Andrew Buggy was born on 3 April 1926 in Shotts, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
At 14, he left school to work down the coal mine alongside his father. He started acting by chance, when he went to meet a friend at the Miners’ Welfare Hall, and one member of the cast of an amateur dramatics production being performed at the Hall had failed to turn up. Keir was persuaded to take the minor role of a farmer in the play, and enjoyed the experience so much that he later became a regular in the group’s performances.
He made his film debut in 1950 in Hammer’s The Lady Craved Excitement,
Andrew Keir died in hospital in London, on 5 October 1997, aged 71.