Zena Keefe

{{short description|American actress}} {{Infobox person | name = Zena Keefe | image = Zena Keefe, pearls and crepe gown in the 1920s - LCCN2014712910 (cropped).jpg | image_size = 200px | caption = Keefe, 1920s | birth_date = {{Birth date|1896|6|26|mf=y}} | birth_place = San Francisco, California, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1977|11|17|1896|6|26}} | death_place = Danvers, Massachusetts, U.S. | birth_name = | spouse = }}

'''Zena Virginia Keefe''' (June 26, 1896 – November 16, 1977) was an American actress in silent film, active in the 1910s and 1920s.<ref name="necro">Vazzana, Eugene Michael. [https://books.google.com/books?id=J5ZZAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Zena+Virginia+Keefe%22 Silent film necrology: births and deaths of over 9000 performers, directors, producers, and other filmmakers of the silent era, through 1993], p. 176 (1995)</ref>

==Early years== Keefe was born on June 26, 1896,<ref name="mpw">{{cite news |title=Zena Keefe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4MUqAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22Zena+Keefe%22&pg=PA1835 |access-date=March 11, 2022 |work=Moving Picture World |date=September 11, 1915 |page=1835}}</ref> in San Francisco, California.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Movies Begin: Making Movies in New Jersey, 1887–1920|author=Spehr, Paul C.|year=1977|page=[https://archive.org/details/moviesbeginmakin0000speh/page/146 146]|publisher=Newark Museum Association|isbn=978-0-871-00121-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/moviesbeginmakin0000speh/page/146}}</ref> Her parents were James P. Keefe and Allie Turbiville Keefe. When Keefe was three years old, she appeared in a production of ''Brownies in Fairyland''. She was educated at a convent in San Francisco until she and her parents moved to New York.<ref name="mpw" />

== Career == For three seasons, Keefe portrayed Little Mother in a touring production of ''The Fatal Wedding''. She left the theater to appear in films with Vitagraph, but after less than a year with that company she began performing as a featured attraction in Keith Vaudeville. Late in 1914, she went back to Vitagraph.<ref name="mpw" />

Keefe's film debut in short films occurred in 1911.<ref>{{cite web |title=Zena Keefe |url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/zena-keefe-p186083 |website=AllMovie |access-date=March 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021082742/https://www.allmovie.com/artist/zena-keefe-p186083 |archive-date=October 21, 2021}}</ref> By 1916, she was playing a substantial role in films including ''Her Maternal Right'', and leading roles in films like ''Enlighten Thy Daughter'' (1917). She continued to appear in at least a few movies every year, until her final appearance in ''Trouping with Ellen'' in 1924.

Keefe's work in films included the serial ''The Perils of Girl Reporters''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Zena Keefe today at Regent Theater in 'Perils' play |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97360178/zena-keefe/ |access-date=March 11, 2022 |work=The Buffalo Times |date=April 8, 1917 |page=41|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> Studios for which she worked included Selznick Pictures.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fox |first1=Charles Donald |last2=Silver |first2=Milton L. |title=Who's who on the Screen |date=1920 |publisher=Ross publishing Company |page=151 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DAOAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Zena+Keefe%22&pg=PA151 |access-date=March 11, 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

== Personal life and death == Keefe married William M. Brownell.{{Citation needed |date=March 2023}}

Keefe died on November 16, 1977, in Danvers, Massachusetts.{{Citation needed |date=March 2023}}

==Selected filmography== * ''Mills of the Gods'' (1912) as Maria, Giulia's sister * ''Her Choice'' (1912) as Edith, the poor niece * ''The Hero of Submarine D-2'' (1916) as Ethel McMasters * ''Her Maternal Right'' (1916) as Mary Winslow * ''La Bohème'' (1916) as Musette * ''Caprice of the Mountains'' (1916) * ''Little Miss Happiness'' (1916) as Sadie Allen * ''The Rail Rider'' (1916) as Mildred Barker * ''Perils of Our Girl Reporters'' (1916) * ''Enlighten Thy Daughter'' (1917) as Lillian Stevens<ref name="plot1">Langman, Larry. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ltcNWzVEaEUC&dq=%22Enlighten+Thy+Daughter%22+abramson&pg=PA325 American film cycles: the silent era], p.325 (1998)</ref> * ''The Challenge Accepted'' (1918) * ''An Amateur Widow'' (1919) * ''Piccadilly Jim'' (1919) as Ann Chester * ''The Woman God Sent'' (1920) * ''His Wife's Money'' (1920) * ''Out of the Snows'' (1920) * ''Red Foam'' (1920) * ''Marooned Hearts'' (1920) as Marion Ainsworth * ''Proxies'' (1921) as Clare Conway * ''After Midnight'' (1921) as Mrs. Phillips * ''The Broken Silence'' (1922) * ''The Broken Violin'' (1923) as Governess * ''None So Blind'' (1923) * ''Trouping with Ellen'' (1924) as Mabel Llewellyn * ''Who's Cheating?'' (1924) as Myrtle Meers * ''Another Man's Wife'' (1924) as Dancer

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category}} *{{IMDb name|0444404}} *{{Find a Grave|105783920}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keefe, Zena}} Category:1896 births Category:1977 deaths Category:American film actresses Category:American silent film actresses Category:Actresses from San Francisco Category:20th-century American actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:American vaudeville performers Category:Film serial actresses