Early life

Keith Carradine was born in San Mateo, California. He is the son of actress and artist Sonia Sorel (née Henius), and actor John Carradine. His paternal half-brothers are Bruce and David Carradine, his maternal half-brother is Michael Bowen, and his full brothers are Christopher and Robert Carradine. His maternal great-grandfather was biochemist Max Henius, and his maternal great-grandmother was the sister of historian Johan Ludvig Heiberg.

Carradine's childhood was difficult. He said that his father drank and his mother “was a manic depressive paranoid schizophrenic catatonic—she had it all.” His parents were divorced in 1957, when he was eight years old. A bitter custody battle led to his father gaining custody of him and his brothers, Christopher and Robert, after the children had spent three months in a home for abused children as wards of the court. Keith said of the experience, "It was like being in jail. There were bars on the windows, and we were only allowed to see our parents through glass doors. It was very sad. We would stand there on either side of the glass door crying." He was raised primarily by his maternal grandmother, and he rarely saw either of his parents. His mother was not permitted to see him for eight years following the custody settlement.

After high school, Carradine entertained the thought of becoming a forest ranger but opted to study drama at Colorado State University. He dropped out after one semester and drifted back to California, moving in with his older half-brother, David. David encouraged Keith to pursue an acting career, paid for his acting and vocal lessons, and helped him get an agent.

Career

Stage

As a youth, Carradine had opportunities to appear on stage with his father, John Carradine, in the latter's productions of Shakespeare. Thus, he had some background in theater when he was cast in the original Broadway run of Hair (1969), which launched his acting career. In that production he started out in the chorus and worked his way up to the lead roles playing Woof and Claude. He said of his involvement in Hair, "I really didn't plan to audition. I just went along with my brother, David, and his girlfriend at the time, Barbara Hershey, and two of their friends. I was simply going to play the piano for them while they sang, but I'm the one the staff wound up getting interested in."

His stage career is further distinguished by his Tony-nominated performance, for Best Actor (Musical) as the title character in the Tony Award winning musical, the Will Rogers Follies in 1991, for which he also received a Drama Desk nomination. He won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Foxfire with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, and appeared as Lawrence in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Imperial Theater. In 2008, he appeared as Dr. Farquhar Off-Broadway in Mindgame, a thriller by Antony Horowitz, directed by Ken Russell, who made his New York directorial debut with the production. In March and April 2013, he starred in the Broadway production of Hands on a Hardbody. He was nominated for the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for his work.

Film

Carradine's first notable film appearance was in director Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971). His next film, Emperor of the North Pole (1973), was re-released with a shorter title Emperor of the North. Carradine played a young aspiring hobo. The film was directed by Robert Aldrich and also starred Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine. Carradine then starred in Altman's film Thieves Like Us (1974), then played a principal character, a callow, womanizing folk singer, Tom Frank, in Altman's critically acclaimed film Nashville (1975; see "Music and song writing"). He had difficulty shaking the image of Tom Frank following the popularity of the film. He felt the role gave him the reputation of being "a cad."

In 1977, Carradine starred opposite Harvey Keitel in Ridley Scott's The Duellists. Pretty Baby followed in 1978. He has acted in several offbeat films of Altman's protege Alan Rudolph, playing a disarmingly candid madman in Choose Me (1984), an incompetent petty criminal in Trouble in Mind (1985), and an American artist in 1930s Paris in The Moderns (1988).

He appeared with brothers David and Robert as the Younger brothers in Walter Hill's film The Long Riders (1980). Keith played Jim Younger in that film. In 1981, he appeared again under Hill's direction in Southern Comfort. In 1994, he had a cameo role as Will Rogers in Rudolph's film about Dorothy Parker, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. He co-starred with Daryl Hannah as homicidal sociopath John Netherwood in the thriller The Tie That Binds (1995). In 2011, he starred in Cowboys and Aliens, an American science fiction western film directed by Jon Favreau also starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde. Carradine traveled to Tuscany in 2012 to executive produce and star in John Charles Jopson's Edgar Allan Poe inspired film Terroir. In 2013, he starred in Ain't Them Bodies Saints, which won the 2013 Sundance Film Festival award for cinematography.

