Biography

Margaret Keane was born on September 6, 1927 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. She was an actress, known for Big Eyes (2014), The Mike Douglas Show (1961) and The Merv Griffin Show (1962). She was married to Daniel Francis McGuire, Walter Keane and Frank Richard Ulbrich. She died on June 26, 2022 in Napa, California, USA.

Her second husband Walter Keane claimed credit for producing most of her paintings during their marriage. While engaged in a slander suit with Walter the judge famously ordered both Keanes to produce a painting in the courtroom, Walter declined citing a sore shoulder while Margaret completed one in under an hour and subsequently won the judgment.

Painter of portraits noted for oversized, doe-eyed characters.

When she was 10, she enrolled at the Watkins art school (now part of Belmont University) in Nashville. She later studied at the Traphagen School of Fashion in New York City.

In How to Murder Your Wife (1965), Stanley Ford's (Jack Lemmon) once masculinely-decorated town house is overhauled by his new wife (Virna Lisi), mostly with kitsch, to Stanley's chagrin. Amongst the new items are six drawings and paintings in the big-eyed style of Margaret Keane.

I was painting my own deepest inner feelings, and I was searching for answers. The eyes were always asking, 'Why, why is their suffering? What is the purpose of life?'