By most accounts, John Carradine acted in more movies than any other actor in history. Over 500, give or take a few. Son David probably came closer to A-list stardom, thanks to television's "Kung Fu". But without getting quite as much mass-market attention, David's younger brother Keith could be the Carradine who ends up with the most substantial career, if he's not there already.
Working a lot with Robert Altman and Alan Rudolph in the '70s and '80s, Keith had great casting luck and an extended run playing shifty, enigmatic characters - artists and drifters and outlaws - guys you wanted to like but knew you couldn't trust. It's hard to imagine some of Rudolph's movies without him.
Over the years, he's rarely stopped working. He played Will Rogers on Broadway and got a Tony nomination. He continues to act in films, on stage and on TV. He's in his 60s now, and being a Carradine, seems likely to stick around and keep turning up in stuff roughly forever.
If you're browsing through the video store, looking for a Keith Carradine movie, keep an eye out for these:
"Thieves Like Us" (1974/Robert Altman)
Carradine plays a bank robber and Shelley Duvall's his girlfriend in a Depression-era take on "Romeo and Juliet".
"Nashville" (1975/Robert Altman)
Keith sings his Oscar-winning song, "I'm Easy", while the camera zeroes in on the four women his character has most recently slept with.
"The Duellists" (1977/Ridley Scott)
Keith and Harvey Keitel duel their way through the Napoleonic Wars.
"Welcome To L.A." (1977/Alan Rudolph)
Carradine's a songwriter in Rudolph's ensemble piece about the art of selling out in "the city of the fallen angels."
"Pretty Baby" (1978/Louis Malle)
In Louis Malle's controversial period piece, Carradine plays the photographer E. J. Bellocq, with Susan Sarandon and an underaged Brooke Shields as prostitutes.
"The Long Riders" (1980/Walter Hill)
The James Gang rides again, with the Carradines - David, Keith and Robert - as the Younger brothers.
"Southern Comfort" (1981/Walter Hill)
Carradine and some National Guard buddies go out in the woods too far.
"Choose Me" (1984/Alan Rudolph)
What if you met the world's sketchiest bullshit artist, and everything he told you turned out to be true?
"Trouble In Mind" (1985/Alan Rudolph)
Carradine gets an extreme makeover, as a decent young guy from the country who morphs into a cosmeticized urban punk.
"The Moderns" (1988/Alan Rudolph)
Keith's a painter specializing in forgery and hanging out with Hemingway and the gang in 1920s Paris.
Then & Later: Carradine's most memorable early role was a small part in Altman's "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" (1971), as the kid on the bridge who just wants to go into town and buy a pair of socks. In 2004, he played Wild Bill Hickock in the first few episodes of "Deadwood". He played Buffalo Bill Cody in "Wild Bill" (1995), with Jeff Bridges as Hickock.
