It was announced earlier this evening that singer/actor Robert Goulet passed away earlier today at Cedar Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Goulet was there awaiting a lung transplant. He had recently been diagonised with pulmonary fibrosis.
He made his debut in the legendary Lerner and Loewe Broadway musical "Camelot" along side Richard Burton and Julie Andrews. His rendition of "If Ever Would I Leave You" caused not only many a teenage girl and their mothers to wear out the Original Cast recording but likely some young men as well.
His many credits include: Sunshine Town, Thunder Rock, The Optimist, Dreamgirl, Carousel, Finian’s Rainbow, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Pajama Game, Beggars Opera, Bells Are Ringing, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Happy Time, I Do, I Do, On A Clear Day, Kiss Me Kate, The Fantasticks, South Pacific, Camelot (as King Arthur), Moon Over Buffalo, and Man Of La Mancha, La Cage aux Folles”
He recorded over 60 albums during his career.
He was born in Lawrence, Mass, the only son of French Canadian parents. He began singing early in his life. By the age of 5 he was singing for family members and doing imitations of Al Jolson. He suffered from stage fright for many years until, the story goes, he received his father's blessing to pursue a singing career.
He was introduced to Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe in 1959 as they were casting for their musical play "Camelot" based on the Arthurian legend of King Arthur, Queen Guenevere and Lancelot. Richard Burton and Julie Andrews were already cast. Lerner and Loewe thought Goulet, with that wonderful rich baritone voice, would make a perfect Lancelot.
The play opened in Toronto in 1960, ran for four weeks in Boston and took Broadway by storm.
He married Carol Lawrence, another Broadway phenom of the era and they had two children, Christopher and Michael.
He began playing the Las Vegas Strip in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s was a major showroom draw.
In 1982, long divorced from Carol Lawrence, he married Vera Novack in Las Vegas. They made Las Vegas their primary home living in a home near Sunset Park that Goulet had purchased in 1974.
He was hospitalized a month ago and doctor's discovered he had a rare case of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He was transferred to Cedar Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles where he was awaiting a lung transplant.