CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Irwin Keyes

American character actor (1952-2015)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 19, 2026
Entity authorityQ6075068
Source-derived summary

Irwin Keyes (March 16, 1952 – July 8, 2015) was an American actor and comedian, best known for his recurring role as Hugo on The Jeffersons. He appeared in several films and several television series.

Early life

Keyes was born in New York on March 16, 1952. Keyes grew up in Amityville, New York and graduated from Amityville Memorial High School in 1970. He acted in his first play "The Lower Depths" by Maxim Gorky while attending college. Frequently cast as likable lugs, brutish goons, and imposing authority figures, Irwin acted in a diverse array of movies in such genres as horror, comedy, thriller, science fiction, and action. Keyes achieved his greatest popularity with his recurring role as oafish bodyguard Hugo Majelewski on the sitcom The Jeffersons. Among the TV shows that Irwin made guest appearances on are Laverne & Shirley, Police Squad!, Moonlighting, Married... with Children, thirtysomething, Growing Pains, Tales from the Crypt, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Keyes also performed in television commercials and music videos, and did voiceover work for video games.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Irwin Keyes” as american character actor (1952-2015). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1952, 2015, 1970—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Irwin, Keyes and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american character actor (1952-2015). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6075068. The first chronological checks are 1952, 2015 and 1970.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Irwin Keyes”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Irwin Keyes primary sources, Irwin Keyes archive and Irwin research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Irwin Keyes”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Irwin Keyes” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.