Malcolm Keen

Malcolm Keen (8 August 1887 – 30 January 1970) (born Malcolm Knee; he later changed his surname to Keen) was an English actor of stage, film and television.¹² He was sometimes credited as Malcolm Keane.³

Born in Bristol, he made his stage debut in 1902 and his first film in 1916.¹ Keen was an early collaborator with the director Alfred Hitchcock, starring in his silent films The Mountain Eagle, The Lodger and The Manxman.⁴ In April 1927, Keen appeared in Packing Up, a short film made in the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process. The film also featured Mary Clare and was directed by Miles Mander.⁵

Keen was the father of actor Geoffrey Keen, and the two both played Iachimo in Cymbeline opposite Peggy Ashcroft: Malcolm at the Old Vic in 1932, Geoffrey at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in 1957.⁶⁷⁸ Keen played in a production of 's at in London in 1923. Incidental music for the play was by , and the ballet in the House-of-the-Moving Walls was created by . Also in the cast, as Hassan, as Yasmin. He also played The Ghost of Hamlet's Father at the Old Vic's production of Hamlet in 1938-39 opposite Alec Guinness who played the title role.