Zena Keefe
{{short description|American actress}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Zena Keefe
| image = Zena Keefe, pearls and crepe gown in the 1920s - LCCN2014712910 (cropped).jpg
| imagesize = 200px
| caption = Keefe, 1920s
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1896|6|26|mf=y}}
| birth_place = San Francisco, California, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1977|11|17|1896|6|26}}
| death_place = Danvers, Massachusetts, U.S.
| birth_name =
| spouse =
}}
Zena Virginia Keefe (June 26, 1896 – November 16, 1977) was an American actress in silent film, active in the 1910s and 1920s.Vazzana, Eugene Michael. [https://books.google.com/books?id=J5ZZAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Zena+Virginia+Keefe%22 Silent film necrology: births and deaths of over 9000 performers, directors, producers, and other filmmakers of the silent era, through 1993], p. 176 (1995)
Early years
Keefe was born on June 26, 1896,{{cite news |title=Zena Keefe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4MUqAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22Zena+Keefe%22&pg=PA1835 |access-date=March 11, 2022 |work=Moving Picture World |date=September 11, 1915 |page=1835}} in San Francisco, California.{{cite book|title=The Movies Begin: Making Movies in New Jersey, 1887–1920|author=Spehr, Paul C.|year=1977|page=[https://archive.org/details/moviesbeginmakin0000speh/page/146 146]|publisher=Newark Museum Association|isbn=978-0-871-00121-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/moviesbeginmakin0000speh/page/146}} Her parents were James P. Keefe and Allie Turbiville Keefe. When Keefe was three years old, she appeared in a production of Brownies in Fairyland. She was educated at a convent in San Francisco until she and her parents moved to New York.
Career
For three seasons, Keefe portrayed Little Mother in a touring production of The Fatal Wedding. She left the theater to appear in films with Vitagraph, but after less than a year with that company she began performing as a featured attraction in Keith Vaudeville. Late in 1914, she went back to Vitagraph.
Keefe's film debut in short films occurred in 1911.{{cite web |title=Zena Keefe |url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/zena-keefe-p186083 |website=AllMovie |access-date=March 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021082742/https://www.allmovie.com/artist/zena-keefe-p186083 |archive-date=October 21, 2021}} By 1916, she was playing a substantial role in films including Her Maternal Right, and leading roles in films like Enlighten Thy Daughter (1917). She continued to appear in at least a few movies every year, until her final appearance in Trouping with Ellen in 1924.
Keefe's work in films included the serial The Perils of Girl Reporters.{{cite news |title=Zena Keefe today at Regent Theater in 'Perils' play |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97360178/zena-keefe/ |access-date=March 11, 2022 |work=The Buffalo Times |date=April 8, 1917 |page=41|via = Newspapers.com}} Studios for which she worked included Selznick Pictures.{{cite book |last1=Fox |first1=Charles Donald |last2=Silver |first2=Milton L. |title=Who's who on the Screen |date=1920 |publisher=Ross publishing Company |page=151 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DAOAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Zena+Keefe%22&pg=PA151 |access-date=March 11, 2022 |language=en}}
Personal life and death
Keefe married William M. Brownell.{{Citation needed |date=March 2023}}
Keefe died on November 16, 1977, in Danvers, Massachusetts.{{Citation needed |date=March 2023}}
Selected filmography
- Mills of the Gods (1912) as Maria, Giulia's sister
- Her Choice (1912) as Edith, the poor niece
- The Hero of Submarine D-2 (1916) as Ethel McMasters
- Her Maternal Right (1916) as Mary Winslow
- La Bohème (1916) as Musette
- Caprice of the Mountains (1916)
- Little Miss Happiness (1916) as Sadie Allen
- The Rail Rider (1916) as Mildred Barker
- Perils of Our Girl Reporters (1916)
- Enlighten Thy Daughter (1917) as Lillian StevensLangman, Larry. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ltcNWzVEaEUC&dq=%22Enlighten+Thy+Daughter%22+abramson&pg=PA325 American film cycles: the silent era], p.325 (1998)
- The Challenge Accepted (1918)
- An Amateur Widow (1919)
- Piccadilly Jim (1919) as Ann Chester
- The Woman God Sent (1920)
- His Wife's Money (1920)
- Out of the Snows (1920)
- Red Foam (1920)
- Marooned Hearts (1920) as Marion Ainsworth
- Proxies (1921) as Clare Conway
- After Midnight (1921) as Mrs. Phillips
- The Broken Silence (1922)
- The Broken Violin (1923) as Governess
- None So Blind (1923)
- Trouping with Ellen (1924) as Mabel Llewellyn
- Who's Cheating? (1924) as Myrtle Meers
- Another Man's Wife (1924) as Dancer
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{IMDb name|0444404}}
- {{Find a Grave|105783920}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keefe, Zena}}
Category:American film actresses
Category:American silent film actresses
Category:Actresses from San Francisco
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:American stage actresses
Category:American vaudeville performers
Category:Film serial actresses
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