My first impressions of John Keehan/Count Dante would come from floyd himself. In our early phone conversations Floyd had told me his perception of Keehan. Keehan/ Dante. At the age of 11 or twelve he met Dante and he had left an impression on him. To Floyd Count Dante/John Keehan "was the coolest white dude in Chicago, World's Deadliest man, Hairdresser, bodyguard, skirt chasing all around toughguy, a cape wearing Darth Vader of martail arts, who walked around with a cane and a lion.
To Floyd Dante seemed larger than life and this guy was spending time with young black men and teaching them martial arts when most whites or Chinese would'nt. Dante was seemingly genuinely interested in the young kids of the neighborhood often addressing them as "Champ". It was the sixties and to kids like Floyd what Dante was doing and how he treated them was definitely uplifting and empowering. This image would stay with Floyd.
It was in May of 2005 Floyd started research on "The Search for Count Dante."Floyd had managed to capture my curiosity with his story and ideas of the film and of course the mystery that was Count Dante. He was either loved or hated, nothing in between. More "stories" surrounded Dante in almost every aspect of his life and even his death.
Floyd had gone looking for Keehan/Dante’s grave marker and found none. I found it to be odd and upsetting that no one thought to mark his passing. it is really hard to describe but at the time, due to, I guess, the last conversation with my father, but Dante's marker situation bothered me and I originally offered to spring for the cost of a marker.
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