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Hiram Keller

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Hiram Keller
Born
Hiram Keller Undercofler Jr.

(1944-05-03)May 3, 1944
Moody Field, Georgia, U.S.
DiedJanuary 20, 1997(1997-01-20) (aged 52)
Atlanta
Other names
  • Hyram Keller
  • The Face
  • Rusty
  • Rusty Underkoffer
Occupations
  • Actor
  • model
SpouseKristina St. Clair (1981–1987)
Children1

Hiram Keller (May 3, 1944 – January 20, 1997), born Hiram Keller Undercofler Jr., was an American actor and model. Keller was an actor in the original line-up Broadway production of Hair, but he is best known for his role as Ascyltus (credited as Ascilto) in Federico Fellini's 1969 film Satyricon. His professional career spanned around 14 years. He also worked as a runway and print model and acted in the New York underground scene with Andy Warhol. He was known by the nickname 'The Face.'

Early life and education

Hiram Keller Undercofler Jr. was born to Hiram Keller Undercofler Sr. and Flora Gatewood in Moody Field, Georgia on May 3, 1944.[1] His father was a lieutenant in the United States Army Air Corps before becoming the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia.[2][3]

Keller studied law at the University of Georgia before dropping out and moving to Palm Beach, Florida, where he worked as a window designer.[4][5] After a vacation in California, he moved to New York to live with an uncle.[4]

Career

In 1966, Keller attended classes taught by Stella Adler at Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio at Carnegie Hall.[6] "I sat in on a lot of classes and I really couldn't get into it. It just wasn't my cup of tea," he said.[5] He did not adopt Adler's method acting style.[4] "If you tell a producer you're a Method actor, he doesn't want to know you ... It costs a fortune to work with Method actors. It's very tedious, and very long."[3]

Keller dated actress Monique van Vooren. Initially, he used the stage name Rusty Underkoffer, changing to Hiram Keller.[6] When Monique invested in the original production of Hair in 1968, she asked producer Michael Butler to put Keller in the cast.[3] Keller was a member of "the tribe, a group of politically active, long-haired hippies of the 'Age of Aquarius' living a bohemian life in New York City and fighting against conscription into the Vietnam War.[6] Hiram was the first male "nudie" on Broadway, which caused controversy.[7][4]

Keller and his Hair co-star Emmaretta Marks appeared on the cover of the November 1969 issue of After Dark for a special feature on erotica.[8]

Keller caught the attention of Italian filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli, who gave his picture to Italian director Federico Fellini.[9][10] Fellini invited him to fly out to Rome for an audition and cast him in the role of Ascyltus in his surreal adaptation of the surviving portions of Gaius Petronius's work of fiction Satyricon.[10] In describing the character Ascyltus, Keller said: "He's vulgar. He lived for his own self-satisfaction. He's a product of the time. He's me."[10] This role boosted Keller's career internationally. Fellini's long-time employee and screenwriter Bernardino Zapponi wrote of Keller's representation:"[He] has a very photogenic smile and is full of knowledge as required by his role."[11]

After this success, Keller received major roles in the European film market. He had the leading role in the Greek motion picture Orestis (1969), in 1970 he appeared with John Phillip Law in Strogoff, an Italian-French-German-Bulgarian co-production based on Jules Verne's Michel Strogoff; two years later, he starred with Giancarlo Giannini in Alberto Lattuada's comedy Sono stato io and had the male lead role opposite Jane Birkin in the Antonio Margheriti-directed horror movie Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye. In 1973, Keller had the opportunity to play the role of Jean, L'ange in Marcel Carné's La Merveilleuse Visite however he lost the role to Gilles Kohler after failing to fulfill the obligations in his contract to learn French.[12] In 1975, he had the main role in the science fiction thriller Lifespan, with Tina Aumont and Klaus Kinski, followed by Catherine Breillat's A Real Young Girl (1976). He appeared in 1974 in two productions for Italian television, Miklós Jancsó's historical drama Roma rivoule Cesare and in the series Orlando furioso, based on Ludovico Ariosto's epic poem.

Keller and his Satyricon co-star Donyale Luna appeared on the cover of the October 1974 issue of Interview magazine.[9]

In 1982, Keller starred with his wife, at the time, Kristina St. Clair in the cult Jamaican production Countryman, his last film.

Personal life

Keller was bisexual. Among those he was involved with was actress Monique van Vooren, ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, actress Talitha Getty, film director Wallace Potts and Warhol superstar Jackie Curtis.[6][13]

He learnt to speak basic Italian while living in Europe.[10]

He was married to actress Kristina St. Clair from 1981 to 1987 and had a daughter named Serena Keller Undercofler, also known as Cole Keller Undercofler, who works in the film industry as a music supervisor.

His last years were spent with his family in Atlanta, Georgia.

Death

Keller died of liver cancer at age 52 in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, on January 20, 1997. His resting place is located at the Oak Grove Cemetery in Americus, Georgia.

Filmography

References

  1. Lancia, Enrico; Melelli, Fabio (2006). Attori stranieri del nostro cinema (in Italian). Gremese Editore. p. 106. ISBN 978-88-8440-425-1.
  2. "Miss Flora Gatewood Weds Lt. Hiram K. Undercofler". The Atlanta Constitution. July 5, 1942. pp. 4C. Retrieved June 14, 2025.
  3. "Undercofler, Hiram K., 1916-1998 - Civil Rights Digital Library". crdl.usg.edu. Archived from the original on December 11, 2024. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
  4. Lewis, Dan (January 7, 1969). "Have 'Hair' and 'Now' Replaced Method?". The Morning Call. p. 11. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
  5. Lawrence, Daimon (October 1974). "Hiram Keller". Interview. 4 (10): 30.
  6. Kavanagh, Julie (November 11, 2008). Nureyev: The Life. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 369–370, 441. ISBN 978-0-375-70472-7.
  7. "After Dark Magazine - December 1968". www.orlok.com. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
  8. "Exotica, Erotica, and Experience: Emmaretta Marks and Hiram Keller". After Dark (11): 7. November 1969.
  9. Faralla, Patty (October 1978). "Hiram Keller: Continental Cool". After Dark. 11 (6): 32.
  10. Kirvay, George (May 18, 1969). "Georgian Heads for Stardon in Film". The Atlanta Journal. pp. 14-F. Retrieved May 18, 2025.
  11. Zepponi, Bernardino (1997). Mein Freund Fellini [My Friend Fellini] (in German). Munich: Langen-Müller. p. 61.
  12. Carné, Marcel (1975) La Vie à belles dents, Paris, Éditions Jean-Pierre Ollivier, 488 p.
  13. Highberger, Craig B. (2005). Superstar in a Housedress: The Life and Legend of Jackie Curtis. New York: Chamberlain Bros. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-59609-079-8.