The 100 Grooviest LGBT Characters on Television

From:  Deep Dish

77

 Keith Charles 

(Mathew St. Patrick)

Six Feet Under 

(2001-05)

Keith Dwayne Charles (1968–2029), played by Mathew St. Patrick, is David's main love interest over the course of the series. Keith was born in 1968 in San Diego and attended West Point Military Academy, before graduating with a degree in Criminology in 1989. David and Keith began dating some months before the pilot episode after meeting at a gay-friendly church.

Keith is an openly gay policeman who works for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). He tolerates David hiding his sexuality until an incident where a fellow shopper calls them "fags". Keith dumps David and begins dating an emergency medical technician named Eddie, but their relationship fails when Keith becomes concerned with his niece Taylor and his sister Karla, who goes into drug rehabilitation. David and Keith then reconcile. After Keith's sister Karla is incarcerated, Keith gets custody of Taylor and begins adoption proceedings. However, after Keith brutally beats a man during a domestic violence call, he resigns from the LAPD and gives Taylor to his parents without consulting David. David is hurt and furious, and the two go into couples' counseling to sort out their issues.

After another breakup with David, Keith finds work as a bodyguard, but does not reveal his sexuality to co-workers. He is selected to go on tour with pop star Celeste (Michelle Trachtenberg). While Keith is on tour, David is carjacked and tortured, so Keith returns home for several days, but returns to the tour at David's insistence. While he is gone, David begins to suffer from panic attacks and becomes emotionally unstable. Keith, who has "come out" at work, confides in Celeste about David, and she seduces him into having sex, then fires him the next day for the indiscretion. When Keith gets home, he confesses the one-night stand to David, and David suffers anxiety that Keith will leave him for a woman. Keith is hired as personal security to an agent named Roger in order to have a lawsuit against David (who had previously attacked Roger and was being sued) dropped.

Towards the end of Season 4, Keith and David decide to have children, with Keith favoring surrogacy and David favoring adoption. During Season 5, after the surrogacy attempt fails, they adopt brothers Anthony and Durrell, whom David met at a fair. Durrell is rebellious due to his history of foster care, but despite Keith's protests, David insists that they keep the boys. Soon, Keith begins to embrace his new family life. Keith offers to combine his savings with David's so that they can buy Fisher and Diaz.

The series finale and official HBO website reveal that Keith eventually owns his own security company, and dies in 2029 after being gunned down in an armored car. While at a family function in 2044, David sees Keith in a vision, still young and healthy and playing football; David then dies.