Don Keefer, Had Classic Twilight Zone Role

By Chip Hitchcock: Don Keefer (b. Aug 18, 1916, Highspire, PA) died September 7 in Sherman Oaks, CA, age 98. He was a well-known character actor for half a century. His appearances in genre films included Sleeper (1974 Hugo winner) and Liar Liar (1997), but he was probably most visible as Dan Hollis, who is turned into a jack-in-the-box in the Twilight Zone dramatization of Jerome Bixby’s “It’s a Good Life” (originally published in Star #2). Amusing side note: the child who does this transformation was played by then six-year-old Billy Mumy, who later starred in the regrettable Lost in Space.

4 thoughts on “Don Keefer, Had Classic Twilight Zone Role

  1. Billy Mumy is aloso known as one of the duo of Barnes and Barnes, responsible for “Fish Heads”, and about 100 other songs, many which are better than that one. He started out with some guy named Hitchcock.

    Did Keefer do any other roles in film and TV?

  2. Bill Mumy portrayed the same character, the little boy now grown up, still the terror of the town, in a sequel to the original teleplay on one of the The Twilight Zone revival series’.

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