Background and career
David Lemuel Keith (born May 8, 1954) is an American actor and film director. His breakout role was as aspiring Navy pilot Sid Worley in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), earning Golden Globe nominations for New Star of the Year – Actor and Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. The role paved the way for leading performances in The Lords of Discipline (1983), Firestarter (1984) and the cult thriller White of the Eye (1987). Keith has since appeared in numerous supporting roles, among them Major League II (1994), The Indian in the Cupboard (1995), Poodle Springs (1998), U-571 (2000), Men of Honor (2000), Behind Enemy Lines (2001) and Daredevil (2003). He also portrayed Elvis Presley in Chris Columbus’s musical comedy Heartbreak Hotel (1988), singing several numbers on the soundtrack.
David Lemuel Keith was born on May 8, 1954, in Knoxville, Tennessee, to Hilda Earle, a worker for the Knox County Board of Education, and Lemuel Grady Keith, Jr., a personnel division worker for the Tennessee Valley Authority. His cousin is Mike Keith, former play-by-play announcer for the Tennessee Titans NFL football team, and the current play-by-play announcer for the University of Tennessee Tennessee Volunteers football and basketball teams. He graduated from the University of Tennessee with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Theater.
Keith had an early supporting role in the prison film Brubaker. He had supporting roles in The Rose starring Bette Midler, and An Officer and a Gentleman starring Richard Gere. Keith played a local thug in The Great Santini, starred in The Lords of Discipline and White of the Eye, and held a prominent supporting role in U-571 opposite Matthew McConaughey. Keith played opposite child-star Drew Barrymore in the 1984 thriller Firestarter and Brooke Shields in 1992's Running Wild. He is also well known for his role as Jack Parkman in Major League II starring Charlie Sheen and Tom Berenger. Keith played Elvis Presley in the 1988 film Heartbreak Hotel. He directed The Curse and The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck (in which he also starred). Keith appeared in Ernest Goes to School as Squint Westwood (a spoof of Clint Eastwood) and in The Indian in the Cupboard as the cowboy "Boo-Hoo" Boone. He played the leading role of Nate Springfield in the 2003 film Hangman's Curse. Keith also co-starred in The Class, an American sitcom, as Yonk Allen, a retired professional football player. Other roles include parts in Daredevil and the 2002 television film Carrie. He appeared in the 2004 film Raise Your Voice starring Hilary Duff, and the 2006 film Expiration Date. Keith has appeared on many television series, including NCIS, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, CSI: Miami, High Incident and Hawaii Five-0. In 2010, he co-starred as John Allen, father of Robert Allen (James Wolk) in the short-lived television drama Lone Star.
Keith married Nancy Clark, a realtor, in 2000; they divorced in 2016. They have two children, Presley and Coulter. He is an avid University of Tennessee Volunteers fan and is present on the sidelines for Volunteer football games when his schedule allows. Keith was a National Advisory Board member and spokesperson for PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children. He was present during the sentencing phase for John Couey, who was convicted of kidnapping, raping, and murdering Jessica Lunsford. Keith said that he was planning on going to Washington, D.C., with Mark Lunsford after the sentencing, to lobby Congress for more support of sex offender laws. Notwithstanding the above, Keith was accused by actor Wil Wheaton of mistreating child actors on the set of the 1987 movie The Curse, in a 2022 blog post.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
