Ethel Hilda Keeler Bio/Wiki, Net Worth, Married 2018
Ruby Keeler (born Ethel Hilda Keeler; August 25, 1910 – February 28, 1993) was a Canadian-born American actress, dancer and singer most famous for her on-screen coupling with Dick Powell in a string of successful early musicals at Warner Brothers, particularly 42nd Street (1933). From 1928 to 1940, she was married to singer Al Jolson. She retired from show business in the 1940s but made a widely publicized comeback on Broadway in 1971.
[on her early success] I was all personality and no talent.
2
Dancing in speakeasies was a job, and none of us knew for sure who were gangsters. No one told us, so how could we know? My mother used to come and take me home. We thought nothing of walking home together at two in the morning. How different New York was then!
3
[on her childhood ballet teacher Helen Guest] We were very poor, and I think she gave me the lessons for nothing.
4
[on why she was not portrayed in 'The Jolson Story'] I don't like him. I don't want my children to grow up someday and maybe see the picture and know I was married to a man like that.
5
[on her stardom in the 1930s Warner Bros. musicals] It's really amazing. I couldn't act. I had that terrible singing voice, and now I can see I wasn't the greatest tap dancer in the world, either.
6
Al Jolson was my first husband. He always used to boast that he was spoiling me for any man who might come after him. I think Al sensed that it wasn't easy for me being married to an American institution . . . Was he right about spoiling me? I'm sorry. I couldn't possibly say. I couldn't be that indiscreet.
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Fact
1
In her heyday, with carefully counted slow motion, she was declared the world's fastest "tapper".
2
Keeler ended her RKO contract when the studio billed Anne Shirley over her in "Mother Carey's Chickens.".
3
Keeler walked out on the play "Hold on to Your Hat" when husband Al Jolson persisted in making ad-lib references to their marital difficulties during rehearsals.
4
When she enrolled in Jack Blue's dancing school on West 54th Street in Manhattan at eleven, one of her classmates was Patsy Kelly.
5
Received a standing ovation at the 1979 Academy Awards when she appeared to co-present the Oscar for the Best Song. She was overwhelmed with emotion.
When she was a chorus girl in New York City, Ruby was looked after and protected by a gangster named Johnny Irish. An associate of speakeasy owner and bootlegger Owney Madden--who owned the world-famous Cotton Club in Harlem--and an ally of notorious gangster Dutch Schultz, Irish ran Schultz's nightspots for him. The older and married Irish was said not to have had any romantic interest in Keeler but watched over her because she was very young, somewhat naive and also Irish, like himself. When Al Jolson decided to marry Ruby, he went to Irish to tell him of his intentions. Irish warned Jolson that if he ever mistreated Ruby, he'd pay for the transgression with his life.
10
Ruby began appearing as a singer and dancer in nightclubs when she was 13 years old, after dropping out of the sixth grade at Catholic school. She would work at two or three clubs a night, making a minimum of $150 a week. Her iceman father, Ralph, had costly medical problems, and she became the Keeler family breadwinner.
11
Famous Broadway columnist Mark Hellinger, later to become a movie producer, accompanied Ruby and Al Jolson on their honeymoon, to chronicle the event for the "NY Daily News".
12
According to her mother, Al Jolson gave Ruby a dowry of $1 million when they were married.
13
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.
14
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. He later changed his name to Peter.
15
Although she had been married to Al Jolson she forbade the use of her name in the film of Jolson's life, The Jolson Story (1946). Portrayed in that film by Evelyn Keyes, Keeler is referred to as "Julie Benson.".
16
She returned to Broadway in 1971, starring in "No No, Nanette", appearing in a run of 861 performances.
TV Movie documentary performer: "I Only Have Eyes for You", "Dames" - uncredited
The Wedding Planner
2001
performer: "Mr. and Mrs. Is The Name"
Here's Looking at You, Warner Bros.
1991
TV Movie documentary performer: "Forty-Second Street", "Shanghai Lil", "Pettin' in the Park", "I Only Have Eyes for You" - uncredited
Pee-wee's Playhouse
1990
TV Series performer - 1 episode
That's Dancing!
