24 Facts About Andrew Keir

Andrew Keir was a Scottish actor who appeared in a number of films made by Hammer Film Productions in the 1960s.

Andrew Keir was active in television, and especially in the theatre, in a professional career that lasted from the 1940s to the 1990s.

Andrew Keir appeared in the big screen version of the Doctor Who story The Dalek Invasion of Earth, Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 AD.

Andrew Keir originated the role of Thomas Cromwell in Robert Bolt's play A Man for All Seasons.

Andrew Keir played Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa in the 1963 Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor vehicle Cleopatra.

Andrew Keir was the son of a coal miner, and had five brothers and one sister.

Andrew Keir started acting by chance, when he went to meet a friend at the Miners' Welfare Hall, and one member of the cast of an amateur dramatics production being performed at the Hall had failed to turn up.

Andrew Keir was persuaded to take the minor role of a farmer in the play, and enjoyed the experience so much that he later became a regular in the group's performances.

The group entered a competition in Inverness, where Andrew Keir's talent was spotted and he was offered the chance to become a professional actor at the Unity Theatre in Glasgow.

Andrew Keir accepted, and remained with the Citizens Theatre company for nine years.

Andrew Keir made his film debut in 1950 in The Lady Craved Excitement, and performed in his first major screen role in The Brave Don't Cry.

The film concerned the rescue of a group of miners trapped underground after an accident in the pit, with Andrew Keir playing a miner who places a bet on a horse race via the mine's telephone system while trapped; he was given the final line of dialogue, as he emerges from the pit following his rescue and asks who won the race.

Andrew Keir began to win increasingly prominent film roles throughout the course of the 1950s, appearing in the Ealing comedy The Maggie and the Titanic film A Night to Remember, in which he portrayed 2nd Engineer John Henry Hesketh.

Andrew Keir played Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa in the 1963 Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor vehicle Cleopatra.

Andrew Keir played Robert Burns in the pageant I, Robert Burns in 1959, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of the poet.

In 1960 Andrew Keir initiated the role of Thomas Cromwell in the original theatrical production of Robert Bolt's play A Man for All Seasons.

Andrew Keir had first appeared on television on the BBC in the early 1950s, and through that decade and into the 1960s continued to make guest appearances in a range of programmes, including Danger Man, Dr Finlay's Casebook, The Avengers and Z Cars.

Andrew Keir appeared in a 1968 episode of the ITV series, The Saint.

Andrew Keir appeared in Pirates of Blood River, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, The Viking Queen, Zeppelin and Blood from the Mummy's Tomb.

In 1966, Andrew Keir joined the cast list of the second Doctor Who big screen adventure, Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 AD, alongside Peter Cushing.

Andrew Keir has appeared on screen throughout the 1970s and 80s, in films such as Zeppelin and The Thirty Nine Steps.

Andrew Keir continued to have success with television roles; the Australian series The Outsiders demonstrated again the wide range of types that he could convincingly play, but brought him less praise than the BBC series Workhorses, for which he was nominated for BAFTA Scotland's Best Actor award.

Andrew Keir continued appearing in TV series well into the 1990s, appearing as Macrae of Balbuie in two series of the BBC Scotland drama series Strathblair, and guest starring in an episode of Hamish Macbeth in a part that was written especially for him; the series was produced by his daughter, Deidre.

Andrew Keir died in hospital in London, aged 71, on 5 October 1997.