Music and song writing

His brother, David, said in an interview that Keith could play any instrument he wanted, including bagpipes and the French horn. Like David, Keith integrated his musical talents with his acting performances. In 1975, he performed a song he'd written, "I'm Easy", in the movie Nashville. It was a popular hit, and Carradine won a Golden Globe and an Oscar for Best Original Song for the tune. This led to a brief singing career; he signed a contract with Asylum Records and released two albums - I'm Easy (1976) and Lost & Found (1978). In 1984, he appeared in the music video for Madonna's single "Material Girl." In the early 1990s, he played the lead role in the Tony Award winning musical, The Will Rogers Follies.

Television

In 1972, Carradine appeared briefly in the first season of the hit television series, Kung Fu, which starred his brother, David. Keith played a younger version of David's character, Kwai Chang Caine. In 1987, he starred in the highly rated CBS miniseries Murder Ordained with JoBeth Williams and Kathy Bates. Other TV appearances include My Father My Son (1988), a television film. In 1983, he appeared as Foxy Funderburke, a murderous pedophile, in the television miniseries Chiefs, based on the Stuart Woods novel of the same name. His performance in Chiefs earned him a nomination for an Emmy Award in the "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Special" category. Carradine also starred in the ABC sitcom Complete Savages, and he played Wild Bill Hickok in the HBO series Deadwood.

Carradine hosted the documentary Wild West Tech series on the History Channel in the 2003-2004 season, before handing the job over to his brother, David. In the 2005 miniseries Into the West, produced by Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks, Carradine played Richard Henry Pratt. During the second and fourth seasons of the Showtime series Dexter, he appeared numerous times as FBI Special Agent Frank Lundy. Carradine is credited with guest starring twice on the suspense-drama Criminal Minds, as the psychopathic serial killer Frank Breitkopf. Other shows he appeared in include The Big Bang Theory (as Penny's father), Star Trek: Enterprise ("First Flight" episode) and the Starz series Crash. Carradine has also made two guest appearances on NCIS in 2012 and 2014. Also, in 2014, he had a recurring role as Lou Solverson in the FX series Fargo, followed by a recurring role as President Conrad Dalton on Madam Secretary. He was promoted to series regular, starting with the show's second season .

Video Games

In 2012, Carradine lent his voice to the video game Hitman: Absolution, voicing the primary antagonist Blake Dexter.

Personal life

Keith Carradine met Shelley Plimpton in the Broadway musical Hair. She was married to actor Steve Curry, albeit separated, and she and Carradine became romantically involved. After Carradine left the show and was in California he learned that Shelley was pregnant and had reunited with Curry. He met his daughter, Martha Plimpton, when she was four years old, after Shelley and Steve Curry had divorced. He said of Shelley, "She did a hell of a job raising Martha. I was not there. I was a very young man, absolutely terrified. She just took that in, and then she welcomed me into Martha’s life when I was ready.”

Carradine married Sandra Will on February 6, 1982. They were separated in 1993, before Will filed for divorce in 1999. The couple had two children: Cade Richmond Carradine (born July 19, 1982) and Sorel Johannah Carradine (born June 18, 1985). In 2006, Will pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury for lying to a grand jury about her involvement in the Anthony Pellicano wire tap scandal. She hired, then became romantically involved with, Pellicano after her divorce from Carradine. According to FBI documents, Pellicano tapped Keith Carradine's telephone and recorded calls between him and girlfriend Hayley DuMond at Will's request, along with DuMond's parents. Carradine filed a civil lawsuit against Will and Pellicano which was settled in 2013 before it went to trial.

