Harvey Keitel facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Harvey Keitel
Keitel at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival
Born	(1939-05-13) May 13, 1939 (age 85) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actor producer
Years active	1967–present
Spouse(s)	Daphna Kastner ​ (m. 2001)​
Partner(s)	Lorraine Bracco (1982–1993)
Children	3
Relatives	Jesse James Keitel (first cousin twice removed)
Military career
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps

Harvey Keitel (/kaɪˈtɛl/ KY-tel; born May 13, 1939) is an American actor known for his portrayal of morally ambiguous and "tough guy" characters. He rose to prominence during the New Hollywood movement, and has held a long-running association with director Martin Scorsese, starring in six of his films: Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967), Mean Streets (1973), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and The Irishman (2019).

Keitel received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Mickey Cohen in Bugsy (1991). He won the AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in The Piano (1993). Keitel has starred in several other films, including Blue Collar (1978), Thelma & Louise (1991), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Bad Lieutenant (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), From Dusk till Dawn (1996), Holy Smoke! (1998), Cop Land (1997), and Youth (2015).

Additionally, Keitel has starred in three films directed by Wes Anderson: Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and Isle of Dogs (2018). Keitel played Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Peter Sadusky in both National Treasure (2004), and National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2006) and reprised his role in the Disney+ series National Treasure: Edge of History (2022). From 1995 to 2017, he was a co-president of the Actors Studio, alongside Al Pacino and Ellen Burstyn.

Early life

Keitel was born in New York City, on May 13, 1939, the youngest child of Jewish immigrants. His mother Miriam (née Klein; 1911–1987) was from Romania and his father, Harry Keitel, was from Poland. His parents owned and ran a luncheonette, while his father worked as a hat maker. He grew up in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn, with his elder sister, Renee, and elder brother, Jerry. He attended Abraham Lincoln High School. He enlisted in the Marines at the age of 17. After his discharge, he worked as a court stenographer for 10–12 years before beginning his acting career.

Career

1967–1988

Keitel in November 2009

Keitel studied under both Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg and at the HB Studio, eventually landing roles in some Off-Broadway productions. During this time, Keitel auditioned for filmmaker Martin Scorsese and gained a starring role as "J.R.", in Scorsese's first feature film, Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967). Since then, Scorsese and Keitel have worked together on several projects. Keitel had the starring role in Scorsese's Mean Streets, which also proved to be Robert De Niro's breakthrough film. .....

In 1977 and 1978, Keitel starred in the directorial debuts of Paul Schrader (Blue Collar, co-starring Richard Pryor and Yaphet Kotto), Ridley Scott (The Duellists, co-starring Keith Carradine), and James Toback (Fingers, in which Keitel played a street hood with aspirations of being a pianist – a role Toback wrote for Robert De Niro to play). In 1979, he was cast as Captain Willard in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979). Keitel was involved with the first week of principal photography in the Philippines. Coppola was not happy with Keitel's take on Willard, stating that the actor "found it difficult to play him as a passive onlooker". After viewing the first week's footage, Coppola replaced Keitel with a casting session favorite, Martin Sheen.

Keitel continued to do work on both stage and screen in the 1980s, often in the stereotypical role of a thug. Keitel played a corrupt police officer in the 1983 thriller Copkiller (co-starring musician John Lydon), before taking a supporting role in the romantic drama Falling in Love (1984), starring Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep. Between 1985 and 1988, he was one of the busiest character actors around, appearing in 16 films and telefilms, including Brian De Palma's mobster comedy Wise Guys (1986), starring Danny DeVito and Joe Piscopo, and as Judas in Martin Scorsese's controversial The Last Temptation of Christ (1988).

Keitel with singer Harry Belafonte in New York, April 2011

1990–2007

He co-starred with Jack Nicholson in the Chinatown sequel The Two Jakes (1990), directed by Nicholson. Ridley Scott cast Keitel as the sympathetic policeman in Thelma & Louise in 1991; that same year, Keitel landed a role in Barry Levinson's Bugsy, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The following year, Keitel played another mobster in the Whoopi Goldberg-starring comedy Sister Act which was a commercial success at the box office.

Keitel starred in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (which he co-produced) in 1992, where his performance as "Mr. White" took his career to a different level. Since then, Keitel has chosen his roles with care, seeking to change his image and show a broader acting range. ..... He co-starred in the Jane Campion film The Piano in 1993, and played Winston "The Wolf" Wolfe in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, an apparent reprise of his Victor the Cleaner character from 1993's Point of No Return. Keitel starred as a police detective in Spike Lee's Clockers (an adaptation of Richard Price's novel, co-produced by Martin Scorsese). In 1996, Keitel had a major role in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's film From Dusk till Dawn, and in 1997, he starred in the crime drama Cop Land, which also starred Sylvester Stallone, Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro.

