles.

The turning point came in 1982. His breakout role was as aspiring Navy pilot Sid Worley in An Officer and a Gentleman, earning him Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor and New Star of the Year. His performance also earned him the ShoWest Award for Male Star of Tomorrow.

The role paved the way for leading performances in The Lords of Discipline (1983), Firestarter (1984), and the cult thriller White of the Eye (1987). Keith also portrayed Elvis Presley in Heartbreak Hotel (1988). By the late 1980s, he also ventured into directing, taking charge of The Curse (1987) and The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck (1988).

He has since appeared in numerous supporting roles, among them Major League II (1994), The Indian in the Cupboard (1995), U-571 (2000), Men of Honor (2000), Behind Enemy Lines (2001), and Daredevil (2003). On television, he has appeared on series including NCIS, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, CSI: Miami, and Hawaii Five-0, and co-starred as Yonk Allen, a retired professional football player, in the sitcom The Class.

Keith was also a member of the National Advisory Board and spokesperson for PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children. He owns a cattle ranch in his native Tennessee.

American actor and director
David Keith
Wiki Facts & About Data
Real Name:	David Lemuel Keith
Stage Name:	David Keith
Born:	8 May 1954 (age 71 years old)
Place of Birth:	Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
Nationality:	American
Education:	University of Tennessee
Height:	1.80 m
Parents:	Hilda Earle, Lemuel Grady Keith, Jr.
Siblings:	N/A
Spouse:	Nancy Clark (m. 2000-2016)
Girlfriend • Partner:	Not Dating
Children:	Presley Keith, Coulter Keith
Occupation:	Actor • Director
Net Worth:	$1.5 million (USD)

Early Life & Education

David Lemuel Keith was born on May 8, 1954, in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, making him 71 years old. His birth date places him under the Taurus zodiac sign, characterised by determination, practicality, and a grounded nature, traits that would come to define his decades-long career in Hollywood.

Keith is of White American (Caucasian) ethnicity. Like the vast majority of people from Knoxville and the broader Tennessee region, he was raised in a predominantly Christian environment, with Protestant Christianity being the dominant faith in the area.

He was born to Hilda Earle, a worker for the Knox County Board of Education, and Lemuel Grady Keith Jr., a personnel division worker for the Tennessee Valley Authority. Both parents held steady civil and public sector roles, and while neither had ties to the entertainment industry, they provided a stable, working-class upbringing in Knoxville that would later inform the grounded, everyman quality Keith brought to many of his on-screen performances. Information regarding his siblings is not available in the public domain at this time.

On the educational front, Keith began his career as a member of the Clarence Brown Theatre Company at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where he earned his Equity card and appeared in musicals like Brigadoon and The Music Man. He subsequently graduated from the University of Tennessee with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Theatre.

After completing his degree, he moved to New York City and acted at Connecticut’s Goodspeed Opera House in the country and western musical The Red Bluegrass Western Flyer Show in 1977, before relocating to Los Angeles, where he landed a guest appearance on the popular ABC sitcom Happy Days in 1978.

Away from acting, his cousin is Mike Keith, the former play-by-play announcer for the Tennessee Titans NFL football team and the current play-by-play announcer for the University of Tennessee Volunteers football and basketball teams.

Career

David Lemuel Keith launched his professional acting career on the stage, cutting his teeth with the Clarence Brown Theatre Company at the University of Tennessee before moving to New York City and then relocating to Los Angeles.

He landed a guest appearance on the popular ABC sitcom Happy Days in 1978, and then co-starred in the extremely short-lived CBS sitcom Co-Ed Fever in 1979, which aired only once. Undeterred, he pivoted to film and began picking up supporting roles.

He appeared in support of Carol Burnett and Ned Beatty in the award-winning drama Friendly Fire on ABC in 1979. That same year, he made a strong impression as a bodyguard alongside Bette Midler in The Rose and as a local thug in The Great Santini, before taking on a prisoner role in the 1980 prison drama Brubaker.

The year 1982 changed everything. His breakout role was as aspiring Navy pilot Sid Worley in An Officer and a Gentleman, earning him Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor and New Star of the Year. The performance announced Keith as a talent worth watching and opened doors to leading roles.

It paved the way for leading performances in The Lords of Discipline (1983), Firestarter (1984) opposite child star Drew Barrymore, and the cult thriller White of the Eye (1987). In Firestarter, he played Andrew “Andy” McGee, the father of a pyrokinetic child, a role that showcased his ability to anchor a genre film with emotional weight.

By the late 1980s, Keith had also developed an interest in the craft behind the camera. He directed The Curse and The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck, the latter of which he also starred in. On screen, he took on one of the more daring roles of his career when he portrayed Elvis Presley in Chris Columbus’s musical comedy Heartbreak Hotel (1988), singing several numbers on the soundtrack opposite Tuesday Weld.

The 1990s saw Keith settle into a steady rhythm of supporting work in major productions. He appeared in Major League II (1994) as the villainous Jack Parkman, and in The Indian in the Cupboard (1995) as the cowboy “Boo-Hoo” Boone. He also appeared in The Two Jakes (1990) and starred opposite Brooke Shields in Running Wild (1992). On television during this period, the chance to work with co-creator and executive producer Steven Spielberg lured him to the ABC police drama High Incident, where he served as a series regular from 1996 to 1997.

Keith found renewed momentum in the early 2000s with a string of high-profile supporting roles. He held a prominent supporting role in U-571 (2000) opposite Matthew McConaughey, and appeared in Men of Honor (2000) and Behind Enemy Lines (2001). He also starred in the television remake of Carrie (2002) and appeared in the superhero film Daredevil (2003).