On November 18, 2006, Keith Carradine married actress Hayley DuMond, in Turin, Italy. They met in 1997 when they co-starred in the Burt Reynolds film The Hunter's Moon.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	McCabe & Mrs. Miller	Cowboy
1973	Emperor of the North Pole	Cigaret
1973	Idaho Transfer	Arthur
1973	Hex	Whizzer
1974	Antoine et Sébastien	John
1974	Thieves Like Us	Bowie
1974	Run, Run, Joe!	Joe
1975	Nashville	Tom Frank	Academy Award for Best Original Song Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
1975	You and Me
1976	Lumière	David
1976	Welcome to L.A.	Carroll Barber
1977	The Duellists	D'Hubert
1978	Pretty Baby	Bellocq
1978	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band	Our Guests At Heartland
1979	Old Boyfriends	Wayne Van Til
1979	An Almost Perfect Affair	Hal Raymond
1980	The Long Riders	Jim Younger
1981	Southern Comfort	Pfc. Spencer
1984	Choose Me	Mickey
1984	Maria's Lovers	Clarence Butts
1985	Trouble in Mind	Coop
1986	L'Inchiesta	Tito Valerio Tauro
1988	The Moderns	Nick Hart
1988	Backfire	Reed
1989	Street of No Return	Michael
1989	Cold Feet	Monte Latham
1990	Daddy's Dyin': Who's Got the Will?	Clarence
1990	The Bachelor	Dr. Emil Gräsler
1991	The Ballad of the Sad Cafe	Marvin Macy
1992	Rabbit Ears: Annie Oakley	Storyteller
1992	CrissCross	John Cross
1994	Andre	Harry Whitney
1994	Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle	Will Rogers
1995	The Tie That Binds	John Netherwood
1996	2 Days in the Valley	Detective Creighton
1997	A Thousand Acres	Ty Smith
1998	Standoff	Zeke Clayton
1999	The Hunter's Moon	Turner
1999	Out of the Cold	Dan Scott
2001	Cahoots	Matt
2001	Wooly Boys	Sheriff Hank Dawson
2002	Falcons	Simon
2002	The Angel Doll	Adjult Jerry Barlow
2002	The Outsider	Noah Weaver
2003	The Adventures of Ociee Nash	Papa George Nash
2004	Hair High	JoJo
2004	Balto III: Wings of Change	Duke
2005	Our Very Own	Billy Whitfield
2005	The Californians	Elton Tripp
2007	Elvis and Anabelle	Jimmy
2007	The Death and Life of Bobby Z	Johnson
2007	All Hat	Pete Culpepper
2008	Lake City	Roy
2009	Winter of Frozen Dreams	Det. Lulling
2010	Peacock	Mayor Ray Crill
2011	The Family Tree	Reverend Diggs
2011	Cowboys & Aliens	Sheriff Taggart
2013	Ain't Them Bodies Saints	Skerritt
2014	The Absinthe Drinkers	Baron Amedeo di Magenta

