Dallas star Howard Keel dies, aged 85

HOWARD KEEL, the broad-shouldered baritone who romanced his way through a series of glittery MGM musicals such as Kiss Me Kate and Annie Get Your Gun and later revived his career with Dallas, died yesterday. He was 85.

Keel died of colon cancer, according to his son, Gunnar Keel.

Keel became a star in his first MGM film, playing Frank Butler to Betty Hutton’s Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun. His size and lusty voice made him an ideal leading man for such stars as Esther Williams, Ann Blyth, Kathryn Grayson and Doris Day.

His own favourite film was the exuberant Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

“It was a fine cast and lots of fun to make,” Keel remarked in 1993, “but they did the damn thing on the cheap. The backdrops had holes in them, and it was shot on the worst film stock. As it turned out, the miracle worker was George Foley, the cinematographer. He took that junk and made it look like a Grandma Moses painting.”

When film studios went into a slump, MGM’s musical factory was disbanded. Keel kept busy on the road in hits such as Man of La Mancha, South Pacific, Annie Get Your Gun and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

Keel was 66 and nearing the end of his career when he suddenly became a star in another medium.

From its start in 1978, Dallas, with its combination of oil, greed, sex and duplicity had become the hottest series on television. Jim Davis, who had played the role of Jock Ewing, died in 1981, and the producers needed another strong presence to stand up to the nefarious JR (Larry Hagman). They chose Keel to play Clayton Farlow.

“The show was enormous,” Keel reflected in 1995, “I couldn’t believe it. My life changed again. From being out of it, I was suddenly a star, known to more people than ever before.”