Frederick King Keller, a prolific TV director and producer whose credits include more than 200 hours of episodic television for such series as The Pretender, Blue Bloods, New York Undercover, House, 24 and CSI: Miami, died peacefully January 26 in Los Angeles following a catastrophic brain injury. He was 75.
His death was announced by family.
With a body of work that included film, TV and theater over four decades, Keller was known for the fluidity of his visual style and eliciting strong performances. In 1981 he wrote and directed an original adaptation of Natalie Babbitt’s 1975 novel Tuck Everlasting (a better known 2002 film version was directed by Jay Russell).
Several other films followed for Keller, and by the ’90s his directing career veered increasingly to TV, with credits that would include Hey Dude, Swift Justice, Nash Bridges, New York Undercover, The Pretender, Roswell, Angel, Boomtown, Law Vegas, 24, CSI: Miami, House, Numb3rs, Justified and Blue Bloods, among others.
As a producer, executive producer or supervising producer, Keller’s credits include 24 episodes of The Pretender, Boomtown, 17 episodes of Blue Bloods and the 2017 documentary King Cohen.
Born on April 18, 1950, in Buffalo, New York, Keller was the only son of Frederick A. Keller and Dr. Joyce Keller. His father was an actor and writer who produced and directed the first weekly dramatic television series for WBEN in Buffalo and managed several art-house cinemas in the city. His mother was a speech therapist in the Buffalo public school system.
While earning his Bachelor of Arts in English at Hamilton College, Keller met and studied with Nat Boxer, one of Francis Ford Coppola’s favored technicians. During this period, Keller would direct several short films, including A Winter’s Tale, which screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 1974.
Following graduation, Keller directed several short dramatic films, and developed and directed a feature-length film for local television titled Skeleton Key, a project that led to his version of Tuck Everlasting.
In 1989 Keller was hired to direct half of the episodes of Nickelodeon’s first sitcom, Hey Dude, filmed entirely on location in Tucson, Arizona, launching his prolific TV career. In addition to directing and producing, Keller’s writing credits include the Columbo mystery Columbo Goes to College, starring Peter Falk and guest-starring Robert Culp.
For the stage, Keller directed operas such as Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors and Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, as well as numerous stage productions in Canada, New York, Connecticut, and Los Angeles. He returned to his hometown of Buffalo to direct the annual mid-winter mystery play at the Studio Arena Theatre (now Shea’s 710 Theatre) over multiple seasons.
Keller is survived by his wife of nearly fifty years, Elizabeth. A funeral mass will be held February 25 in Beverly Hills, and a celebration of life on April 18 in Los Angeles and in July in Buffalo.
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