Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#834
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Stacy Keach represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 54 years in, and Stacy is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Stacy Keach appears in 21 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Stacy. American History X is the clearest case: a film rated 8.5 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for documentary, comedy, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Noah Baumbach, Kevin Connolly, Stephen Gaghan and others, Stacy Keach helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
American History X (1998) as Cameron · If I Stay (2014) as Gramps · Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) as Phantasm and Carl Beaumont (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #834 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
21
1972–2026
Career length
54 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.5
American History X
Average Nutevio score
6.4
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.3
American History X
Most frequent director
Noah Baumbach
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With Noah Baumbach
Most common genre
Drama
9 titles
Average runtime
1h 52m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.0
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.9
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1990s
7.0 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. American History X, Escape from L.A., Batman: Mask of the Phantasm — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.0
Across 4 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
7.0
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1970s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Up in Smoke, The Duellists, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean.
Most productive era
2010s
8 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.01 film | 6.61 film | 8.51 film | 6.21 film | 6.44 films | 6.21 film |
| Action | — | 6.61 film | 5.91 film | — | 6.33 films | — |
| Thriller | — | 6.51 film | 5.91 film | — | 6.25 films | — |
| Comedy | 6.52 films | — | 6.21 film | — | 6.32 films | 6.21 film |
| Crime | — | 6.61 film | 7.31 film | — | 5.82 films | — |
| Horror | — | 6.51 film | 6.21 film | — | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1972The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Bad Bob.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
8.5 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
The current state of the argument, as Self.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
21 of 21 films
as Narrator (voice)
Directed by Leslie Iwerks
as Phantasm and Carl Beaumont (voice)
Directed by Bruce Timm
as Patrick 'Pat' Quid
Directed by Richard Franklin
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Cameron
American History X (1998)
Performance score8.2
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Cameron gives Stacy Keach a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Narrator (voice)
The Pixar Story (2007)
Performance score7.6
The Pixar Story asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Narrator (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Gramps
If I Stay (2014)
Performance score7.5
If I Stay asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Gramps is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Phantasm and Carl Beaumont (voice)
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
Performance score7.4
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Phantasm and Carl Beaumont (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Cameron
Start here. American History X is the clearest statement of what Stacy Keach does — accessible, 119 minutes, and rated 8.5 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Stacy at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Roadgames (1981)
A deliberate change of key after American History X — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
Keeps the mystery register of Roadgames but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Pixar Story (2007)
A deliberate change of key after Batman: Mask of the Phantasm — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
If I Stay (2014)
A deliberate change of key after The Pixar Story — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
John Huston
Director
1 film together
Notably The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
Ridley Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably The Duellists
Lou Adler
Director
1 film together
Notably Up in Smoke
Walter Hill
Director
1 film together
Notably The Long Riders
Richard Franklin
Director
1 film together
Notably Roadgames
Tobe Hooper
Director
1 film together
Notably Body Bags
Bruce Timm
Director
1 film together
Notably Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
John Carpenter
Director
1 film together
Notably Escape from L.A.
Tony Kaye
Director
1 film together
Notably American History X
Leslie Iwerks
Director
1 film together
Notably The Pixar Story
Oliver Stone
Director
1 film together
Notably W.
Robert Rodriguez
Director
1 film together
Notably Machete
Tony Gilroy
Director
1 film together
Notably The Bourne Legacy
R.J. Cutler
Director
1 film together
Notably If I Stay
Bobs Gannaway
Director
1 film together
Notably Planes: Fire & Rescue
Frank Miller
Director
1 film together
Notably Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
James Vanderbilt
Director
1 film together
Notably Truth
Stephen Gaghan
Director
1 film together
Notably Gold
Kevin Connolly
Director
1 film together
Notably Gotti
Noah Baumbach
Director
1 film together
Notably Jay Kelly
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Tony Kaye
Director
1 film together · 8.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
American History XR.J. Cutler
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
If I StayBruce Timm
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Batman: Mask of the PhantasmLeslie Iwerks
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Pixar StoryRidley Scott
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The DuellistsStephen Gaghan
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GoldWalter Hill
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Long RidersLou Adler
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Up in SmokeJames Vanderbilt
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TruthRichard Franklin
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
RoadgamesFrank Miller
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sin City: A Dame to Kill ForJohn Huston
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Life and Times of Judge Roy BeanTony Gilroy
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Bourne LegacyRobert Rodriguez
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MacheteNoah Baumbach
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Jay KellyBobs Gannaway
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Planes: Fire & RescueOliver Stone
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
W.Tobe Hooper
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Body BagsJohn Carpenter
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Escape from L.A.Kevin Connolly
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GottiSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
American History X
as Cameron
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
W.
as Rev. Earle Hudd
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
American History X
as Cameron
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
W.
as Rev. Earle Hudd
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
American History X
as Cameron
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Stacy Keach has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
54 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Drama Legend
Awarded
9 catalogue titles in drama, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
American History X
as Cameron
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
as Phantasm and Carl Beaumont (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
W.
as Rev. Earle Hudd
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
as Phantasm and Carl Beaumont (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
American History X
as Cameron
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Long Riders
as Frank James
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Planes: Fire & Rescue
as Skipper (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
American History X
as Cameron
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
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Bonnie Hunt
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Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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