Michael Caine, Rachel Weisz, Keitel, and Jane Fonda at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015

His later roles include the fatherly Satan in Little Nicky, a wise Navy man in U-571, diligent FBI Special agent Sadusky in National Treasure and the latter's sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets. In 1999, Keitel was replaced by Sydney Pollack on the set of Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, as he quit after doing 68 takes for a scene of his character walking through the door, and appeared in Tony Bui's award-winning directorial debut, Three Seasons (which Keitel also executive produced). Keitel also re-teamed with Jane Campion for Holy Smoke! (co-starring Kate Winslet).

In 2001 Keitel played opposite roles: as a U.S. Army denazification investigator in the film Taking Sides and as SS-Oberscharführer Erich Muhsfeldt in the film The Grey Zone. In 2002, at the 24th Moscow International Film Festival, Keitel was honored with the Stanislavsky Award for his outstanding achievement in the career of acting and devotion to the principles of Stanislavsky's school. He also appeared in the Steinlager Pure commercials in New Zealand in 2007.

2008–present

In January 2008, Keitel played Jerry Springer in the New York City premiere of Jerry Springer: The Opera at Carnegie Hall. In 2008, Keitel was cast in the role of Detective Gene Hunt in ABC's short-lived US remake of the successful British time-travel police drama series Life on Mars. In June 2009, he made a cameo appearance in the Jay-Z video for "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)", a nod to his Brooklyn origins. In 2013, he appeared in a music video for "Pretty Hurts" by Beyoncé. In 2013, he starred in the independent film A Farewell to Fools.

Between 2014 and early 2020, he reprised his role of Winston Wolf from Pulp Fiction as part of a £40 million television advertising campaign for British insurance company Direct Line. In 2021, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Newport Beach Film Festival. In 2022, Keitel starred in Steven Brand's noir thriller Joe Baby alongside Dichen Lachman, Willa Fitzgerald and Ron Perlman. Keitel has recently collaborated with Wes Anderson acting in minor roles in his films Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and Isle of Dogs (2018). He reunited with Martin Scorsese after 30 years appearing as Philadelphia crime family acting boss Angelo Bruno in his gangster movie The Irishman (2019) alongside Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. He reprised his role FBI Agent Peter Sadusky in the recent Disney+ series National Treasure: Edge of History (2022).

Personal life

Keitel and wife Daphna Kastner in 2010

Keitel was in a long-term relationship with American actress Lorraine Bracco from 1982 to 1993, but the relationship ended acrimoniously and triggered a prolonged custody battle over their daughter, Stella (born 1985). He married Canadian actress Daphna Kastner in 2001. He had two more children after Stella: Hudson from his relationship with Lisa Karmazin, and Roman from his marriage to Kastner.

