Brian Keith

At the time of his death, Keith was suffering from emphysema and terminal lung cancer. He had been a heavy smoker until 1986, quitting a decade before his diagnoses. He was also mourning the death of his 27-year-old daughter, Daisy Keith, who had committed suicide 10 weeks earlier. He also had financial problems. All of these were contributing factors to Keith's own suicide on June 24, 1997. His last work appeared after his death: voice-over work in the final episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994), and an on-screen appearance in Follow Your Heart (1999). He is interred in Westwood Village Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California.
Keith was predeceased by two of his children: his first son, Michael, who died in childhood in 1963, and his daughter, Daisy Keith, who committed suicide at age 27.
He served in the United States Marine Corps in World War II, and received an Air Medal. He was the rear-facing gunner on an SBD Dauntless, a scout/dive bomber, used extensively by the Marine Corps and Navy, that saw a great deal of action in the Pacific during WWII. His weapons were twin-mounted .30 caliber Browning machine guns. He particularly saw action on Rabal in the Pacific.
When future Family Affair (1966) co-star Johnny Whitaker appeared in the movie The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966), Keith was so impressed by Johnny's acting that he invited him to co-star in Keith's new sitcom.
His final film Rough Riders (1997) was dedicated to his memory.

In other words...you can't be a misogynist and expect women to appreciate you.
New Year's Eve though it's a custom. We invite over friends who, like ourselves don't drink at all, or else very lightly.
[on trying to live a long life]: If I live to be a hundred -- and I hope I do -- I won't have time to read all the books I want to read, or talk to the people I want to know. Not party talk. That's a waste of time. Real talk.
[on his handsomeness]: What for? I don't go to the Daisy or any of that. We don't give parties under a striped awning out over the lawn for two hundred people, four of whom we like.
[on his popularity, while playing the forty-five something "Uncle Bill Davis" on Family Affair (1966)]: This is the type of show I love, because it reminds me of what happiness I have with my wife and our children.