1985
Documentary performer: "Forty-Second Street", "Shadow Waltz", "I Only Have Eyes for You"
Virgins in Heat
1976
performer: "Forty-Second Street" - uncredited
RCA's Opening Night
1973
TV Movie performer: "Forty-Second Street" - uncredited
The 26th Annual Tony Awards
1972
TV Special performer: "I Want to Be Happy"
The Love Goddesses
1965
Documentary performer: "Pettin' in the Park" - uncredited
Hollywood and the Stars
1963
TV Series performer - 1 episode
Six Hits and a Miss
1942
Short performer: "You Gotta Know How to Dance"
Calling All Girls
1942
Short performer: "Shanghai Lil"
Sweetheart of the Campus
1941
performer: "Tap Happy"
Ready, Willing and Able
1937
"Just a Quiet Evening" 1937, uncredited / performer: "Too Marvelous for Words" 1937, "Handy with Your Feet" 1937 - uncredited
Colleen
1936
lyrics: "You Gotta Know How to Dance" 1936 - uncredited / performer: "An Evening with You" 1936, "I Don't Have to Dream Again" 1936, "You Gotta Know How to Dance" 1936 - uncredited
Shipmates Forever
1935
performer: "Don't Give Up the Ship", "I'd Love to Take Orders from You" - uncredited
Go Into Your Dance
1935
performer: "A Good Old Fashioned Cocktail With a Good Old Fashioned Gal" 1935, "About a Quarter to Nine" 1935, "Ruby" 1935, "Pimiento" 1935, "She's a Latin from Manhattan" 1935 - uncredited
Flirtation Walk
1934
performer: "Flirtation Walk" 1934, "Mr. and Mrs. Is the Name" 1934 - uncredited
Dames
1934
"I Only Have Eyes for You" 1934, uncredited / performer: "Dames" 1934 - uncredited
Footlight Parade
1933
performer: "Shanghai Lil" 1933, "By a Waterfall" 1933, "Sittin' on a Back Yard Fence" 1933, "Honeymoon Hotel" 1933 - uncredited
Gold Diggers of 1933
1933
performer: "Shadow Waltz" 1933, "Pettin' in the Park" 1933 - uncredited
42nd Street
1933
performer: "Forty-Second Street" 1932, "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" 1932 - uncredited
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1930s: Dancing Away the Great Depression
2009
Video documentary performer: "I Only Have Eyes for You", "Dames" - uncredited
Actress
Title
Year
Status
Character
Beverly Hills Brats
1989
Goldie
Glitter
1985
TV Series
The Phynx
1970
Ruby Keeler
Vacation Playhouse
1964
TV Series
Ruby
The Greatest Show on Earth
1964
TV Series
Peggy Rusher
The Jackie Gleason Show
1954
TV Series
Guest Dancer
Sweetheart of the Campus
1941
Betty Blake
Mother Carey's Chickens
1938
Katherine 'Kitty' Carey
Hollywood Handicap
1938
Short
Ruby Keeler
A Day at Santa Anita
1937
Short
Ruby Keeler (uncredited)
Ready, Willing and Able
1937
Jane
Colleen
1936
Colleen Reilly
Shipmates Forever
1935
June Blackburn
Go Into Your Dance
1935
Dorothy 'Dot' Wayne
Flirtation Walk
1934
'Kit' Fitts
Dames
1934
Barbara
Footlight Parade
1933
Bea
Gold Diggers of 1933
1933
Polly Parker
42nd Street
1933
Peggy Sawyer
Show Girl in Hollywood
1930
Ruby Keeler - Cameo Appearance at Premiere (uncredited)
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
Six Hits and a Miss
1942
Short acknowledgment
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Warner Bros. Celebration of Tradition, June 2, 1990
1990
TV Movie documentary
Host
The American Ireland Fund Annual Tribute a Salute to Gene Kelly
$9 Million
