{{short description|American actress}} {{Infobox person | name = Kathleen Key | image = Kathleen Key Stars of the Photoplay.jpg | image_size = | caption = From ''Stars of the Photoplay'', 1924 | birth_name = Kitty Lanahan | birth_date = {{Birth date|1903|4|1|mf=y}} | birth_place = Buffalo, New York, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1954|12|22|1903|4|1|mf=y}} | death_place = Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | other_names = Kathleen Keys<br>Ethel Payton | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1920&ndash;1936 | resting_place = Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery }}

'''Kathleen Key''' (born '''Kitty Lanahan'''; April 1, 1903<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Fox |first=Charles Donald |title=Famous Film Folk |publisher=George H. Doran and Company |year=1925 |location=New York |pages=189}}</ref> – December 22, 1954) was an American actress who achieved a brief period of fame during the silent era. She is best remembered for playing Tirzah in the 1925 film ''Ben-Hur''.

==Early life and career== {{more citations needed|section|date=November 2017}} Born in Buffalo, New York, Key moved with her family to an isolated ranch between Los Angeles and San Francisco while still an infant. Her family moved permanently to Los Angeles when she was nine. With a talent for sketching, her initial ambition was to be a commercial artist, but, as a teenager, she soon found employment playing small parts at nearby film studios.

She was hired by Snowy Baker Productions around this time and spent a year in Australia, where she appeared in eight films, including the 1920 ''The Jackeroo of Coolabong,'' in which she made her starring debut. From her return to the U.S. to the end of the 1920s, Kathleen Key, sometimes credited as Kathleen Keys, starred in several more films, but never reached A-level stardom.

Charles Donald Fox's 1925 encyclopedia of film stars, ''Famous Film Folk'' summarizes her early career and reports that "Her chief off-screen diversions are riding and dancing, in both of which she excells. She is 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighs 118 ibs., and has dark hair and brown eyes."<ref name=":0" />

In 1922, she was featured in ''Omar Khayyam'' (which was not released until 1925 as ''A Lover's Oath'')<ref>{{cite web|last=Kadivar|first=Darius|title=Khayyam Mania!!!: Hollywood's depiction of the great Persian Poet's life|date=March 3, 2003|url=http://www.payvand.com/news/03/mar/1039.html|accessdate=2014-05-01|archive-date=2017-11-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171112131715/http://www.payvand.com/news/03/mar/1039.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> and played a vamp in ''Where's My Wandering Boy Tonight?'' The same year she signed to play with Charles Buck Jones in ''Vamoos'' for Fox Film.

Prior to making ''Vamoos'', Kathleen starred with John Gilbert in ''St. Elmo'', also for Fox studios. She was cast as an "innocent young thing" rather than playing her usual vamp role.

An early career highpoint was her selection as one of the 1923 WAMPAS Baby Stars; however, by the end of the decade Key had her last significant film role, as Colette in 1929's ''The Phantom of the North''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/501257/the-phantom-of-the-north|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131222011151/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/501257/The-Phantom-of-the-North/|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 22, 2013|title=The Phantom of the North (1929) - Overview - TCM.com|website=Turner Classic Movies|language=en|access-date=2017-07-15}}</ref> Her name does not appear in the credits of her four final films: as Rosalie Lawrence in ''Sweeping Against the Winds'' (1930), as an unnamed Guest in ''Thunder in the Night'' (1935), and in 1936, as a Dance Hall Girl in ''Klondike Annie,'' and finally, a bit part in ''One Rainy Afternoon.'' After these last, tiny roles, Key apparently retired from film altogether.{{citation needed|date=November 2017}}

==Personal life== In the early 1930s, Key had a well-known love affair with silent-film actor Buster Keaton, who was married at the time. As told in Marion Meade's biography of Keaton, the actor attempted to call off the relationship, but Key flew into a jealous rage and ransacked his MGM dressing room, which caused her to be virtually blacklisted afterward by the movie industry. Sidney Skolsky, a Daily News columnist, sent Keaton a joking telegram, reading: "Congratulations. Hear you are off Key."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Meade |first1=Marion |title=Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase |publisher=HarperCollins |page=202 }}</ref> It was also reported that the dressing-room fracas was sparked by Keaton refusing to give Key a monetary loan.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23741952/kathleen_key_vs_buster_keaton/ |title=Keaton Tells Story of Beating by Girl |date=1931-02-05 |work=The Pittsburgh Press |access-date=2018-12-08}}</ref>

