Hiram Keller

Hiram Keller (May 3, 1944 – January 20, 1997), born Hiram Keller Undercofler Jr., was an American stage and film actor who starred in European films. He is best known for his role as Ascyltus in Federico Fellini's 1969 film Satyricon.

Keller was the son of the Supreme Court Chief of Justice of Georgia state. He received his dramatic training at Lee Strasberg's prestigious Actors Studio in New York. His first stage engagement took him to Broadway. Keller was a close friend of actress Monique Van Vooren. When she invested in the original production of Hair, she asked producer Michael Butler to put Keller in the cast. From 1968 until his departure to appear in Satyricon, he was a member of "the tribe" in the original line-up stage production of Hair, directed by Tom O'Horgan, written by Gerome Ragni and James Rado, music by Galt MacDermot. In addition, Keller worked as a Runway and Print model for 14 years and acted in the New York underground scene with Andy Warhol.

Two years later, Keller was in Satyricon, his feature film debut. The Italian director Federico Fellini hired him for the leading role in his gloomy-looking adaptation of the surviving portions of Gaius Petronius's work of fiction Satyricon, when Pierre Clémenti, his preferred candidate for the role of Ascyltus, was no longer available. This role boosted Keller's career internationally. Fellini's long-time employee and screenwriter Bernardino Zapponi wrote of Keller's representation: "[He] has a very photogenic smile and is full of knowledge as required by his role."

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