CAUSE: Kazan died in Manhattan, three weeks after his 94th birthday, of natural causes.
FURTHER READING: A Life – Elia Kazan (London: Andre Deutsch, 1988).
Moe Keale
Born December 13, 1939
Died April 15, 2002
‘Truck’. Wilfred Nalani Keale was born in Niihau, a seventh child, but grew up on Oahu, Hawaii. His father came from Niihau, his mother from Kauai. Keale learned to play the ukulele when he was 4. He played the instrument as a boy growing up in Palolo Valley, taking it to Palolo Elementary School and Kaimuki High School and, later, as a beach boy, to Waikiki. As a beach boy, his long hair earned him a nickname that stuck for years ‘Animal’. He was a professional high-diver, a part-time electrician and a radio DJ. A frequent nightclub performer, Keale was the lead singer in Eddie Kamae’s Sons Of Hawaii in the late Sixties. He also had his own group, Moe Keale & Anuenue. In 1978, he recorded a solo album, South Sea Island Magic. He began acting in 1959 with a role in the Spencer Tracy feature film The Devil At Four O’Clock, which was followed by a long run in New York of the stage production of Paradise Island. He became a regular in the cast of the hit cop show Hawaii Five-O playing Truck Kealoha just as the show was ending. He had also worked on the set as an electrician. He was married to Carol and had a son Scott Nalani.
CAUSE: Keale nearly died in 2001 when he suffered a heart attack while working out at 24 Hour Fitness in the Windward City Shopping Center. Police officers saved his life. He died after a heart attack at Castle Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. On May 4 a musical celebration in remembrance of Keale took place at the Kuhio Beach Hula Mound. A ceremony was held at sunset and his ashes were scattered at sea.
Buster Keaton
Born October 4, 1895
Died February 1, 1966
‘The Great Stone Face’. Born in Piqua, Kansas, despite the legend, little Joseph Frank (later Francis) Keaton was not nicknamed ‘Buster’ by family friend Harry Houdini after the six-month-old fell down the stairs and the great escapologist allegedly said to Mr Keaton: “That was some buster he took falling down the stairs.” Keaton took part in his parents’ act – he would be thrown around the stage by his father and to make it easier to pick up the small boy his mother sewed a suitcase handle onto the back of his jacket. The young Buster had a tough upbringing: on one occasion Mr Keaton beat up a heckler using his son as a weapon and Sarah Bernhardt once threatened to have Mr Keaton arrested for child abuse. Buster taught himself to read and write, having only had one half day of formal schooling in his life. Working in vaudeville, he was invited to join Fatty Arbuckle and the two men became firm friends. Keaton was a notorious practical joker, as was Arbuckle. One day they turned up at the Beverly Hills mansion of a friend pretending to be from the gas board investigating a leak and proceeded to dig up the finely manicured lawn. A chronic ear infection during World War I left Keaton virtually deaf. His films included The Butcher Boy (1917) as a customer, His Wedding Night (1917), Coney Island (1917), A Country Hero (1917), Moonshine (1918) as an assistant revenue officer, Good Night, Nurse! (1918) as a doctor and a visitor, The Garage (1919) as an assistant to the garage owner, The Saphead (1920), Keaton’s first feature in which he played Bertie Van Alstyne, Neighbors (1921) as the boy, The High Sign (1921), The Goat (1921), The Boat (1921) as a husband, The Paleface (1922) in the title role, The Blacksmith (1922), The Frozen North (1922), Daydreams (1922), Cops (1922), Go West (1923) as Buster, The Balloonatic (1923), Sherlock, Jr (1924) as the projectionist, The Iron Mule (1925), Go West (1925) as Friendless/Homer Holiday, The General (1927) as Johnnie Gray, Spite Marriage (1929) as Elmer, Doughboys (1930) as Elmer, Sidewalks Of New York (1931) as Homer Van Dine Harmon, Casanova Wider Willen (1931) as Reginald Irving, The Passionate Plumber (1932) as Elmer Tuttle, The Gold Ghost (1934), Palooka From Paducah (1935), Three On A Limb (1936), Grand Slam Opera (1936) as Elmer Butts, Blue Blazes (1936) as Elmer, Jail Bait (1937), The Villain Still Pursued Her (1940) as William, The Spook Speaks (1940), Li’l Abner (1940) as Lonsome Polecat, She’s Oil Mine (1941), That’s The Spirit (1945), You’re My Everything (1949), The Lovable Cheat as Goulard, Sunset Blvd. as himself, Limelight (1952) as Calvero’s partner, Around The World In 80 Days (1956) as a train conductor, The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn (1960) as a lion tamer, The Triumph Of Lester Snapwell (1963) as Lester Snapwell, It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) as Jimmy The Crook, Beach Blanket Bingo (1965), How To Stuff A Wild Bikini (1965) as Bwana the witch doctor, Sergeant Deadhead (1965) as Private Blinken and A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (1966) as Erronius. Keaton was initially careful to ensure his films were produced and crafted the way he wanted. A move to MGM robbed him of this input and his work began to suffer accordingly. A gourmet cook, he became a virtual alcoholic towards the end of his life. It was only in the Fifties that a new audience began to appreciate his work and he appeared in Chaplin’s Limelight, despite being one of the Little Tramp’s greatest comedy rivals. Keaton was awarded a special Oscar in 1962. On May 31, 1921, he married Natalie Talmadge, sister of Norma. They had two sons: Joseph (born June 2, 1922) and Robert (b. February 3, 1924). The Keatons divorced in 1933. Before his divorce was finalised Keaton married Mae Scribbins on January 8, 1933. They remarried on October 17, 1933. The couple was divorced on October 14, 1936. Keaton’s third and final wife was dancer Eleanor Norris; they wed on May 29, 1940.
