Douglas McKeown(1947-2022)
- Writer
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Douglas McKeown terrorized several Metuchen, New Jersey neighborhoods
in the 1950s and as a teenager, filmed a T-Rex devouring his brother.
After a brief career teaching film, theatre and literature in the early
1970s (several of his students went on to distinguish themselves in
television, the movies, and on the Broadway stage), he moved to New
York and joined the Jean Cocteau Repertory, first as an actor, playing
a range of characters from Tony Lumpkin in "She Stoops To Conquer" to
the aged Emperor in "The Brass Butterfly" to doubling Duncan and the
Porter in "Macbeth" - and then as a designer of scenery, costumes, and
makeup for revivals of classics such as "The Cenci," "Salome," "As You
Like It," "The Tempest," "Hamlet," "The Dybbuk," "'Tis Pity She's a
Whore," and "The Roman Actor." He worked with Tennessee Williams,
designing the playwright's last world premiere production in New York,
"Something Cloudy, Something Clear." Among the plays Mr. McKeown went
on to direct were "The Witch of Edmonton," "The Oresteia of Aeschylus,"
and "Cymbeline." He also wrote and directed his first feature film
during this time: "The Deadly Spawn" (1983), recently restored to DVD
(Synapse Films, 2004).
In later years, as a videographer, McKeown recorded significant public events for the LGBT Center in New York City, as well as taping their fund-raising documentary "Center Challenge: an Architectural Tour" for the Center's major renovation effort. He also directed (and co-wrote) special scenes for the indie film, "The Watermelon Woman" (1997), shot on location in Philadelphia. While at Sony Music in New York, he joined the team that produced "Sony Music 100 Years: Soundtrack For A Century," a 26-disc box set. In January, 2005 he found the time to return to the stage as an actor in Kafka's "The Trial," the inaugural production of the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, and has subsequently appeared with that company in "Antigone" (2007) and "The Lifeblood" (2008). He is the editor of the anthology, "Queer Stories for Boys" (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2005). He lives in New York City.
In later years, as a videographer, McKeown recorded significant public events for the LGBT Center in New York City, as well as taping their fund-raising documentary "Center Challenge: an Architectural Tour" for the Center's major renovation effort. He also directed (and co-wrote) special scenes for the indie film, "The Watermelon Woman" (1997), shot on location in Philadelphia. While at Sony Music in New York, he joined the team that produced "Sony Music 100 Years: Soundtrack For A Century," a 26-disc box set. In January, 2005 he found the time to return to the stage as an actor in Kafka's "The Trial," the inaugural production of the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, and has subsequently appeared with that company in "Antigone" (2007) and "The Lifeblood" (2008). He is the editor of the anthology, "Queer Stories for Boys" (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2005). He lives in New York City.
