In Remembrance: Howard Keel

     Howard Keel, who starred in a number of MGM musicals including Kiss Me Kate, has passed away Sunday November 7^th 2004. He was 85.

     Born Harold Clifford Leek on April 13, 1919 in Gillespie, Illinois, Keel was raised in a strict Methodist family. His father constantly beat him and his mother would not allow the children to have or be involved in any form of entertainment. Soon after his father died, his mother moved the family to California when he was a young teenager.

     After finishing high school he found work as a singing waiter, earning $15 a week and two square meals a day. He never gave a thought to singing as a career, until he was invited by a close lady friend to a night out at the Hollywood Bowl. Celebrated singer Lawrence Tibbett was the star performer that night and Keel was captivated by the performance. He began to take music lessons to hone his voice. Keel entered and won numerous singing contests across the United States and soon was accepted into the American Music Theatre in Pasadena, California.

     Word about his natural talent spread quickly and attracted Oscar Hammerstein II. He was asked to audition for the role of Curley in the upcoming Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Oklahoma!. The famous duo was impressed and in 1946 Hammerstein signed him to replace John Raitt as Billy Bigelow in the Broadway production of Carousel. He soon appeared regularly as Curley in Oklahoma! and spent time traveling the Atlantic to star in both Carousel  and Oklahoma! on the London stage. He stayed in London for a long 18 months, becoming a star on stage and a darling of the British press.

     Keel had caught the eye of director Anthony Havelock-Allen and his wife Valerie Hobson.  They signed him to star in their movie Small Voice (1948), a crime drama about an escapee from a military prison. Bolstered by his British success, he returned to the States confident he would be sought after for his talents.

     MGM was seeking a new male lead for the screen version of Irving Berlin’s stage success Annie Get You Gun. The producer, Arthur Freed, had spoken with Hammerstein and agreed to give Keel the lead.  Keel signed a contract with MGM and Annie Get Your Gun was released to good reviews in April of 1950, also starring Paramount fixture Betty Hutton, who had replaced Judy Garland. Keel instantly became a star. His next big film was the legendary musical Showboat (1951), his first feature film opposite Kathryn Grayson. The movie would go on to be nominated for Academy Awards for Best Scoring of a Musical and Cinematography. 

     Keel made Lovely to Look At with Kathryn Grayson in 1952. The movie was a small success and the pair became well received internationally. So 1953 became a busy year for Keel, on loan and starring opposite Doris Day in Warner Brother’s musical about frontier legend Calamity Jane. After heavy lobbying from Kathryn Grayson, he also starred in the dazzling Kiss Me Kate, directed by George Sidney. It was to be his last picture with Grayson. He renewed his contract with MGM in 1954 and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Howard’s last really big musical, was made that year.  The movie also starred Jane Powell, and although it was made on a small budget, it went on to win an Oscar for Best Scoring and was one of the top moneymakers that year. In 1955, Keel worked on the last of his musical starring roles, and last musicals for MGM, appearing in Jupiter’s Darling opposite Esther Williams one last time and Kismet, his last musical picture.  

     By the late 1950’s, movie musicals were attracting fewer audiences and once MGM’s musical division closed its doors, Keel left the studio for good. He appeared in a handful of Westerns for Paramount Pictures including Red Tomahawk (1967), his last leading role, and was even cast in the now-classic British sci-fi picture The Day of the Triffids (1962).

     Keel again found success on the road, touring in various stage productions of Man of La Mancha, Gigi, Showboat and Kismet and in 1977 he teamed with Jane Powell on a record-breaking tour of South Pacific.

     Following the death of actor Jim Davis in 1981, the producers of Dallas needed another stalwart performer who could prevail against the despicable J.R. Ewing Jr. (Larry Hagman). They chose Keel, who had been out of the spotlight for a few years, to play Clayton Farlow - the second husband of Miss Ellie. He remained with the highly successful primetime soap until its end in 1991.

-John Gibbon