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Philip McKeon

American child actor (1964-2019)

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 revisionApr 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ3901468 ↗
Source-derived summary

Philip Anthony McKeon (November 11, 1964 – December 10, 2019) was an American child actor and radio personality, best known for his role as Tommy Hyatt, the son of the title character on the television sitcom Alice from 1976 to 1985.

Early life

McKeon was born in Westbury, New York, the son of Barbara and Donald McKeon, a travel agent. His younger sister is actress Nancy McKeon (The Facts of Life). They are not related to actor Doug McKeon.

McKeon's professional career began when he was 4 years old as a print model. His parents took him and Nancy, then age 2, to a nearby modeling audition, and he began his career as a child model, appearing in magazines, newspapers, and television commercials. Over the next several years, he received numerous modeling jobs, followed by several parts on stage and in films. McKeon played baseball with Benoit Benjamin in 1975 in Little League Baseball in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Career

McKeon's big break came when Linda Lavin saw him in a Broadway performance of Medea and Jason (1974), thought he was bright and talented, and recommended him for the part of Tommy in Alice. This was the television adaptation of the film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), which was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Robert Getchell, with an Academy Award–winning performance by Ellen Burstyn in the title role.

Editorial summary

“Philip McKeon” enters the record as american child actor (1964-2019). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Philip, McKeon and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1964, 2019, 1976, 1985—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1964-11-11. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Philip, McKeon and American.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Philip McKeon” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Philip, McKeon and American provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3901468. VIAF identifies the subject as 305307968. The Library of Congress control number is no2013099986. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1964, 2019, 1976 and 1985.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. 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 “Philip McKeon”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Philip McKeon primary sources, Philip McKeon archive and Philip 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 “Philip McKeon”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Philip McKeon” 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.