CAUSE: He died at 6.15am aged 70 in Los Angeles, California, from lung cancer. He was buried in Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles 90068. His widow placed a rosary in one pocket and a pack of playing cards in the other.
FURTHER READING: Buster Keaton: Cut To The Chase – Marion Meade (HarperCollins, 1995).
Howard Keel
(HAROLD CLIFFORD LEEK)
Born April 13, 1917
Died November 7, 2004
Broad-shouldered baritone. A star of Fifties musicals, Howard Keel later found his career revived as Clayton Farlow in Dallas. Born in Gillespie, Illinois, the son of a naval captain turned coalminer, who beat his children when he was drunk. Keel’s mother, a strict Methodist, forbade her two sons from having any entertainment. “I had a terrible, rotten childhood,” Keel remembered. “My father made away with himself when I was 11. I had no guidance, and Mum was six feet tall, bucktoothed and very tough. I was mean and rebellious and had a terrible, bitter 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.” In the late Thirties Keel moved to Los Angeles, California and aged 20 was befriended by a woman who took him to a concert at the Hollywood Bowl featuring the baritone Lawrence Tibbett. Keel was inspired, and he started taking vocal lessons at 25 cents an hour. His first semi-professional opportunity came as a singing waiter at the Paris Inn Restaurant in downtown Los Angeles at $15 a week and two meals a day. Keel worked for five years at Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica during the Second World War. He auditioned for Oscar Hammerstein II who was looking for young singers to play Curly in the growing number of touring Oklahoma! companies. Hammerstein approved, and soon, under a new name, Howard Keel, he was singing ‘Oh, What A Beautiful Morning’ in New York eight times a week. He sometimes replaced John Raitt in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s other hit, Carousel. On occasion he would appear in a matinee of Oklahoma! and an evening performance of Carousel. He appeared in Carousel for eighteen months in London. However, Rodgers & Hammerstein were notorious for underpaying their actors and denying them billing. Keel did not like receiving just $250 a week for the unbilled starring role in a sell-out musical. As soon as his contract expired, he returned to Los Angeles where he was signed to MGM at $850 a week. Keel became an overnight star in his first MGM film playing Frank Butler to Betty Hutton’s Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun (released on April 12, 1950). He became a staple of the musical genre appearing opposite Esther Williams (Pagan Love Song (1950), Texas Carnival (1951), Jupiter’s Darling (1955)), Ann Blyth (Rose Marie (1954), Kisme
t (1955)), Kathryn Grayson (Show Boat (1951), Lovely To Look At (1952), Kiss Me Kate (1952)) and Doris Day (Calamity Jane (1953)). His own favourite film was the exuberant Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954). “It was a fine cast and lots of fun to make,” Keel later remarked, “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 the era of the big musical ended Keel took to the road with touring versions of his big hits. At the age of 64, when most are contemplating retirement he became a television star in the then biggest show on the box, Dallas. He stayed with the show as good guy Clayton until Dallas ended on May 3, 1991. “The show was enormous,” Keel recalled. “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. Wherever I went, crowds appeared again, and I started making solo albums for the first time in my career.” During his musical career, he had sung on cast albums only. He had one Top 10 (And I Love You So in 1984) and one Top 20 album (Reminiscing – The Howard Keel Collection in 1985) in the UK. He also sang on Dallas The Album soloing with a song called ‘JR, Who Do You Think You Are?’ When he left MGM his career floundered somewhat. He was St Peter in the unsuccessful The Big Fisherman (1959). Most of his other films were westerns: Waco (1966), Red Tomahawk (1967), The War Wagon (1967) (with John Wayne and Kirk Douglas) and Arizona Bushwhackers (1968). He also worked in England in The Day Of The Triffids (1962). Keel was married three times and divorced twice: first to actress Rosemary Cooper (1943–October 1948), then to dancer Helen Anderson (January 3, 1949–1970). They had three children: Kaija Liane (born January 14, 1950), Kristine (born June 21, 1952), and Gunnar Lewis (born June 3, 1955). On December 21, 1970 he married former airline stewardess Judy Magamoll. They had one daughter, Leslie (born September 1, 1974). He also had 10 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.
Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries Page 102
