Howard Keel

At 85 years old, Howard Keel has this physical status:

Harold Clifford Keel (April 13, 1919 – November 7, 2004), better known as Howard Keel, was an American actor and singer with a strong bass-baritone singing voice.

He appeared in a number of MGM musicals in the 1950s and the CBS television series Dallas from 1981 to1991.

Early life

Keel was born in Gillespie, Illinois, United States, to Navyman-turned-coalminer Homer Keel and his wife, Grace Margaret (née Osterkamp). After elder son Frederick William Keel, Keel was the youngest of the family's children. The family was so poor that a tutor would often bring Keel for lunch.

Keel and his mother immigrated to California after his father's death in 1930, where he graduated from Fallbrook High School at age 17. He worked in various odd jobs before settling as a "travel agent" at Douglas Aircraft Company. He was a long haul truck driver.

The MGM publicity staff mistakenly announced that Keel's birth name was Harold Leek in the 1950s.

Personal life and death

Keel first met and married actress Rosemary Cooper in 1943. They were divorced in 1948, during the reign of Oklahoma in London. Helen Anderson, a member of the show's chorus, and Keel married in January 1949. Keel and Helen were divorced in 1969 and divorced in 1970. Judy Magamoll, a Keel flight attendant, married airline flight attendant Judy Magamoll in December 1970.

Keel had four children, two with second wife Helen Anderson (two daughters, Kaija Liane and Kirstine Elizabeth), as well as a son, Gunnar Louis; one by his third wife of 34 years, Leslie Grace; and ten grandchildren, including actor Bodie Olmos.

Keel died at his Palm Desert home on November 7, 2004, six weeks after being diagnosed with colon cancer. He was cremated and his ashes scattered at three of his favorite locations: Mere Golf Club, Cheshire, England; John Lennon Airport, Liverpool, England; and Tuscany, Italy;

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Career

Keel was overheard singing by his landlady, Mom Rider, at age 20, and he was encouraged to take vocal lessons. Lawrence Tibbett, the great baritone, was one of his musical heroes. Keel later revealed that finding out that his own voice was a basso cantante was one of his life's biggest disappointments. Nevertheless, his first public appearance in 1941 took place in Handel's oratorio Saul's Samuel the Prophet (singing a duet with bass-baritone George London).

He briefly understudied for John Raitt in the Broadway hit Carousel in 1945 before being assigned to Oklahoma. Both Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II wrote a book. Keel made a scene in Oklahoma that has never been duplicated on Broadway; he once appeared in both shows on the same day.

In 1947, Oklahoma!

Keel appeared in the first American postwar musical to fly to London, England, and the first American postwar musical to tour London, England. The capacity audience (which included future Queen Elizabeth II) demanded fourteen encores at the Drury Lane Theatre on April 30, 1947.

In The Small Voice (1948), Keel made his film debut as Harold Keel at the British Lion studio in Elstree, and The Hideout was released in the United States. He was convicted of playing a playwright and his wife hostage in their English country cottage. Saratoga, No Strings, and Ambassador are among the additional Broadway credits. In St. Louis as Adam in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1978); Emile de Becque in South Pacific (1992); and in White Christmas (2000).

Keel moved from London's West End to Hollywood in 1949, where he was hired by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio. Frank Butler made his film debut in the film version of Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun (1950), co-starring Betty Hutton. Keel was a big success and established him as a leading lady in the film.

In Pagan Love Song (1950), MGM put him opposite Esther Williams, but it wasn't as profitable as other Esther Williams films because it went over budget. With the comedy Three Guys Named Mike (1951), Keel had a third blow in a row with supporting Van Johnson and Jane Wyman.

Show Boat (1951), where Keel played the male lead opposite Kathryn Grayson and Ava Gardner, was much more popular. In 1952, Keel was reunited with Williams in the Texas Carnival (1952). Callaway Went Thataway (1952) co-starring Fred MacMurray and Dorothy McGuire, he had his first flop at MGM. A reunion with Grayson, Lovely to Look At (1952), based on the stage musical Roberta, was a hit, but the bank lost money.

