# Zena Keefe

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{{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](/source/San_Francisco), [California](/source/California), U.S.
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|1977|11|17|1896|6|26}}
| death_place = [Danvers, Massachusetts](/source/Danvers%2C_Massachusetts), U.S.
| birth_name  =
| spouse      =  
}}

'''Zena Virginia Keefe''' (June 26, 1896 – November 16, 1977) was an American actress in [silent film](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Vitagraph_Studios), but after less than a year with that company she began performing as a featured attraction in [Keith Vaudeville](/source/Benjamin_Franklin_Keith). 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](/source/Her_Maternal_Right)'', and leading roles in films like ''[Enlighten Thy Daughter](/source/Enlighten_Thy_Daughter_(1917_film))'' (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](/source/Newspapers.com)}}</ref> Studios for which she worked included [Selznick Pictures](/source/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](/source/Danvers%2C_Massachusetts).{{Citation needed |date=March 2023}}

==Selected filmography==
* ''[Mills of the Gods](/source/Mills_of_the_Gods_(film))'' (1912) as Maria, Giulia's sister
* ''[Her Choice](/source/Her_Choice_(1912_film))'' (1912) as Edith, the poor niece
* ''[The Hero of Submarine D-2](/source/The_Hero_of_Submarine_D-2)'' (1916) as Ethel McMasters
* ''[Her Maternal Right](/source/Her_Maternal_Right)'' (1916) as Mary Winslow
* ''[La Bohème](/source/La_Boh%C3%A8me_(1916_film))'' (1916) as Musette
* ''[Caprice of the Mountains](/source/Caprice_of_the_Mountains)'' (1916)
* ''[Little Miss Happiness](/source/Little_Miss_Happiness)'' (1916) as Sadie Allen
* ''[The Rail Rider](/source/The_Rail_Rider)'' (1916) as Mildred Barker
* ''[Perils of Our Girl Reporters](/source/Perils_of_Our_Girl_Reporters)'' (1916)
* ''[Enlighten Thy Daughter](/source/Enlighten_Thy_Daughter_(1917_film))'' (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](/source/The_Challenge_Accepted)'' (1918)
* ''[An Amateur Widow](/source/An_Amateur_Widow)'' (1919)
* ''[Piccadilly Jim](/source/Piccadilly_Jim_(1919_film))'' (1919) as Ann Chester
* ''[The Woman God Sent](/source/The_Woman_God_Sent)'' (1920)
* ''[His Wife's Money](/source/His_Wife's_Money)'' (1920)
* ''[Out of the Snows](/source/Out_of_the_Snows)'' (1920)
* ''[Red Foam](/source/Red_Foam)'' (1920)
* ''[Marooned Hearts](/source/Marooned_Hearts)'' (1920) as Marion Ainsworth
* ''[Proxies](/source/Proxies_(film))'' (1921) as Clare Conway
* ''[After Midnight](/source/After_Midnight_(1921_film))'' (1921) as Mrs. Phillips
* ''[The Broken Silence](/source/The_Broken_Silence)'' (1922) 
* ''[The Broken Violin](/source/The_Broken_Violin_(1923_film))'' (1923) as Governess
* ''[None So Blind](/source/None_So_Blind_(1923_film))'' (1923) 
* ''[Trouping with Ellen](/source/Trouping_with_Ellen)'' (1924) as Mabel Llewellyn
* ''[Who's Cheating?](/source/Who's_Cheating%3F)'' (1924) as Myrtle Meers
* ''[Another Man's Wife](/source/Another_Man's_Wife_(film))'' (1924) as Dancer

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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

{{Authority control}}

{{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

{{US-film-actor-1890s-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Zena Keefe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zena_Keefe) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zena_Keefe?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.