Robert Goulet

**Robert Gérard Goulet** (November 26, 1933 – October 30, 2007) was an American singer and actor of French-Canadian ancestry. Goulet was born and raised in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Cast as Sir Lancelot and originating the role in the 1960 Broadway musical *Camelot* starring opposite established Broadway stars Richard Burton and Julie Andrews, he achieved instant recognition with his performance and interpretation of the song "If Ever I Would Leave You", which became his signature song. His debut in *Camelot* marked the beginning of a stage, screen, and recording career. A Grammy Award and Tony Award winner, his career spanned almost six decades. In 1966, Goulet starred in the television series *Blue Light*, in which he played a journalist working undercover in Nazi Germany as a spy on behalf of the Allies. The series ran for 17 episodes between January 12, 1966 and May 18, 1966. In December 1966, a theatrical film starring Goulet, *I Deal in Danger*, was released, made up of the first four episodes of *Blue Light* edited together.

In 1968, Goulet was back on Broadway in the Kander and Ebb musical *The Happy Time*. He won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role. John Serry Sr. collaborated as the orchestral accordionist. In 2005, he starred in the Broadway revival of Jerry Herman's *La Cage aux Folles*. Goulet began a recording career with Columbia Records in 1962, which resulted in more than 60 best selling albums.

He also toured in several musicals, including *Camelot* as Sir Lancelot, *Man of La Mancha*, Rodgers and Hammerstein's *South Pacific*, Rodgers and Hammerstein's *Carousel*, where he portrayed Billy Bigelow, a role he also played in 1967 in a made-for-television adaptation of the musical. This version aired only a year after the first television telecast of the 1956 film version. He also starred in a 1966 television version of *Brigadoon*, which won several Emmy Awards, and *Kiss Me Kate* in 1968, opposite his then-wife Carol Lawrence. All three were produced by Goulet's company Rogo Productions and aired on ABC, but none have been rebroadcast since the 1960s or released on video. All three were recorded on videotape rather than film.

Goulet guest starred on *The Lucy Show* in 1967 as himself and two additional characters who entered a Robert Goulet look-alike contest. In 1972, he played a lead villain in the season finale of television original *Mission: Impossible*. Goulet was featured in a two-part episode of the sitcom *Alice* during the 1981 season, again playing himself. The plot involves Mel (Vic Tayback) and the girls winning a free trip to Las Vegas, and while there, losing his diner in a gambling spree. Alice (Linda Lavin) plans to impersonate Goulet in an effort to persuade the casino owner to return the diner to Mel. The real Goulet appears and sings a duet with the (much shorter) fake Robert Goulet portrayed by Alice.

Goulet's first film performance was released in 1962: the UPA (United Productions of America) animated musical feature *Gay Purr-ee*, in which he provided the voice of the male lead character, 'Jaune Tom', opposite the female lead character, 'Mewsette', voiced by Judy Garland. His first non-singing role was in *Honeymoon Hotel*(1964), but it was not until a cameo appearance as a singer in Louis Malle's film, *Atlantic City* (1980) that Goulet was given critical acclaim. He recorded the song "Atlantic City (My Old Friend)" for Applause Records in 1981.

In 1988, Tim Burton cast him as a houseguest blown through the roof by *Beetlejuice* and also played himself in Bill Murray's *Scrooged* (both 1988). He performed the Canadian national anthem to open "WrestleMania VI" at SkyDome in Toronto in 1990. Goulet also made several appearances on the ABC sitcom *Mr. Belvedere* during its five-year run.

In 1991, Goulet starred, with John Putch and Hillary Bailey Smith, in the unsold television series pilot *Acting Sheriff*. That same year, he appeared as Quentin Hapsburg, opposite Leslie Nielsen, in the comedy film *The Naked Gun 2½*. This followed a cameo as a "Special Guest Star" in the episode "The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand)" of the 1982 TV series *Police Squad!* in which he died by firing squad during the opening credits. The television series spawned *The Naked Gun* film series.

In 1992, Goulet made an uncredited appearance as the piano player who suffers agonizing injuries in the "Weird Al" Yankovic video for "You Don't Love Me Anymore". That same year, Goulet guest-starred as country music singer Eddie Larren in an episode of the TV series *In the Heat of the Night*, "When the Music Stopped".

He starred as King Arthur in *Camelot* in a 1992 National Tour and returned to Broadway in 1993 with the same production. In 1993, he played himself in *The Simpsons*episode "$pringfield". In that episode, Bart Simpson booked him into his own casino (actually Bart's treehouse), where he sang "Jingle Bells (Batman Smells)".