Keitel was born in New York City, on May 13, 1939,[4][7] the youngest child of Jewish immigrants. His mother Miriam (née Klein; 1911–1987) was from Romania and his father, Harry Keitel, was from Poland.[8] His parents owned and ran a luncheonette, and his father also worked as a hat maker. He grew up in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn,[9] with his elder sister, Renee, and elder brother, Jerry.[10][11] He attended Abraham Lincoln High School. He enlisted in the Marines at the age of 17. After his discharge, he worked as a court stenographer for 10–12 years before beginning his acting career.[9]
Career
1967–1988
Keitel studied under both Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg and at the HB Studio,[12] eventually landing roles in some Off-Broadway productions.[9] During this time, Keitel auditioned for filmmaker Martin Scorsese and gained a starring role as "J.R.", in Scorsese's first feature film, Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967).[9] Since then, Scorsese and Keitel have worked together on several projects.[9] Keitel had the starring role in Scorsese's Mean Streets, which also proved to be Robert De Niro's breakthrough film. Keitel re-teamed with Scorsese for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), in which he had a villainous supporting role, and appeared with Robert De Niro again in Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), playing the role of Jodie Foster's character's pimp.[9]
In 1977 and 1978, Keitel starred in the directorial debuts of Paul Schrader (Blue Collar, co-starring Richard Pryor and Yaphet Kotto), Ridley Scott (The Duellists, co-starring Keith Carradine), and James Toback (Fingers, in which Keitel played a street hood with aspirations of being a pianist – a role Toback wrote for Robert De Niro to play). In 1979, he was cast as Captain Willard in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979). Keitel was involved with the first week of principal photography in the Philippines. Coppola was not happy with Keitel's take on Willard, stating that the actor "found it difficult to play him as a passive onlooker".[13] After viewing the first week's footage, Coppola replaced Keitel with a casting session favorite, Martin Sheen.
Keitel starred in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (which he co-produced) in 1992,[9] where his performance as "Mr. White" took his career to a different level. Since then, Keitel has chosen his roles with care, seeking to change his image and show a broader acting range.[9] One of those roles was the title character in Bad Lieutenant, about a self-loathing, drug-addicted police lieutenant trying to redeem himself.[9] He co-starred in the Jane Campion film The Piano in 1993,[9] and played Winston "The Wolf" Wolf in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, an apparent reprise of his Victor the Cleaner character from 1993's Point of No Return. Keitel starred as a police detective in Spike Lee's Clockers (an adaptation of Richard Price's novel, co-produced by Martin Scorsese). In 1996, Keitel had a major role in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's film From Dusk till Dawn, and in 1997, he starred in the crime drama Cop Land, which also starred Sylvester Stallone, Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro.
Keitel was in a long-term relationship with American actress Lorraine Bracco from 1982 to 1993,[24] but the relationship ended acrimoniously and triggered a prolonged custody battle over their daughter, Stella (born 1985).[25] He married Canadian actress Daphna Kastner in 2001.[26] He had two more children after Stella: Hudson from his relationship with Lisa Karmazin, and Roman from his marriage to Kastner.[27][28]