Keitel is an honorary citizen of Romania.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1967	Reflections in a Golden Eye	Soldier	Uncredited
	Who's That Knocking at My Door	J.R.
1970	Brewster McCloud	The Photographer	Uncredited
1973	Mean Streets	Charlie Cappa
1974	Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore	Ben
1975	That's the Way of the World	Coleman Buckmaster
1976	Taxi Driver	Charles "Sport" Rain / Matthew Higgins
	Mother, Jugs & Speed	Tony "Speed" Malatesta
	Buffalo Bill and the Indians	Ed Goodman
	Welcome to L.A.	Ken Hood
1977	The Duellists	Feraud
1978	Blue Collar	Jerry Bartowski
	Fingers	Jimmy "Fingers"
1979	Eagle's Wing	Henry
1980	Death Watch	Roddy
	Saturn 3	Captain Benson	Voice dubbed by Roy Dotrice
	Bad Timing	Inspector Netusil
1982	The Border	"Cat"
	That Night in Varennes	Thomas Paine
1983	Copkiller	Lieutenant Fred O'Connor
	Exposed	Rivas
1984	Falling in Love	Ed Lasky
	Nemo	Mr. Legend
1985	Camorra	Frankie
	The Knight of the Dragon	Clever
1986	Off Beat	Mickey
	Wise Guys	Bobby DiLea
	The Men's Club	Solly Berliner
1987	The Inquiry	Pontius Pilate
	Blindside	Penfield Gruber
	The Pick-up Artist	Alonzo Scolara
1988	The Last Temptation of Christ	Judas Iscariot
	Dear Gorbachev	Nikolaj Bucharin
1989	The January Man	Police Commissioner Frank Starkey
1990	Two Evil Eyes	Roderick Usher	Segment: "The Black Cat"
	The Two Jakes	Julius "Jake" Berman
	Grandi cacciatori	Thomas
1991	Mortal Thoughts	Detective John Woods
	Thelma & Louise	Detective Hal Slocumb
	Bugsy	Mickey Cohen
1992	Reservoir Dogs	Larry Dimmick / Mr. White	Also co-producer
	Bad Lieutenant	The Lieutenant
	Sister Act	Vince LaRocca
1993	Point of No Return	Victor, The Cleaner
	The Piano	George Baines
	Rising Sun	Lieutenant Tom Graham
	Dangerous Game	Eddie Israel
	The Young Americans	DEA Agent John Harris
1994	Monkey Trouble	Azro
	Pulp Fiction	Winston "The Wolf" Wolf
	Somebody to Love	Harry Harrelson
	Imaginary Crimes	Ray Weiler
1995	Smoke	Augustus "Auggie" Wren
	Blue in the Face	Augustus "Auggie" Wren	Also executive producer
	Ulysses' Gaze	A.
	Clockers	Detective Rocco Klein
	Get Shorty	Himself	Uncredited cameo
1996	From Dusk till Dawn	Jacob Fuller
	Head Above Water	George
1997	City of Industry	Roy Egan
	Cop Land	Ray Donlan
	FairyTale: A True Story	Harry Houdini
1998	Shadrach	Vernon
	Lulu on the Bridge	Izzy Maurer
	Finding Graceland	Elvis
	Sweets of Roses	Hubie	Voice
	Gunslinger's Revenge (Il mio West)	Johnny Lowen
1999	Three Seasons	James Hager	Also executive producer
	Holy Smoke!	P.J. Waters
	Presence of Mind	The Master
2000	U-571	CPO Henry Klough
	Prince of Central Park	The Guardian
	Little Nicky	Satan
	Viper	Leone	Keitel is dubbed in Italian by Giancarlo Giannini
2001	Nailed	Tony Romano
	The Grey Zone	SS-Oberscharführer Erich Muhsfeldt	Also executive producer
	Taking Sides	Major Steve Arnold
2002	Ginostra	Matt Benson
	Red Dragon	FBI Agent Jack Crawford
	Beeper	Zolo
2003	Crime Spree	Frankie Zammeti
	The Galíndez File	Edward Robards
	Who Killed the Idea?	Private Investigator	Short film
	Dreaming of Julia	"Che"	Also producer
	Chasing the Elephant	The Mystery Man	Short film
2004	Puerto Vallarta Squeeze	Walter McGrane
	National Treasure	FBI Agent Peter Sadusky
	The Bridge of San Luis Rey	Uncle Pio
2005	Be Cool	Nick Carr
	Shadows in the Sun	Weldon Parish
2006	One Last Dance	Terrtano
	A Crime	Roger Culkin
	The Stone Merchant [it]	The Merchant Ludovico Vicedomini
	Arthur and the Minimoys	Miro	Voice
2007	My ... Year	Zowie
	National Treasure: Book of Secrets	FBI Agent Peter Sadusky
2009	Inglourious Basterds	Allied Commanding Officer	Uncredited voice
	The Ministers	Detective Joe Bruno
	Wrong Turn at Tahoe	Nino
2010	A Beginner's Guide to Endings	Duke White
	Little Fockers	Randy Weir
	The Last Godfather	Don Carini
2012	Moonrise Kingdom	Commander Pierce
2013	A Farewell to Fools	Father Johanis
	The Power Inside	O'Mansky
	The Congress	Al
2014	Two Men in Town	Bill Agati
	The Grand Budapest Hotel	Ludwig
	Rio, I Love You	Himself	Segment: "O Milagre"
	By the Gun	Salvatore Vitaglia
	Gandhi of the Month	Edward Baker
2015	Youth	Mick Boyle
	Outlaws	The Director	Short film
	The Ridiculous 6	"Smiley" Harris
2016	Chosen	Papi
	The Comedian	Mac Schiltz
2017	Madame	Bob Fredericks
	Lies We Tell	Demi
2018	First We Take Brooklyn	Anatoly
	Isle of Dogs	Gondo	Voice
2019	The Last Man	Noe
	Esau	Abraham
	See You Soon	Billy
	The Painted Bird	Priest
	The Irishman	Angelo Bruno
2020	Fatima	Professor Nichols
2021	Blood on the Crown	General Hunter Blair
	Lansky	Meyer Lansky
2022	The Baker	Merchant
2023	Paradox Effect	Silvio
TBA	Hard Matter	TBA	Post-production
	The Wrecker	TBA	Post-production
	Hellfire	Jeremiah	Post-production

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Television

Theatre

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Harvey Keitel para niños In Spanish: Harvey Keitel para niños