Mary Cain Peckham Keach, 89, mother of actor/producer Stacy Keach and actor/director/ producer James Keach died on Nov. 5 at the Sherman Oaks Hospital of cardiac arrest.
Born in Denton, Texas on July 31, 1914, Keach was the youngest daughter of Texas oil millionaire William H. Peckham, a hunting companion of President Theodore Roosevelt, and Artie Pat Cain, a beautiful southern belle from Mississippi. Keach attended college at Ward Belmont in Nashville, Tenn. for two years, and matriculated to Northwestern University where she received a master’s degree in drama and speech. Also at Northwestern, she met her future husband, Stacy Keach Sr., radio pioneer and actor/producer/ director, during a tryout for a school play. In 1935, they traveled to Europe together on a theatre scholarship, where they fell
in love.
The two were married in June 1936. They were married for 67 years until Keach Sr.’s death in February this year. Mary Keach taught English in Savannah, Ga. prior to the birth of her first child, Stacy Jr.
Keach is survived by her sister, Grace, her sons and their families: Malgosia Keach, wife of Stacy, Jane Seymour, wife of James, and eight grandchildren, Shannon, Karolina, Kalen, John, Kris, Katie, Sean, and Jenni. Funeral services took place at Forest Lawn, Church of the Hills on Tuesday.