The two that got away.(Howard Keel and Gordon MacRae would have been major stars on Broadway.)(Biography)

Had Hollywood not swooped down and snatched them up, Howard Keel and Gordon MacRae would have been major Broadway stars. Both were blessed with fine voices, good looks and acting talent, and both had the backing of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.

Keel, in fact, had his first Broadway break in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel Shortly after his World War II service, he was chosen to replace John Raitt as Billy Bigelow during Raitt's vacation. Next he did a stint as Curly in Oklahoma!, which was playing across the street, and for a stretch Keel even alternated in the two shows, caroming back and forth across 45th Street between the St. James and the Majestic Theaters. Finally, he went to England to star in Oklahoma's West End production, where he proved a big hit with British audiences and played Curly for the next eighteen months.

In 1950, Keel went to Hollywood to costar in MGM's Annie Get Your Gun. He remained at that studio as one of its major musical-comedy leading men for the next seven years. He made his share of mediocre movies but starred in some memorable ones as well, including Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Kiss Me, Kate and the 1951 Show Boat. Entertaining, though not exactly masterpieces, were Kismet, Calamity Jane, Lovely to Look At, Rose-Marie and Jupiter's Darling.

Keel's big, burly bass-baritone was perfectly suited to the rough-hewn, outdoorsy types he played best. He got into trouble when he had to take on more sophisticated characters. MGM cast him in the screen versions of two of Alfred Drake's biggest Broadway hits, Kiss Me, Kate and Kismet. While perfectly adequate, Keel could not begin to match Drake's brilliant clowning or witty sense of phrasing. His corn-fed, easygoing personality seemed somewhat leaden in these rather rarefied contexts. But he was a fine Gaylord Ravenal in George Sidney's lavish Technicolor[R] filming of Show Boat, and his final scene with his estranged daughter was particularly moving.

Keel's MGM contract ended about the same time original screen musicals started dying off. He tried to crack Broadway again in the musicals Saratoga and Ambassadors, but both were flops. He kept going nonetheless, replacing Richard Kiley in No Strings, appearing in non-singing roles in film and television, and starring in touring productions of shows such as South Pacific and I Do! I Do! And just when he was ready to retire, Hollywood made an offer for him to star as Clayton Farlow in the hit TV series Dallas. He said yes--and had a job for the next ten years.

Keel, who finally has settled down to a comfortable retirement, was ...