He played the leading role of Nate Springfield in the horror film Hangman’s Curse (2003) and appeared in Raise Your Voice (2004) starring Hilary Duff. Notably, he starred in two unrelated adaptations of Stephen King novels, both centred on girls with supernatural powers, Firestarter (1984) and the television remake Carrie (2002).

On the television front, Keith built an impressive résumé of guest and recurring appearances across many of the biggest procedural dramas of the era. He appeared on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, CSI: Miami, NCIS, and Hawaii Five-0.

He also co-starred in the American sitcom The Class as Yonk Allen, a retired professional football player. In 2010, he co-starred as John Allen, father of Robert Allen (played by James Wolk), in the short-lived television drama Lone Star. Throughout his career, Keith has demonstrated a consistent willingness to move fluidly between leading and supporting roles, big-screen features and television, and drama and genre fare, cementing his reputation as one of Hollywood’s most reliable and versatile character actors.

Social Media

• Wikipedia: David Keith (actor)
• IMDb: David Keith

Personal Life

David Lemuel Keith is currently 71 years old, having been born on May 8, 1954. He stands at a height of 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m), with a physical presence that has served him well throughout his career playing soldiers, athletes, and rugged Southern characters on screen.

Keith married Nancy Clark, a realtor, in 2000. The couple settled in Knoxville, Tennessee, and had two children together. They divorced in 2016. Their marriage lasted 16 years, spanning what was arguably the busiest and most sustained period of Keith’s television career, during which he appeared on numerous major network series. The names of their two children are Presley Keith and Coulter Keith.

Keith owns a cattle ranch in Tellico Plains, Tennessee, where he has continued to live after his divorce, staying rooted in his home state rather than relocating to Los Angeles full-time. He is an avid University of Tennessee Volunteers fan and is regularly present on the sidelines for Volunteer football games when his schedule allows.

Net Worth

David Lemuel Keith has accumulated his wealth over more than four decades of consistent work in film, television, and directing. David Keith is an American actor, director, and producer with a net worth of $1.5 million.

Not to be confused with fellow actor Keith David, he has more than 100 acting credits to his name. Other estimates place the figure slightly higher, with some sources putting it closer to $2 million, though the $1.5 million figure from Celebrity Net Worth remains the most widely cited.

His wealth has been built from his extensive work in film and television, as well as his endeavours behind the camera as a director and producer. His most commercially significant screen credit remains his role in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), which grossed $190 million at the box office and earned him two Golden Globe nominations.

He went on to appear in several other high-profile productions over the decades, including Firestarter (1984), U-571 (2000), Men of Honor (2000), Behind Enemy Lines (2001), and Daredevil (2003), all of which contributed to his overall earnings.

Keith has never been the type to show off an ostentatious lifestyle. Instead, he values his career and reputation, having remained rooted in his native Tennessee rather than adopting the high-spending habits common in Hollywood circles. He owns a cattle ranch in Tellico Plains, Tennessee, which reflects both his understated approach to wealth and his deep ties to his home state. He remains active, with recent projects including Walden (2023) and Dead Money (2024), suggesting his earnings continue to grow steadily well into his seventies.

Here is David Lemuel Keith‘s body of work, compiled from available records.

Filmography

Movies

• Are You in the House Alone? (1978)
• The Great Santini (1979)
• The Rose (1979)
• Brubaker (1980)
• Back Roads (1981)
• Take This Job and Shove It (1981)
• An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
• Independence Day (1983)
• The Lords of Discipline (1983)
• Firestarter (1984)
• White of the Eye (1987)
• The Curse (1987)
• The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck (1988)
• Heartbreak Hotel (1988)
• The Two Jakes (1990)
• Caged Fear (1991)
• Running Wild (1992)
• Desperate Motive (1993)
• Major League II (1994)
• Ernest Goes to School (1994)
• Deadly Sins (1995)
• The Indian in the Cupboard (1995)
• Invasion of Privacy (1996)
• Ambushed (1998)
• Poodle Springs (1998)
• Question of Privilege (1999)
• Secret of the Andes (1999)
• Cahoots (2000)
• U-571 (2000)
• Men of Honor (2000)
• Behind Enemy Lines (2001)
• Sabretooth (2002)
• Clover Bend (2001)
• World Traveler (2001)
• Hangman’s Curse (2003)
• Daredevil (2003)
• Raise Your Voice (2004)
• Expiration Date (2006)
• Outlaw Prophet: Warren Jeffs (2014)
• Wedding at Graceland (2019)
• Finding Grace (2019)
• Walden (2023)
• I’ll Be Watching (2023)
• Dead Money (2024)

TV Movies and Miniseries

• Friendly Fire (1979)
• The Golden Moment: An Olympic Love Story (1980)
• Gulag (1985)
• Guts and Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North (1989)
• Whose Child Is This? The War for Baby Jessica (1993)
• James Michener’s Texas (1994)
• If Tomorrow Comes (1994)
• Epoch (2001)
• Love and Treason (2001)
• Carrie (2002)
• Deep Shock (2003)
• Path of Destruction (2005)

TV Shows

• Happy Days (1978)
• Co-Ed Fever (1979)
• The Runaways (1979)
• Flesh ‘n’ Blood (1991)
• High Incident (1996–1997)
• Walker, Texas Ranger (2000)
• Martial Law (2000)
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2001)
• NCIS (2003–2004)
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2005)
• CSI: Miami (2008)
• The Class (2006–2007)
• Lone Star (2010)
• Hawaii Five-0 (2010–2019)
• Reckless (2014)

As Director

• The Curse (1987)
• The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck (1988)
• Waterville (2003)

What People Ask