Ruby Keeler Overview:

Legendary actress, Ruby Keeler, was born Ethel Hilda Keeler on Aug 25, 1910 in Halifax, Canada. Keeler died at the age of 82 on Feb 28, 1993 in Rancho Mirage, CA and was laid to rest in Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Orange, Orange County, CA.

MINI BIO:

Dark-haired Canadian-born star of Hollywood musicals of the thirties, often in tandem with Dick Powell. The famous initial description of Astaire on his arrival in Hollywood - "Can't act, can't sing, can dance a little" - would have fitted Ruby, though even her clackety-clack dancing was hopeful and energetic rather than hep. Still, she was pretty, and whenever the leading lady broke a leg, Ruby went out there and became a star. Married (first of two) to Al Jolson from 1928 to 1939. Died from cancer.

(Source: available at Amazon Quinlan's Film Stars).

HONORS and AWARDS:

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She was honored with one star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the category of Motion Pictures. Keeler was never nominated for an Academy Award.

BlogHub Articles:

Silver Screen Standards: in 42nd Street (1933)

By Jennifer Garlen on Apr 11, 2023 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

Silver Screen Standards: in 42nd Street (1933) Every time I watch 42nd Street (1933) I fall in love with all over again. Just like Peggy Sawyer, the character she plays in the movie, Keeler was a bright newcomer getting her big break; although she had been dancing on stage... Read full article


Silver Screen Standards: in 42nd Street (1933)

By Jennifer Garlen on Apr 11, 2023 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

Silver Screen Standards: in 42nd Street (1933) Every time I watch 42nd Street (1933) I fall in love with all over again. Just like Peggy Sawyer, the character she plays in the movie, Keeler was a bright newcomer getting her big break; although she had been dancing on stage... Read full article


Classic Movie Travels:

By Annette Bochenek on Jul 2, 2020 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

Classic Movie Travels: When thinking of early musicals, the output of Warner Bros. studios is certainly worth noting. In the Gold Digger musicals and so many others, a wide variety of Warner Bros.’s triple-threat talents shone in the musical genre. Though Ruby Kee... Read full article


All in the Family: , Ken Weatherwax and Joey D. Vieira

By Annmarie Gatti on Aug 25, 2013 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

and Nephews?Ken Weatherwax and?Joey D. Vieira Actress/singer/dancer was most famously paired with Dick Powell in the iconic Warner Brothers’?Busby Berkeley?musicals — including?42nd Street,?Gold Diggers of 1933,?Footlight Parade and?Dames. Keeler also happens to b... Read full article


Monday Serenade: Meows in Footlight Parade (1933)

By KC on Sep 21, 2009 From Classic Movies

clumps along in her kitty costume, but she's still awfully cute in the Sittin' on a Backyard Fence number from Footlight Parade (1933). That's Billy Taft singing with her.... Read full article


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Ruby Keeler Quotes:

Barbara Hemingway: I'm free, white, and 21. I love to dance AND I'm going to dance.


Betty Blake: Ozzie and Harriet, Ozzie and Harriet, Ozzie and Harriet - you say it like they go together like ham and eggs!


Molly Howard, aka Lucille Thompson: What happened?
Dorothy Wayne: Well, man meets girl, girl meets husband, husband meets man, man meets sidewalk.


read more quotes from Ruby Keeler...



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Ruby Keeler on the
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Ruby Keeler Facts
Aunt of Ken Weatherwax. He was Pugsley Addams of "The Addams Family" (1964).

Ruby, who was Irish, and her 24-years-senior husband Al Jolson, who was Jewish, could not conceive a child, so they adopted a baby boy who was half-Irish and half-Jewish. After she divorced Jolson she had four children with her second husband. Her adopted son, Al Jolson Jr., was a contented member of her new family.

When 40-year-old Al Jolson, her future husband, first met her at Texas Guinan's El Fey Club in New York City one night in 1926, she was a 16-year-old dancer in the chorus line. He married her two years later, when she was 18.

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