- Keith Andes (actor): His most notable big-screen role – though hardly a major one – was that of Barbara Stanwyck’s younger brother and Marilyn Monroe’s fisherman boyfriend in Fritz Lang’s Northern California-set 1952 melodrama Clash by Night. On the small screen, Andes played Akuta in the 1967 Star Trek episode “The Apple.”
- Birth: Keith Andes was born John Charles Andes on July 12, 1920, in Ocean City, New Jersey, United States. Death: He died at age 85 on Nov. 11, 2005, in Newhall, Santa Clarita, Los Angeles County, California, United States.
- Keith Andes movies: Besides Clash by Night, notable big-screen titles include Raoul Walsh’s semihistorical adventure Blackbeard, the Pirate (1952), Paul Guilfoyle’s crime drama A Life at Stake (1954), and George Marshall’s musical Western The Second Greatest Sex (1955). (See “Keith Andes filmography” further below.)
Keith Andes (actor): Had promising role as Barbara Stanwyck’s younger brother and Marilyn Monroe’s boyfriend in Fritz Lang’s 1952 melodrama Clash by Night
Despite his good looks and a promising role as Barbara Stanwyck’s younger brother and Marilyn Monroe’s boyfriend in Fritz Lang’s 1952 melodrama Clash by Night, Keith Andes never reached stardom.
20th Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck had brought Andes, then in his mid-20s, to Hollywood after watching him perform (as an understudy) in the Broadway production of Moss Hart’s 1943 World War II propaganda piece Winged Victory.
Andes’ Fox career, however, was stillborn. He only got as far as a bit part as a flyer in the George Cukor-directed 1944 big-screen transfer of Hart’s play.
RKO
In the late 1940s, Keith Andes signed with RKO, where, despite a series of disappointing roles and long stretches of idleness, he would achieve a moderate level of recognition. Below are three noteworthy titles:
- In H.C. Potter’s light romantic comedy The Farmer’s Daughter (1947), Andes, Lex Barker, and James Arness are the three burly, protective brothers of Swedish-American housemaid and eventual Best Actress Academy Award winner Loretta Young.
- In Fritz Lang’s melodrama Clash by Night (1952), adapted by Alfred Hayes from Clifford Odets’ 1941 play, Andes – who, oddly, gets an “and introducing” credit – is Joe Doyle, a handsome fisherman who is none too pleased when his hardened older sister (Barbara Stanwyck) returns to the family home in Monterey, California. Besides, he wants to make sure that his prodigal sister doesn’t become a dangerous influence on his sweet but strong-willed girlfriend, sardine cannery worker Marilyn Monroe. (In the play, Robert Ryan was cast as Joe; in the movie, he plays Stanwyck’s virile romantic/sexual interest.)
- Raoul Walsh’s Technicolor adventure Blackbeard, the Pirate (1952), a Christmas release featuring Andes – fourth-billed – as real-life British Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard, who, in this fictionalized yarn about the capture of the titular marauder (Robert Newton), poses as a doctor aboard the ship of Captain Edward Teach (a.k.a. Blackbeard), falls for a pirate’s daughter (Linda Darnell), and shows off his shaved chest. In addition to Newton and Darnell, former Paramount contract player William Bendix was also billed above Andes.
Neither Clash by Night nor Blackbeard, the Pirate led to either better roles or better billing (in A pictures) for Andes, though he did have far better luck on Broadway. (See further below.)
More Keith Andes movies
For the rest of the 1950s, Keith Andes would either land lead roles in B pictures (including overseas) or supporting ones in bigger-budget productions, mostly at Universal. Below are four examples:
- Actor-turned-director Paul Guilfoyle’s independently released low-budget crime drama A Life at Stake (1954), with Andes as an out-of-work architect who becomes professionally and personally entangled with a former real estate broker (Angela Lansbury) whose far older husband (Douglas Dumbrille) is a wealthy businessman. But what’s the couple’s endgame?
- At Universal, George Marshall’s Aristophanes-inspired musical Western The Second Greatest Sex (1955), starring Jeanne Crain and George Nader, and featuring Andes as a priest.
- Back at the now moribund RKO, Mitchell Leisen’s high-camp romantic comedy musical The Girl Most Likely (1957), a Universal-distributed remake of the 1941 Ginger Rogers comedy Tom, Dick and Harry, featuring Andes as a handsome yacht owner and one of Jane Powell’s three suitors – though her ultimate choice is handsome yacht mechanic Cliff Robertson. (The third guy is Tommy Noonan.)
- At Universal, Robert Gordon’s B crime drama Damn Citizen (1958), starring Andes as real-life chief of police Francis Grevemberg, tasked with wiping out corruption in the Louisiana State Police while also getting rid of organized crime in his state.
