MGM Star Howard Keel Dies

Howard Keel, the Hollywood hunk who went from singing and dancing in a such classic movie musicals as Show Boat, Kiss Me Kate and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in his youth to going toe to toe with J.R. Ewing on TV's Dallas in his later years, died Sunday morning at his home in Palm Desert, California. He was 85.

His son, Gunnar, says the cause of death was colon cancer.

With his booming baritone, Keel made a name for himself in several Rodgers and Hammerstein productions on Broadway and the West End during World War II before catching the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which signed him to a contract and paired him with some of Tinseltown's most popular leading ladies.

Screen fame came immediately--his first MGM role was as sharpshooter Frank Butler opposite '40s pinup Betty Hutton's Annie Oakley in 1950's Annie Get Your Gun, in which he crooned such standards as "Anything You Can Do," "The Girl That I Marry," "My Defenses Are Down" and "There's No Business Like Show Business."

With his rugged good looks and 6-foot, 4-inch frame, Keel made a commanding screen presence in his subsequent MGM hits, holding down leading-man duties in Show Boat (1951) opposite Kathryn Grayson, Texas Carnival (1951) with Esther Williams and Calamity Jane (1953) costarring Doris Day.

Keel's personal favorite was director Stanley Donen's irresistibly silly love story Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), in which he played the eldest of seven Pontipee brothers--all living lonely lives on an Oregon farm in the 1850s--who sets out on a quest to find a wife and happens upon a pretty town girl named Milly. After a whirlwind courtship, the two get married and Milly decides to give his uncouth siblings an extreme makeover, teaching them social graces so they can attract the marrying kind.

The movie was a massive success, nabbing five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and winning for Best Musical Score. Unfortunately, it also represented the beginning of the end for MGM and Hollywood's Golden Age.

Keel starred in two more musicals for MGM, 1955's Kismet and Jupiter's Darling, before eventually segueing into dramas, including a war flick (1961's Armored Command), a sci-fi horror movie (1962's The Day of the Triffids) and a slew of westerns, including Waco (1966), Red Tomahawk (1967), The War Wagon (1967) with John Wayne and Arizona Bushwackers (1968).

When the films roles began to dry up, Keel returned to the stage, touring in revivals, like South Pacific, and appearing in new musicals, along with TV guest spots in Death Valley Days, Run for Your Life and Here's Lucy.

And it was on the small screen where the actor revived his career in 1981 at age 66, when he was cast as Clayton Farlow, second husband to "Miss Ellie" Ewing and the foil to Larry Hagman's ruthless oil magnate J.R. Ewing on CBS' Dallas.

"He had a difficult role to play, having to replace Jim Davis [who had died], and he just fit in with our group so well," Hagman told the Associated Press Monday. "He was a fine actor and a great singer and just one of the nicest men I ever worked with."

Keel was apparently too ill to participate in CBS' Dallas Reunion: Return to South Fork, which was taped before his death and aired on the network Sunday night.

Born Harry Clifford Leek on April 13, 1919 in Gillespie, Illinois, Keel grew up in a rough and tumble household. His dad, a former Navy captain turned coal miner, had a mean streak, especially when drinking, that he took out on Keel and his brother. After his father's death, Keel's mother moved the family to Los Angeles.

After a hell-bent youth, Keel landed a jobout of high school as an auto mechanic. At age 20, he saw famed baritone Lawrence Tibbett in concert at the Hollywood Bowl and was struck by inspiration.

Keel began taking music lessons and scored his first semi-professional gig--as a singing busboy at downtown Los Angeles' Paris Inn Restaurant. After appearing in local stage productions, Keel eventually caught the eye of Oscar Hammerstein, who tapped him to play Curly in a touring company of Oklahoma!.

Keel reversed the spelling of his given name for his stage name and so impressed producers that he was asked to follow John Raitt in the Broadway production of Carousel. He returned home to L.A. when his stint ended and was signed by MGM.

With the demise of Dallas in 1991, Keel continued his theater work, headlining productions into his 70s.

"If you're a singer and love to sing, as I do," he once said in an interview, "there is nothing more fulfilling than standing on a stage when you're in a good voice and belting out songs."

"He sang at my 70th birthday three years ago, and he was getting ready to sing at my 50th wedding anniversary on the 18th of December," Hagman told AP. "I'll miss him.

Keel was married three times. His first marriage, to actress Rosemary Cooper, ended in divorce in 1948. Two years later, he wed dancer Helen Anderson, with whom he had three children. After their split in 1970, Keel tied the knot with former flight attendant Judy Magamoll, with whom he had a daughter.

He is survived by his wife, four children, 10 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.