# Kathleen Key

Kathleen Key (born Kitty Lanahan; April 1, 1903 – 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

Born in Buffalo, New York, Key made her debut in the 1920 Australian film The Jackeroo of Coolabong, playing a lead role. From that point on to the end of the 1920s, Kathleen Key, sometimes credited as Kathleen Keys, starred in several films, but never really reached stardom itself, and never gained much notice for the roles she had, although there were some exceptions.
In 1922, she was featured in Omar Khayyam (which was not released until 1925 as A Lover's Oath) 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.
Key spent a year in Australia as a leading lady in Snow Baker productions around this time. 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. 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.

## 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." It was also reported that the dressing-room fracas was sparked by Keaton refusing to give Key a monetary loan.

## Death

On December 22, 1954, Key died from cirrhosis of the liver. She was buried at Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood, California.

## Filmography

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