Harold Clifford Keel
11 min read
Reading time
2,047
Words
Published
60
Film credits
1
Award
Howard Keel, the 6’4 baritone, became an MGM musical lead in 1950 with Annie Get Your Gun. He later found TV fame as Clayton Farlow on Dallas from 1978. Keel died of colon cancer in 2004 at age 85.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Howard Keel — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Howard Keel by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Howard Keel — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Born Harold Clifford Keel in Gillespie, Illinois on April 13, 1919, his father was a hard-drinking coal miner who died when he was 11. His mother, Grace, moved the family to San Diego. He worked as a car mechanic and at Douglas Aircraft during WWII before his voice was discovered while performing for company events.
Oscar Hammerstein II discovered Keel in 1946 for Carousel, leading to the London production of Oklahoma! in 1947. MGM brought him to Hollywood for Annie Get Your Gun 1950 opposite Betty Hutton. He starred in Show Boat 1951, Calamity Jane 1953 with Doris Day, Kiss Me Kate 1953, and his favorite, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 1954. As musicals waned, he turned to action films like The War Wagon 1967 with John Wayne. In the 1970s, he performed in stage musicals and a Las Vegas act with Kathryn Grayson. He returned to TV as Clayton Farlow on Dallas 1978 after Jim Davis’s death.
Keel married three times: to actress Rosemary Cooper 1943-1948, dancer Helen Anderson 1949-1970, with whom he had children Kaija, Kirstine, and Gunnar, and former flight attendant Judy Keel 1970-2004, with whom he had daughter Leslie. He was father-in-law to actor Edward James Olmos through Kaija’s marriage. He died of colon cancer on November 7, 2004 in Palm Desert, California.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 1954 entered the National Film Registry in 2004, the year Keel died. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His booming baritone defined 1950s MGM musicals, and he later reached a new generation as Clayton Farlow on Dallas.
The complete filmography of Howard Keel — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Howard Keel — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Howard Keel — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
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.
If I Had My Ups and Downs, That’s Tough. If Everything in Life Always Went Smoothly, It Would Be a Bloody Bore. You Know, People Say, Wait and Go to Heaven. Well, If Heaven’s Like They Claim It Is, I Don’t Want to Go. I’d Get Bored. Besides, I Think Heaven’s Right Here, in Your Mind. You Make Your Own Heaven and Hell, I Think. All This Nonsense About Heaven: Be Good so You Can Go up There. I Say Be Good Because You Should Be Good, Because You Don’t Want to Hurt People.
You Should Never Envy Anyone. One Day You Might Be in That Person’s Position and It Might Not Be so Nice.
The Only Way to Enjoy Golf Is to Be a Masochist. Go Out and Beat Yourself to Death.
I’m Not a Religious Man. as a Matter of Fact, I Think Religion Is One of the Biggest Evils in This World. Think of the World’s Wars, Almost All of Them Have Started Because of Religion. I Have My Own Attitude to This Life. Hell, You Can’t Look up at the Sky and Not Think There’s Some Superhuman Force at Work. but I Don’t Know What It Is.
When I Found Out That I Could Carry a Tune, Well, I Came to Realize That I Had a Gift, That It Was a Kind of a Blessing. and I Think If You’re Given Something Special, You Ought to Try and Give That Something Back. If You Don’t, It’s a Sin. No Question.
You Get Your Ups and Downs but You Just Don’t Fall Apart. You Take Another Shot at It.
Success Can Be Harder to Take Than Failure in a Lot of Ways. It Brings with It a Responsibility. You Have to Learn That All the Highs Don’t Last Forever. for Every High, There’s a Corresponding Low. It’s Why Young Kids Often Go to Pieces. When They Get so Popular They Can’t Go Out of Their Hotel Rooms, That’s When They Turn to Drugs. Success Can Be Very Dangerous, Very Heady.
God Has Been Kind. I Haven’t Got Any Great Talent but Everyone Has a Certain Amount and It’s What You Do with It That Counts. I Was Blessed with a Voice and I Used It.
I Had a Terrible, Rotten Childhood. My Father Made Away with Himself When I Was 11. I Had No Guidance, My Mom Was Six Feet Tall, Bucktoothed and Very Tough. I Was Mean and Rebellious and Had a Terrible Temper. I Got a Job as an Auto Mechanic, and I Would Have Stayed in That Narrow Kind of Life If I Hadn’t Discovered Art. Music Changed Me Completely.
Little-known facts about Howard Keel — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Petite leading ladies stood on boxes to share the frame with Keel’s 6’4 height.
Originally chosen to play the lead in Singin’ in the Rain 1952, the role went to Gene Kelly instead.
A horse fell on Keel during Annie Get Your Gun 1950, breaking his leg and sidelining him for six weeks.
Esther Williams gave Keel’s daughter Kaija Keel swimming lessons.
Keel remained good friends with Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy during and after Dallas 1978.
Judy Keel, his third wife, met him on a blind date and had never heard of him; she was 26 and he was 51.
The producers of Kiss Me Kate 1953 originally wanted Laurence Olivier for Petruchio but George Sidney promoted Keel for the part.
Before his acting success, Keel worked as a singing busboy.
Keel counted Ann Miller, Esther Williams, Cyd Charisse, Jack Elam, Keenan Wynn, and George Sidney as close friends.
Producers approached Keel for the role of Jock Ewing on Dallas after Jim Davis’s death, but he turned it down out of respect and remained Clayton Farlow.
Keel was cremated and his ashes scattered at Mere Golf Club, Liverpool John Lennon Airport, and in Tuscany, Italy.
Originally scheduled to play Franklin D. Roosevelt in Sunrise at Campobello, pneumonia forced him to abandon the role; Ralph Bellamy won awards for it, and Keel later played it on tour.
Keel served as President of the Screen Actors Guild from 1958-1959.
He portrayed Curly in the original London cast of Oklahoma!, Fred Graham in Kiss Me Kate 1953, and Hajj in Kismet 1955—all roles originated on Broadway by Alfred Drake.
From 1971 to 1992, Keel was the father-in-law of actor Edward James Olmos through Olmos’s marriage to Keel’s daughter Kaija.
A 1950s publicity error started a false rumor that Keel’s birth name was Harold Leek, which annoyed him greatly; his true birth name was Harry Clifford Keel.
Keel died one month before his film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 1954 was inducted into the National Film Registry.
His hobbies included singing, dancing, watching movies, listening to opera, fishing, golfing, and spending time with family.
Before his singing career, Keel worked as a representative for Douglas Aircraft Corporation in Southern California.
His first wife Rosemary Cooper was an actress; second wife Helen Anderson was a dancer; third wife Judy Keel was a former flight attendant.
After his father’s death, Keel and his mother moved to San Diego, California in 1930.
Daughter Leslie Keel was born on September 1, 1974 to Judy and Howard Keel.
Keel began his contract with MGM in 1950.
He was sought for the role of Emile in South Pacific 1958 but couldn’t get out of his contract.
Children with Helen: Kaija born 1950, Kirstine born 1952, Gunnar born 1955.
Keel was grandfather to Mico Olmos and Bodie Olmos.
A biography appears in The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 7 2003-2005.
His height was 6’2 3/4 often listed as 6’4.
He gained renewed fame as Clayton Farlow on Dallas from 1978.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Howard Keel.
Celebrities similar to Howard Keel — same craft, ranked by reach.
🇺🇸 United States
🇮🇪 Ireland
🇮🇹 Italy
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇨🇦 Canada
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇫🇷 France
🇺🇸 United States
