- Born
- Died
- Birth nameHarold Clifford Leek
- Height6′ 4″ (1.93 m)
- Howard Keel was the Errol Flynn and Clark Gable of "golden age" movie musicals back in the 1950s. With a barrel-chested swagger and cocky, confident air, the 6'4" brawny baritone Keel had MGM's loveliest songbirds swooning helplessly for over a decade in what were some of the finest musical films ever produced.
Born Harry (or Harold) Clifford Keel in Gillespie, Illinois, in 1919 to Homer Charles Keel and Grace (Osterkamp) Keel, and the brother of Frederick William Keel, his childhood was unhappy, his father being a hard-drinking coal miner and his mother a stern, repressed Methodist homemaker. When Keel was 11 his father died, and the family moved to California. He later earned his living as a car mechanic, then found work during WWII at Douglas Aircraft in Los Angeles. His naturally untrained voice was discovered by the staff of his aircraft company and soon he was performing at various entertainments for the company's clients. He was inspired to sing professionally one day while attending a Hollywood Bowl concert, and quickly advanced through the musical ranks from singing waiter to music festival contest winner to guest recitalist.
Oscar Hammerstein II discovered Keel in 1946 during John Raitt's understudy auditions for the role of Billy Bigelow in Broadway's popular musical "Carousel." He was cast on sight and the die was cast. Keel managed to understudy Alfred Drake as Curly in "Oklahoma!" as well, and in 1947 took over the rustic lead in the London production, earning great success. British audiences took to the charismatic singer and he remained there as a concert singer while making a non-singing film debut in the British crime drama The Hideout (1948) (aka "The Small Voice"). MGM was looking for an answer to Warner Bros.' Gordon MacRae when they came upon Keel in England. They made a great pitch for him and he returned to the US, changing his stage moniker to Howard Keel. He became a star with his very first musical, playing sharpshooter Frank Butler opposite brassy Betty Hutton's Annie Oakley in the film version of the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun (1950). From then on Keel was showcased in several of MGM's biggest extravaganzas, with Show Boat (1951), Calamity Jane (1953), Kiss Me Kate (1953) and (reportedly his favorite) Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) at the top of the list. Kismet (1955) opposite Ann Blyth would be his last, as the passion for movie musicals ran its course.
Keel managed to move into rugged (if routine) action fare, appearing in such 1960s films as Armored Command (1961), Waco (1966), Red Tomahawk (1967) and The War Wagon (1967), the last one starring John Wayne and featuring Keel as a wisecracking Indian, of all things. In the 1970s Keel kept his singing voice alive by returning full force to his musical roots. Some of his summer stock and touring productions, which included "Camelot," "South Pacific", "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", "Man of La Mancha", and "Show Boat", often reunited him with his former MGM leading ladies, including Kathryn Grayson and Jane Powell. He also worked up a Las Vegas nightclub act with Grayson in the 1970s.
Keel became an unexpected TV household name when he replaced Jim Davis as the upstanding family patriarch of the nighttime soap drama Dallas (1978) after Davis' untimely death. As Clayton Farlow, Miss Ellie's second husband, he enjoyed a decade of steady work. In later years he continued to appear in concerts. As a result of this renewed fame on TV, Keel landed his first solo recording contract with "And I Love You So" in 1983. Married three times, he died in 2004 of colon cancer, survived immediately by his third wife, three daughters and one son.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
- SpousesJudy Keel(December 21, 1970 - November 7, 2004) (his death, 1 child)Helen Anderson(January 3, 1949 - December 10, 1970) (divorced, 3 children)Rosemary Cooper(March 17, 1943 - October 15, 1948) (divorced)
- Children
- ParentsHomer KeelGrace Osterkamp Keel
- During his UK concert tours in the 1980s and 90s, had a habit of checking his watch (wrist or pocket) during his performances to ensure he was on schedule.
- Performing a medley of songs from Oklahoma! in concert and TV appearances
- Deep baritone voice
- Due to his height, petite leading ladies had to stand on boxes to be in the same frame.
- Was the original choice to play the lead in Singin' in the Rain (1952). The part went to Gene Kelly instead.
- During the shooting of Annie Get Your Gun (1950), he broke his leg when his horse fell on him. He was laid up for six weeks.
- Esther Williams gave his daughter, Kaija Keel, swimming lessons.
- Before he was a successful actor, he also worked as a singing busboy.
- [about filming dinner scenes on Dallas (1978)] The continuity girl goes crazy. The poor dear, my gosh! Because you take a bite, you gotta remember when you took the bite, what words, that sort of thing. If you sit down with Patrick Duffy, who plays Bobby, and [Larry Hagman] at a meal like that, it's like sitting down with two of the worst brats in the neighborhood! They pull more shtick at that table. They send the scripts up. It is pandemonium! It's a minor miracle that anything gets done.
- [about his heart surgery] One person who has really been an inspiration for me in this is my good friend Barbara Bel Geddes, who underwent coronary bypass surgery herself about three years ago. I've learned some things from Barbara. One thing I learned is that you don't accomplish anything by sitting around the house after something like this - except to get yourself good and bored. I was one of those that encouraged her to come back to the show, and I've never seen Barbara looking happier or more healthy looking than since she returned to Dallas (1978). Seeing her return has been a real inspiration. It shows how you can come back from heart surgery.
- [about his choice to go ahead with open heart surgery in January, 1986, despite the risk of losing his job on Dallas (1978)] There is always another part. But there is only one life!
- Any time you get in an area that takes a great deal of skill, you'll find that the tendrils are much more sensitive. People talk about actors being temperamental, but that sort of thing is everywhere.
- Once somebody said to me, "How can you stand to work in a tent?" Well, people are people wherever you go, and a performance is a performance. It's your job and it's not fair to let an audience down. I will not relax the standards of what I feel should be done.
- Annie Get Your Gun (1950) - $850 / week
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