Played Jodie Foster's pimp in Taxi Driver, and her future mentor in Red Dragon, the prequel to The Silence of the Lambs.
Is one of three actors to play Jack Crawford in the Hannibal Lecter films. He played the role in Red Dragon (2002), while Scott Glenn played the role in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), and Dennis Farina played the role in Manhunter (1986).
Although he frequently plays Italian-American characters, Keitel is of fully Jewish-Polish heritage.
Like his good friend Robert De Niro, Keitel is usually very uncomfortable during interviews, often nervously laughing through them.
Appears in Get Shorty and its sequel, Be Cool, but in two completely different parts.
He was originally cast as Captain Willard in Apocalypse Now. He was let go from the film, just two weeks into filming due to creative differences with director Francis Ford Coppola. Martin Sheen replaced him.
Shares two roles with Dennis Farina. At the end of Get Shorty, he plays the Dennis Farina character in the movie-within-a-movie. Dennis Farina also originated the role of Jack Crawford in Manhunter, a role that Keitel played in the remake Red Dragon.
Expecting first child with wife Kastner in fall 2004
Operates his own film production company, The Goatsingers, with partner Peggy Gormley
A member of The Actors Studio, had studied with Frank Corsaro, Lee Strasberg & Stella Adler.