==Death== On December 22, 1954, Key died from cirrhosis of the liver. She was buried at Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood, California.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ&dq=kathleen+key+valhalla+memorial&pg=PA404 ''Resting Places'']</ref>

==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" |- !Year !Title !Role !Notes |- |rowspan=2|1920 |''The Jackeroo of Coolabong'' |Edith MacDonald | '''Lost''' film |- |''The Rookie's Return'' |Gloria | |- |rowspan=2|1921 |''The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'' |Georgette |Uncredited |- |''The Fighting Breed'' |Enid MacDonald | '''Lost''' film |- |rowspan=4|1922 |''Where's My Wandering Boy Tonight?'' |Veronica Tyler | '''Lost''' film |- |''West of Chicago'' |Señoria Gonzales | '''Lost''' film |- |''Bells of San Juan'' |Florrie Engel | '''Lost''' film |- |''The Beautiful and Damned'' |Rachel | '''Lost''' film |- |rowspan=5|1923 |''Hell's Hole'' |Mabel Grant | '''Lost''' film |- |''The Rendezvous'' |Varvara | |- |''North of Hudson Bay'' |Estelle McDonald |Alternative title: ''North of the Yukon'' <br /> '''Incomplete''' film |- |''Reno'' |Yvette, the governess | |- |''The Man from Brodney's'' |Neenah | '''Incomplete''' film |- |rowspan=3|1924 |''The Trouble Shooter'' |Nancy Brewster | |- |''The Sea Hawk'' |Andalusian Slave Girl | |- |''Revelation'' |Madonna | '''Lost''' film |- |rowspan=3|1925 |''A Lover's Oath'' |Sherin | '''Lost''' film |- |''The Big Parade'' |Miss Apperson |Uncredited |- |''Ben Hur'' |Tirzah |Alternative title: ''Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ'' |- |rowspan=5|1926 |''Under Western Skies'' |Milly Leewis | '''Lost''' film |- |''The Flaming Frontier'' |Lucretia | '''Incomplete''' film |- |''Money Talks'' |Vamp | '''Incomplete''' film |- | ''College Days'' |Louise | '''Lost''' film |- |''The Desert's Toll'' |Muriel Cooper | |- |rowspan=2|1927 |''Hey! Hey! Cowboy'' |Emily Decker | '''Lost''' film |- |''Irish Hearts'' |Clarice | '''Lost''' film |- |1928 | ''Golf Widows'' |Ethel Dixon | |- |rowspan=2|1929 |''The Family Picnic'' |Cleo of Paris | '''Lost''' film |- |''The Phantom of the North'' |Colette |Alternative title: ''Phantoms of the North'' <br /> '''Lost''' film |- |1930 |''Sweeping Against the Winds'' |Rosalie Lawrence | '''Lost''' film |- |1935 |''Thunder in the Night'' |Guest |Uncredited |- |rowspan=2|1936 |''Klondike Annie'' |Dance Hall Girl |Uncredited |- |''One Rainy Afternoon'' |Bit Role |Uncredited<br>Alternative title: ''Matinee Scandal''<br>(final film role) |- |}

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== *''The Los Angeles Times'', "In Race to Reign at Legion's Fete", November 9, 1921, Page III 1. *''The Los Angeles Times'', "Dancers Versatile", January 16, 1922, Page 19. *''The Los Angeles Times'', "Stops Vamping Awhile", July 28, 1922, Page I 14.

==External links== {{Portal|Biography}} {{commons category}} * {{IMDb name|id=0450748}} * {{Find a Grave|10674438}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Key, Kathleen}} Category:1903 births Category:1954 deaths Category:American film actresses Category:American silent film actresses Category:Burials at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery Category:Actresses from Buffalo, New York Category:20th-century American actresses