Also of note, Andes had reportedly auditioned for one of the two male leads in Richard Sale’s Technicolor romantic musical comedy Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955), starring Jeanne Crain and Jane Russell, but the role went instead to either Alan Young or, more likely, the beefier Scott Brady.
Later years
Keith Andes’ film career came to an abrupt halt in 1959, when he had leads in two minor releases:
- John Barnwell’s real-life-inspired World War II drama Surrender - Hell!, set during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines and a sort of B version of Fritz Lang’s American Guerrilla in the Philippines (1950), which had starred Tyrone Power.
- Terry Bishop’s British-made crime thriller Model for Murder, opposite Hazel Court and Michael Gough.
After that, Keith Andes would be seen in small roles in only three titles:
- Al Adamson’s minor crime drama Hell’s Bloody Devils (1970), in which an FBI agent (John Gabriel) becomes enmeshed with organized crime and neo-Nazis. Besides Andes, notable cast members included old-timers Broderick Crawford, Scott Brady, Kent Taylor, and John Carradine.
- Richard Fleischer’s World War II drama Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), a big-budget commercial bomb featuring Andes as Gen. George C. Marshall (who attempts to send out an alert about an imminent attack on Pearl Harbor).
- Way down the cast list, Norman Jewison’s legal drama …And Justice for All (1979), starring eventual Best Actor Oscar nominee Al Pacino.
Oscar Straus and Star Trek
On stage, Keith Andes won the 1947 Outstanding Breakout Performance Theater World Award for his performance as Lieutenant Bumerli in a Broadway revival of Oscar Straus’ 1908 operetta The Chocolate Soldier. In mid-1950, he replaced leading man Alfred Drake in the original production of Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate. (Howard Keel was cast as the lead in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s 1953 movie version.)
Additionally, Andes starred opposite Lucille Ball in the 1960 musical Wildcat – Ball’s only Broadway show – and in 1967 he toured as Don Quixote in a production of Man of La Mancha.
On television, Andes starred in the crime series This Man Dawson (1959–1960), and later played an amateur sleuth in the short-lived 1963 series Glynis, costarring Glynis Johns as his wife. He also had guest roles on numerous shows, among them Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre, The Loretta Young Show, Perry Mason, and, most notably, Star Trek.
In the 1967 episode “The Apple” – featuring elements from The Time Machine and 2001: A Space Odyssey (which would come out the following year) – Keith Andes, under some heavy-duty face paint and an ungainly white wig, is Akuta, one of the (initially) friendly and weirdly childlike inhabitants of a supercomputer-ruled Edenic paradise where there is no labor and no lovemaking. The director was Joseph Pevney, who had previously worked with Andes on Universal’s 1956 World War II drama Away All Boats, starring Jeff Chandler and George Nader.
Death
Keith Andes died on Nov. 11, 2005, at his home in the Newhall area of Santa Clarita, a community just northeast of downtown Los Angeles. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office ruled the death a suicide by asphyxiation. Andes, who was 85, had been suffering from various health ailments.
One of his sons, Mark Andes, was an original member of the rock bands Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne.
Keith Andes filmography
Below is the list of Keith Andes’ feature films.
1944 Winged Victory … Flyer (Uncredited)
1947 The Farmer’s Daughter … Sven Holstrom
1949 Project X … Steve Monahan
1952 Clash by Night … Joe Doyle
1952 Blackbeard, the Pirate … Robert Maynard
1953 Split Second … Laryy Fleming
1954 A Life at Stake … Edward Shaw
1955 The Second Greatest Sex … Rev. Peter Maxwell
1956 Away All Boats … Doctor Bell
1956 Back from Eternity … Joe Brooks
1956 Pillars of the Sky … Capt. Tom Gaxton
1957 Interlude … Dr. Morley Dwyer
1957 The Girl Most Likely … Neil Patterson, Jr.
1958 Damn Citizen … Col. Francis C. Grevemberg
1959 Model for Murder … David Martens
1959 Surrender - Hell! … Col. Donald D. Blackburn
1970 Hell’s Bloody Devils … Joe Brimante
1970 Tora! Tora! Tora! … General George C. Marshall
1979 …And Justice for All … Marvin Bates
Endnotes
Keith Andes filmography via the American Film Institute (AFI) Catalog website and other sources.
Keith Andes’ audition for Gentlemen Marry Brunettes via the AFI Catalog.
Keith Andes (Akuta) Star Trek image: Desilu Productions | Paramount, via the website Memory Alpha.
See also: Sean Connery to receive the American Film Institute’s AFI Life Achievement Award.
See also: Cursory overview of the film adaptations of John Fowles’ The Collector, The Magus, and The French Lieutenant’s Woman.
“Keith Andes (Actor) Movies” last updated in July 2024.