Robert Goulet born 26 November 1933

Robert Gerard Goulet (November 26, 1933 – October 30, 2007) was a Canadian American entertainer as a singer and actor. He rose to international stardom in 1960 as Lancelot in Lerner and Loewe’s hit Broadway musical Camelot. His long career as a singer and actor encompassed theatre, radio, television and film. His face was more famous than his voice, but Robert Goulet recorded a string of popular albums for Columbia during the 1960s, striking the pop charts with several hits and earning a 1962 Grammy Award.

He was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the son of Joseph and Jeannette Goulet. His father died when he was 13 and he moved to Edmonton, Canada, a year later. Goulet won a singing scholarship to the Royal Conservatory of music in Toronto and in 1951 made his concert debut at Edmonton in Handel's Messiah. Goulet was also a DJ on Canada's CKUA in Edmonton for two years. He appeared on Canadian television in the early '50s, but moved to New York and by the end of the decade was fit into a prime Broadway role: Sir Lancelot, in Lerner & Loewe's Camelot (with Julie Andrews and Richard Burton). A starring role in several films proved less than successful, however.

He began singing in the early '60s as well, and after an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, Goulet signed to Columbia in 1962. His single "What Kind of Fool Am I?" became a modest hit later that year, and early in 1963 he won a Grammy for Best New Artist.

 

Like many vocal artists of the day, however, Goulet became a bankable LP seller rather than a chart success, and though he made a surprise Top 20 showing of "My Love, Forgive Me (Amore, Scusami)" in 1964, it was his last hit. The album My Love Forgive Me reached number five and became a gold seller, and Goulet continued recording until 1970, when he moved into concert and television work.

Goulet began working in films in 1962, providing the voice of one of the characters in the animated feature Gay Purr-ee opposite Judy Garland. His first acting role was in His and Hers (1964), but it was not until a cameo appearance as a singer in Louis Malle’s Atlantic City (1980) that Goulet was given critical acclaim. In 1968, Goulet was on Broadway in the Kander and Ebb musical, The Happy Time. . He recorded the song Atlantic City (My Old

Friend) for Applause Records in 1981. He appeared in a 1982 production of Rose-Marie with Inga Swenson.

He and first wife Louise Longmore had one daughter, Nikki. His second wife, actress and singer Carol Lawrence, produced two sons, Christopher and Michael. In 1982, with Glenn Ford giving the bride away, he was married in Las Vegas to Vera Novak, a Yugoslavian-born writer, photographer and artist. When not living at their home in Las Vegas, they resided on their yacht "Rogo" in Los Angeles. Goulet has performed at the White House for three presidents as well as a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II.

He was absent from the screen for seven years until he was cast by Tim Burton as a houseguest blown through the roof by Beetlejuice and also played himself in Bill Murray’s Scrooged (both 1988). In 1990, he sang the Canadian national anthem at the beginning of WrestleMania VI, which was held at the Toronto Skydome in Toronto, Ontario Canada.

In 1993, Goulet mounted a production of Camelot, this time trading roles to play the more aged King Arthur. That same year he appeared, in animated form, on an episode of The Simpsons. In 1996 he starred in the film Mr. Wrong and three years later he was the singing voice of Wheezy the Penguin in the animated feature Toy Story 2. The year 2000 found him in a revival of South Pacific and in 2005 he was back on Broadway starring in La Cage aux Folles. In 2006 he was given a spot on Canada's Walk of Fame. A year later he was featured in a bizarre and hilarious commercial for the Emerald Nut Company that aired during Super Bowl XLI.

On September 30, 2007, he was hospitalized in Las Vegas, where he was diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, "a rare but rapidly progressive and potentially fatal condition." On October 13 he was transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after it was determined he "would not survive without an emergency lung transplant."

Goulet died on October 30, 2007 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, while awaiting a transplant.(Info edited mainly from Freebase, IMDB and Last fm)