Musical Great Robert Goulet Dies at 73

Robert Goulet, the Tony-winning star whose distinctive baritone made him one of the last of Broadway's classic musical leading men, died on October 30 in Los Angeles while awaiting a lung transplant. He was 73 and had been recently diagnosed with interstitial pulmonary fibrosis, a rapidly progressive lung infection.

Best known for playing Lancelot in the original Broadway production of Camelot, a performance that won him a Theatre World Award, Goulet went on to great fame as a singer and actor, juggling appearances on stage, television and in Las Vegas, where he lived at the time of his death with his third wife and manager, Vera.

Goulet was born on November 26, 1933, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the son of a French-Canadian textile-mill guard who died when his son was a teenager. After his father's death, Goulet and his family moved to Edmonton, Alberta, where he worked as a disc jockey and studied opera at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. One of his first professional jobs was in a TV production of Little Women, and he was soon being touted as "Canada's first matinee idol."

An agent who had heard about Goulet's distinctive voice recommended him to Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, who signed him in September 1960 to play Lancelot alongside Julie Andrews and Richard Burton in their new musical, Camelot. Goulet's rendition of "If Ever I Would Leave You" topped the charts and sealed his reputation as a romantic hero. He won a Grammy for best new artist for his first two albums, one of which included his hit version of "What Kind of Fool Am I," and starred in an Emmy-winning broadcast of Brigadoon in 1966. He and his wife at the time, Carol Lawrence, enjoyed great success as a duo singing act.

In addition to Camelot, Goulet's Broadway credits included Kander and Ebb's The Happy Time, for which he won a 1968 Best Actor Tony Award; a 1983 revival of Camelot, in which he played King Arthur; the play Moon Over Buffalo; and the revival of La Cage aux Folles, which he joined as a replacement in 2005 in the role of Georges.

Goulet's touring included Sunshine Town, Thunder Rock, The Optimist, Dream Girl, Carousel, Finian's Rainbow, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Pajama Game, Beggars Opera, Bells Are Ringing, Meet Me in St. Louis, I Do, I Do, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, Kiss Me Kate, The Fantasticks, South Pacific and Man Of La Mancha.

In recent years, Goulet showed his willingness to poke fun at his own image as suave leading man, appearing as himself in a series of ads for Emerald Nuts shown during the 2007 Super Bowl and voicing a character based on himself in The Simpsons. He also provided the singing voice for Wheezy the Penguin in Toy Story 2.

In addition to his wife, Goulet is survived by a daughter, Nicolette, from his first marriage, two sons, Christopher and Michael, from his marriage to Lawrence, and two grandchildren.

The marquees of Broadway theaters and in those in cities across North America will be dimmed in Goulet's memory for one minute on October 31 at exactly 8 p.m.