Howard Keel - 11982

American singer and actor, real name Harold Keel.

After winning several singing contests Keel was hired by Rodgers and Hammerstein, replacing John Raitt in the Broadway production of Carousel and played Curley in the London staging of Oklahoma. It was while in England that Keel, billed as Harold Keel, made his film debut in a villainous role in The Small Voice (1949). He was brought back to Hollywood to play Frank Butler in MGM's film of Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun. This led to leading roles in such subsequent big-budget MGM musicals as Showboat (1951), Lovely to Look At (1952), Kiss Me Kate (1953), Rose Marie (1954), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) and Kismet (1955). After parting company with MGM, Keel appeared in nightclub and touring companies, often in the company of his frequent MGM co-star Kathryn Grayson, and also starred in several medium-budget westerns; he also was cast in the British sci-fi classic Day of the Triffids (1963). Keel also enjoyed great popularity in the sizeable supporting role of Clayton Farrow on the TV series Dallas.

This is a very fine original black and white publicity photograph (9" x 7") for Keel's starring role in a non-musical film, the Biblical epic, The Big Fisherman (as Simon Peter, 1959). There's a fine signature in black ink across a light area of the image. In very good condition. This photograph comes from the archive of the publishers of Picture Show Magazine and was reproduced in their Picture Show Annual of 1960.