David Keir Gracie was born in 1884 in the district of St Andrews in Dundee, Scotland. He left Dundee for London in his teens to learn the glove trade and enter the family business. He abandoned this, however, and went on the stage, first as a hoofer in vaudeville and then as an actor. Because such a move brought shame on an otherwise respectable family he used his middle name and took the stage name David Keir. He toured extensively as an actor in repertory, playing in the US, Africa, India and China. In the 1930s through to the 1950s he had parts in over 70 films. Some were uncredited but the most famous was A.J. Cronin's Hatter's Castle (1942) with Robert Newton. He had some television work at the end of his career. Being of small statute and over 50 years of age by the time he made his first film, he had mainly minor parts but he loved the work. He lived alone in Holborn in London until his death in 1971.