Keith Carradine Sues Pellicano

Actor Keith Carradine on Friday became the biggest name allegedly wiretapped by Anthony Pellicano to file a civil lawsuit against the former Hollywood private investigator, saying that his privacy was invaded when his phone line was tapped on behalf of his ex-wife.

Carradine and fiancee Hayley DuMond alleged in the Los Angeles Superior Court complaint that Sandra Will Carradine, a former client and girlfriend of Pellicano, conspired with the investigator and two former employees of Pacific Bell, now AT&T;, to illegally listen in on their conversations. Carradine named Pellicano, his ex-wife and AT&T; in his suit.

According to Carradine, his ex-wife turned to Pellicano after the couple separated in 1993 in a vindictive campaign against him. Carradine alleged that they used various “malicious and illegal tactics” to gain leverage in divorce proceedings, including numerous wiretaps.

“I was really shocked and frankly dismayed, and I just felt completely violated,” Carradine said in an interview. “It makes me really angry.”

Pellicano lawyer Steven Gruel declined to comment.

AT&T; spokesman John Britton said “we take customer privacy very seriously, and any employee who failed to follow our strict guidelines is subject to discipline up to and including termination.”

Peter Knecht, attorney for Sandra Carradine said jurors would sympathize with her.

“She was being a good mother, trying to find out how to get support for her kids,” he said. “Her motives were neither evil nor sinister.”

But Keith Carradine attorney Mark Geragos said his client fully supported his children, adding that the wiretaps were a “complete and utter violation of both Keith and Hayley’s lives.”

A Santa Barbara County resident, Sandra Carradine has pleaded guilty to lying to a federal grand jury about Pellicano’s alleged wiretapping. She faces a 10-year maximum sentence.

A member of a well-known acting family, Keith Carradine starred in such films as “Nashville,” winning him a songwriting Oscar for “I’m Easy”; played Wild Bill Hickok in the HBO series “Deadwood”; and starred in Broadway’s “The Will Rogers Follies.”

Carradine is one of a dozen people, including actor Sylvester Stallone, film producer Vincent Bo Zenga, comedian Garry Shandling, comic Kevin Nealon and former Los Angeles Times reporter Anita Busch who were alleged victims of Pellicano and his associates, who have been indicted on charges of wiretapping people or accessing confidential law enforcement records.

For more articles, visit latimes.com/pellicano