"Howard Keel of movie fame - Showboat, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Annie
Get Your Gun, and later television - Dallas, was from Gillespie. Victor said he
knew Howard as Harold Kiel in Gillespie. After the "big fight" in 1945, he went
to London and became a big hit in the stage musical "Oklahoma." They still love
him there, though he never got the part in "OK" in Hollywood. Still alive and
was last seen in "Dallas." - Victor Hicken, raised in Gillespie and author of
Illinois in the Civil War
"In an issue of a TV supplement, it states
incorrectly that, 'Howard Keel who plays Clayton Farlow on Dallas was born in
Gillespie. His real name was Clifford Leek, born 13 April, 1917.' Howard Keel's
real name is Harry Clifford Keel b. April 13, 1919; parents Charles Homer Keel &
Grace Osterkamp.
"One of the stories our family has about Howard
is whenever he played the Muni Opera in St. Louis in the '60's & '70's, he would
send a limo to pick up his former third grade teacher in Gillespie; transport
her to a front row seat and return her to Gillespie." - Becky Hargett, 3rd
cousin of Howard Keel
Macoupin County ILGenWeb Copyright
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This page was last updated
07/01/2022