Keith Spencer Felton

Background

Keith Spencer Felton was born May 3, 1942, in San Francisco, California, United States, a son of Jean Spencer (a physician) and Janet Elizabeth (a social activist; maiden name, Bimbaum) Felton.

Education

Keith received a Bachelor of Arts from Grinnell College in 1964. He also studied at the University of California, Los Angeles and got a Master of Fine Arts in 1967.

Career

Keith Spencer initially worked as the critic for regional arts publications in Los Angeles, California. From 1968 he was a book reviewer, critic, and editor.

During the decade of the 1970s, he wrote regularly for the Los Angeles Times Book Review and ran a documentary film company specializing in exemplary subjects in the visual and performing arts. Namely, in 1975 he founded Cinema Dix-Francs (documentary film company) in Los Angeles and was its executive producer of films, including The Box. From 1987 he worked as the writer and researcher. For a year he was a copy editor for entertainment magazines. He also was a photographer, with exhibitions in the San Francisco area.

The creativity of fiction and the plasticity of films led him ultimately to nonfiction forms and to a series of books about language. His work of the 1990s owed a great debt to the dozen earlier years he spent reviewing books. Working with Digby Diehl, and under the prodigious and awe-inspiring Robert Kirsch, he was exposed to the rigor of the task of absorption and analysis of a literary work and the subsequent discipline of shaping interpretation and commentary in a cogent and responsible way to guide a readership.

His late work Lars and Little Olduvai has reflected his archaeological experience, undertook in the southern stretches of the San Francisco Bay. His current project involves a personal incident concerning the renowned actress Lotte Lenya.

Achievements

• Keith Spencer Felton is known as the founder of the documentary film company Cinema Dix-Francs, where he has made one of his famous works - The Box. He also for many years was a contributor to periodicals, including Coast, FM, and Fine Arts. Besides, he was the author of the plays Daniel Prince and The Last Lost Weekend of Missionary; Peale and the novel Maddie and Vince.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Lars and Little Olduvai: A Father and Son Solve Anthropological Mysteries Buried in Their Own Back Yard
  • Going to Grinnell: A Californians Four Years at an Iowa College
  • Warriors' Words: A Consideration of Language and Leadership
  • Indispensable Tools: A Principal Builds His High School

Politics

Keith Felton described himself as a cynical liberal Democrat.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• His colleague told about him: ''Mr. Felton is a rare blending of the poet and prose writers. His works maintain the lyrical and magical feel of poetry while exploring issues in a greater depth typical of prose writing.''

Interests

• photography, boating, camping, bicycling, music (string bass, guitar)

Connections

Keith Spencer married Susan L. Kennedy on October 18, 1981. They divorced in 1998.

Father:

Jean Spencer

Mother:

Janet Elizabeth (Bimbaum) Felton

Spouse:

Susan L. Kennedy

Brother:

Lance Spencer Felton

References

• Contemporary Authors, Vol. 181