Hilda Keenan Explained

Hilda Keenan
Birth Date:November 1891
Birth Place:New York City, U.S.
Death Date:August 20, 1940 (age 48)
Death Place:New York City, U.S.
Education:Wellesley College
Years Active:1911–1940
Children:Keenan Wynn
Father:Frank Keenan

Hilda Keenan (November 1891 – August 20, 1940) was an American actress and vaudeville performer, part of a family of actors including her father Frank Keenan, her husband Ed Wynn, and her son Keenan Wynn.

Early life

Hilda Keenan was the daughter of actor Frank Keenan and New Brunswick-born Katherine Agnes Long Keenan.[1] Her older sister Frances was also an actress. Keenan attended Wellesley College.[2]

Career

Keenan was in vaudeville with a one-act sketch called Sarah in 1911.[3] She appeared in the plays The Heights (1911),[4] The Road to Arcady (1912),[5] Within the Law and The Salamander.[6] In Within the Law, she co-starred with Margaret Illington;[7] one critic commented that "Hilda Keenan's Agnes Lynch, a blackmailer, is noticeably excellent, and makes an engaging characterization of a rôle which ordinarily would scarcely win our friendly feelings."[8]

Personal life

Keenan was married to actor Ed Wynn from 1914[9] until their protracted, widely publicized[10] and rancorous[11] [12] divorce in 1937.[13] They had a son, actor Keenan Wynn.[14] Hilda Keenan died in New York in 1940, aged 48 years, after years of mental illness including alcoholism.[15] [16]

Her grandson Tracy Keenan Wynn is a screenwriter[17] and her great-granddaughter Jessica Keenan Wynn is an actress.

Notes and References

  1. https://search-proquest-com.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/news/docview/747585744/2823AFAADB7742D3PQ/17 "Began Stage Career in Boston Museum"
  2. https://search-proquest-com.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/news/docview/105236277/2823AFAADB7742D3PQ/2 "Hilda Keenan"
  3. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15884220/hilda_keenan_1911/ "Hilda Keenan"
  4. American Play Company, The Catalogue of the American Play Company, with Original Casts, Volume 2 (American Play Company 1911): 109.
  5. Dixie Hines, Harry Prescott Hanaford, eds., Who's who in Music and Drama (Hanaford 1914): 458.
  6. Ada Patterson, "Grandparents of the Stage" Green Book Magazine (December 1914): 1007.
  7. Mae Tinee, "Miss Keenan Hit with her Dad and Others" Chicago Daily Tribune (August 24, 1913): B3.
  8. https://books.google.com/books?id=IDE_AQAAMAAJ&dq=Hilda+Keenan&pg=PA439 "The Northwestern Bellman"
  9. https://books.google.com/books?id=wERJAQAAMAAJ&dq=Hilda+Keenan&pg=PA323 "Dramatic Notes"
  10. https://search-proquest-com.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/news/docview/502757829/2823AFAADB7742D3PQ/31 "Ed Wynn's Wife Sues Comedian for Divorce"
  11. https://search-proquest-com.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/news/docview/163240093/2823AFAADB7742D3PQ/16 "Suit Says Ed Wynn Had Guard to Control Wife"
  12. https://search-proquest-com.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/news/docview/150785226/2823AFAADB7742D3PQ/29 "Ed Wynn Is Cruel, His Wife Charges In Separation Suit"
  13. https://books.google.com/books?id=1UQEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Hilda+Keenan+Wynn&pg=PA37 "Reno Divorce Seekers, Class of '37"
  14. https://search-proquest-com.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/news/docview/102268163/2823AFAADB7742D3PQ/3 "Mrs. Ed Wynn Sues for Divorce in Reno"
  15. Jan Stuart, The Nashville Chronicles: The Making of Robert Altman's Masterpiece (Hal Leonard Corporation 2003): 186.
  16. Ted Thackrey Jr., "Character Actor Keenan Wynn, Once Tagged as 'Ed Wynn's Son,' Dies at 70" Los Angeles Times (October 15, 1986).
  17. Bob Thomas, "Acting Centenary for Wynn Clan" Los Angeles Times (May 28, 1976): F26.

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