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	Bonanza	Ern	Episode: "Bushwacked"
1972	Love, American Style	George Pomerantz	Episode: "Love and the Anniversary"
1972	Man on a String	Danny Brown	Television movie
1972-73	Kung Fu	Middle Caine	2 episodes
1980	A Rumor of War	Lt. Murph McCoy	Television movie
1983	Chiefs	Foxy Funderburke	3 episodes Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1984	The Fall Guy	Cook	Episode: "October the 31st"
1984	Scorned and Swindled	John Boslett	Television movie
1985	Blackout	Allen Devlin	Television movie
1986	Half a Lifetime	J.J.	Television movie Nominated—CableACE Award for Best Actor in a Theatrical or Dramatic Special
1986	A Winner Never Quits	Pete Gray	Television movie
1987	Murder Ordained	Trooper John Rule	Television movie
1987	Eye on the Sparrow	James Lee	Television movie
1988	Stones for Ibarra	Richard Everton	Television movie
1988	My Father, My Son	Lt. Elmo Zumwalt III	Television movie
1989	The Revenge of Al Capone	Michael Rourke	Television movie
1989	Hallmark Hall of Fame	Richard Everton	Episode: "Stones for Ibarra"
1989	Confessional	Liam Devlin	4 episodes
1989	The Forgotten	Captain Tom Watkins	Television movie
1990	Judgment	Pete Guitry	Television movie
1991	Payoff	Peter 'Mac' McAllister	Television movie
1992	Lincoln	William Herndon (voice)	Television movie
1994	In the Best of Families: Marriage, Pride & Madness	Tom Leary	Television movie
1994	Is There Life Out There?	Brad	Television movie
1995	Trial by Fire	Owen Turner	Television movie
1996	Special Report: Journey to Mars	Capt. Eugene T. Slader	Television movie
1996	Dead Man's Walk	Bigfoot Wallace	3 episodes
1997	Perversions of Science	Arthur Bristol	Episode: "Dream of Doom"
1997	Keeping the Promise	William (Will) Hallowell	Television movie
1997	Last Stand at Saber River	Vern Kidston	Television movie
1997-98	Fast Track	Dr. Richard Beckett	23 episodes
1999	Outreach	Dr. Vincent Shaw	Television movie
1999	Hard Time: Hostage Hotel	Cpl. Arlin Flynn	Television movie
1999	Night Ride Home	Neal Mahler	Television movie
1999	Sirens	Officer Dan Wexler	Television movie
1999	A Song from the Heart	Oliver Comstock	Television movie
2000	Metropolis	Quincy	Television movie
2000	Enslavement	Pierce Butler	Television movie
2000	Baby	John Malone	Television movie
2001	The Diamond of Jeru	John Lacklan	Television movie
2002	American Experience	Narrator	Episode: "Public Enemy Number 1"
2002	Frasier	Carl (voice)	Episode: "Frasier Has Spokane"
2002	Arliss	Lamar Scott	Episode: "What You See Is What You Get"
2002	Street Time	Frank Dugan	3 episodes
2003	Star Trek: Enterprise	Captain A.G. Robinson	Episode: "First Flight"
2003	Spider-Man: The New Animated Series	Jonah Jameson (voice)	5 episodes
2003	Monte Walsh	Chester 'Chet' Rollins	Television movie
2003	Coyote Waits	John McGinnis	Television movie
2003-04	Wild West Tech	Host	13 episodes
2004	Deadwood	Wild Bill Hickock	5 episodes Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film
2004-05	Complete Savages	Nick Savage	19 episodes
2005	Into the West	Capt. Richard H. Pratt	Episode: "Casualties of War"
2006	Where There's a Will	Sheriff Clifford Laws	Television movie
2007	American Masters	Narrator	Episode: "Novel Reflections: The American Dream"
2007	Criminal Minds	Frank Breitkopf	2 episodes
2007-09	Dexter	Special Agent Frank Lundy	15 episodes
2008	Numbers	Carl McGowan	3 episodes
2008	Crash	Owen	2 episodes
2009	Law & Order	Martin Garvik	Episode: "Take-Out"
2009	Dollhouse	Matthew Harding	3 episodes
2009	Damages	Julian Decker	5 episodes
2010-2015	The Big Bang Theory	Wyatt	2 episodes
2012	Missing	Martin	7 episodes
2014	Raising Hope	Colt Palomino	Episode: "Anniversary Ball"
2014	The Following	Barry	Episode: "Resurrection"
2014	NCIS	Mannheim Gold	Episode: "Rock and a Hard Place"
2014-15	Fargo	Lou Solverson	9 episodes
2014-present	Madam Secretary	President Conrad Dalton	36 episodes
2015	Mike Tyson Mysteries	Jason B.	Episode: "Jason B. Sucks"

Video Game

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2012	Hitman: Absolution	Blake Dexter	voice

Awards and nominations

• 1975: Winner - Academy Award for Best Original Song
• 1975: Winner - Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
• 1983: Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
• 1991: Nominated - Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
• 1998: Honoree - The 16th Annual Golden Boot Awards (along with brothers David and Robert)
• 2013: Nominated - Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical

[ Source: Wikipedia ]