Very good actor

He has been very good in several roles on Law and Order. Usually plays creepy guys but does it very well!

...we have an exercise called "Fixing the Oscars," in which we vote on who should have been the nominees and winners in a given year. For 1979, Mr. O'Keefe was our #1 choice for Best Supporting Actor in The Great Santini, and Blythe Danner, who played his mother, won Best Supporting Actress.

Mr. O'Keefe was on the cusp of stardom after Santini, and he was also excellent the following year in the TV miniseries A Rumor of War.

Unfortunately, he made a string of poor movies after that, and though his performances were always better than those movies deserved, they killed his career momentum. He has continued to do good work as a character actor, but mostly on TV and onstage.

Evidently, though, he has done more movie work in the last few years than he has since those early days, so perhaps a "second act" is in the works for him. He certainly deserves it!

funny you mention creepy..in his pic on his bio I think he looks creepy. Which is odd because I never saw him in that light before.

no day but today.

>>He has been very good in several roles on Law and Order. Usually plays creepy guys but does it very well!<<

As he's gotten older, he's really grown into those roles, hasn't he? And yet, he always plays them with a touch of pathos and humanity. For example, the drat bum Westie mobster Callie Lonegan on L&O - willingly goes to jail to protect his younger brother (also played by O'Keefe) knowing he'd not survive. That ep is based loosely on the case of the Boston Mobster who had an unholy symbiotic relationship with his childrhood friend who became an FBI man. I think the guys name was Whitey but I can't recall his last name. He disappeared in real life and his whereabouts are still unkown.

The thing that slew me about that performance was the utterly perfect westside Irish NY Accent he used which is derived from a brogue but doesn't sound it to anyone who isn't listening for or who can recgonize the extra aspirations on unvoiced consonants. As the Guinness guys say in the commercials: BRLLIANT! He sounded just like my father!

of course, he is of NYC Irish Ancestry, but based on his bio, I doubt he spent much time in Hell's Kitchen. Besides, men his age really didn't have the exposure to that dialect unless their families were unassimilated. But...I don't care if he nailed it as an actor or if he remembered it from his youth - it was freakin' perfect for the character!

O'Keefe seems to be the L&O Franchise's "go-to" guy now whenever they need an ethnic looking Irishman of middle age to play a priest or..just when they want somebody to play a potentially dirty cop. Good for them. He's probably one of the best character actors working.

I concur. Michael O'Keefe is a fine actor. He was terrific in "The Great Santini." Moreover, he was very likable in "Caddyshack" and once again excellent in "Split Image."

Q: What's the biggest room in the world? A: The room for improvement.

TOTAL AGREEMENT.

His performance in SANTINI was brilliant. I agree with an earlier post that says that even in the bad films he showed what a fine actor he was. I will say that even in Slugger's Wife, there are scenes where he is very moving. He was the reason why I went to see the film.

I liked him too in the Great Santini and he was very good playing a dull but lovable guy as Fred in Roseanne.

Michael O'Keefe is one of my favorite actors. I always know any show he's in will be better because of his presence. He's a terrific character actor and he's also been a great leading man. I see he's in a new series. I can't wait. Rufus Sewell is in it too--should be terrific!