Desperate Search (1953), a MGM adventure film that was poorly received, MGM attempted him in an adventure film. The comedy Fast Company (1953) was also known as a comedy (1953). Gardner and Robert Taylor's Western, Ride, Vaquero, was more popular. (1953)

Warner Bros borrowed Keel to portray Wild Bill Hickok opposite Doris Day in Calamity Jane (1953), another hit. Miss Me Kate (1953), MGM's third musical collaboration, was well-received by the public but not profitable. The same could be said for Rose Marie (1954), which Keel made with Ann Blyth. However, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) with Jane Powell was a huge success, earning MGM more than $3 million in revenue.

In Deep in My Heart (1954), Keel was one of many guest stars. He and Williams made a third film together, Jupiter's Darling (1955), which grossed MGM over $2 million, the first Williams film to lose money. Keel was fired from his MGM contract in 1955, and Blyth lost over two million dollars.

He returned to his first love, the stage. He was in a short-lived revival of Carousel in 1957. The thriller Floods of Fear (1959), Keel's next film was shot in the United Kingdom, Floods of Fear (1959). In The Big Fisherman (1960), he returned to Hollywood to star Simon-Peter in a Biblical epic. Saratoga, a short-lived Broadway musical, appeared in 1959-60. Keel made Armored Command (1961), a low-budget war film. He appeared in The Day of the Triffids (1962) in England.

Keel's job hunt became more difficult as America's taste in entertainment evolved. The 1960s had limited opportunities for advancement and consisted mainly of nightclub, B-Westerns, and summer stock. In 1962 and 1966, he worked for Carousel. In No Strings (1962), Richard Kiley was replaced by him on Broadway. Keel appeared in Westerns for A. C. Lyles, Waco (1966), Red Tomahawk (1966), and Arizona Bushwhackers (1968). He appeared in a John Wayne Western film, The War Wagon (1967).

Keel's first meeting Judy Magamoll, who was twenty-five years his junior and knew nothing about his fame, was in early 1970. Keel's passion for the first time appeared at first sight, but the age difference stung him greatly. Judy, on the other hand, was not a problem, and with Robert Frost's book "What Fifty Said," she persuaded him to continue their friendship. With his new wife at his side, he resurrects his nightclub, cabaret, and summer stock jobs.

Keel appeared briefly in the West End and Broadway productions of the musical Ambassador from 1971 to 1972, which ultimately fell apart. Leslie Grace, a born in 1974, became a father for the fourth time. He underwent double heart bypass surgery in January 1986.

Keel continued to tour with his wife and daughter in tow, but by 1980, he had decided to make his life change. He and his family moved to Oklahoma with the intention of joining an oil company. When Keel was called back to California to appear with Jane Powell on an episode of The Love Boat, the family had barely settled down. While there, he was told that the creators of the television show Dallas wanted to talk with him.

Keel joined the show permanently as the dignified but hot-tempered oil baron Clayton Farlow, following several guest appearances. Starting with an appearance on the fourth season, the character was supposed to be a semi-replacement patriarch for the series's Jock Ewing, played by Jim Davis, who had just died. Clayton, on the other hand, was such a hit among viewers that he was made a series regular and continued on until its conclusion in 1991. Dallas not only did his acting career revive his career, but it gave him a fresh lease on life.

Keel began his first solo recording career at the age of 64, as well as a fruitful live performance career in the United Kingdom. With Love, he released an album in 1984 that failed. However, his album And I Love You So Farewell reached number six in the UK Albums Chart and #37 in Australia in 1984. The Howard Keel Collection's follow-up album, Reminiscing, debuted at #20 in the UK Albums Chart, and spent 12 weeks on that site in 1985 and 1986. In Australia, the album debuted at #83.

The album Just for You debuted at number 51 on the UK Albums Chart in 1988. Keel and Judy moved from Palm Desert, California, in 1994. The Keels were involved in community charity events and the annual Howard Keel Golf Classic at Mere Golf Club in Cheshire, England, which raised funds for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). Keel attended the festival for many years before 2004.

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