Irwin Keyes(1952-2015)
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Large (6'1"), affable, and commanding character actor Irwin Keyes was
born on March 16, 1952 in New York City. Keyes grew up in Amityville,
New York and graduated from Amityville Memorial High School in 1970. He
acted in his first play "The Lower Depths" by Maxim Grody while
attending college. Frequently cast as likable lugs, brutish goons, and
imposing authority figures, Irwin acted in a diverse array of
movies in such genres as horror ("Friday the 13th," "Guilty as
Charged," "House of 1000 Corpses"), comedy ("The Private Eyes,"
"Zapped!;" hilarious as Wheezy Joe in "Intolerable Cruelty"), thriller
("Dream Lover"), science fiction (both "Oblivion" pictures), and action
("The Warriors," "The Exterminator" and its sequel). Keyes achieved his
greatest enduring popularity with his recurring role as endearingly
oafish bodyguard Hugo Majelewski on the hit sitcom "The Jeffersons."
Among the TV shows that Irwin made guest appearances on are "Laverne &
Shirley," "Police Squad!," "Moonlighting," "Married with Children,"
"thirtysomething," "Growing Pains," "Tales from the Crypt," and "CSI:
Crime Scene Investigation." Moreover, Keyes not only acted in TV
commercials and music videos (he was very touching as a struggling down
on his luck actor in the music video for "Good Enough" by Prozak), but
also did voice overs for video games. Irwin lived in Los Angeles,
California and continued to act with pleasing regularity right up until his death at age 63 on July 8, 2015.