Robert Goulet's Coda

Camelot has lost its Lancelot.

Robert Goulet, whose precise baritone and matinee-idol looks made him a Broadway star in the defining musical of the early 1960s, died Tuesday at a Los Angeles hospital as he awaited a lung transplant.

He was 73.

Goulet, who'd been suffering from a lung disease known as Interstitial Pulmonary Fibrosis, was hospitalized Sept. 30 in Las Vegas, and later transferred to L.A.'s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he died. His condition became news last week when his wife, Vera, gave an interview to the Associated Press.

Goulet was under sedation, and unable to talk, much less ply his trade of some 50 years.

As he lay stricken, Goulet, who had survived prostate cancer in the 1990s, clung to the hope of a transplant. "Just give me a new pair of lungs," the performer said before being put on a respirator, Vera Goulet told the wire service, "and I'll hit the high notes until I'm 100."

Born Nov. 26, 1933, in Massachusetts, Goulet moved to his Canadian parents' native country as a young teen, and became a singing star there in the 1950s.

In 1960, he won the role of the strapping Lancelot in a new Alan Jay Lerner-Frederick Loewe musical about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Joining him in the cast—and in the show's love triangle—were two actors then known primarily in their native United Kingdom: Richard Burton and Julie Andrews.

Camelot opened on Broadway on Dec. 3, 1960, and made international stars of all three. A few years later, following the assassination of President Kennedy, the show became something more than the sum of its hit songs when former first lady Jackie Kennedy told an interviewer how much her late husband loved its score, especially the poignant final lines from title tune's reprise: "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot."

From that point forward, Camelot became irrevocably linked with Kennedy's Camelot.

While Burton and Andrews went onto become movie stars, Goulet found his niche as a recording artist and live performer. No matter how many shows he did, or songs he recorded, his signature hit remained Lancelot's signature song, "If Ever I Should Leave You."

Goulet once told the New York Times he had to be careful with laser-sharp baritone when recording. "There are times when I feel I'm too vocal," he said. "Sometimes I think that if you sing with a big voice, the people in the audience don't listen to the words, as they should. They just listen to the sound."

Per one oft-recounted Elvis Presley tale, the King of Rock 'n' Roll once became so annoyed with the big voice that he shot out the TV set on which Goulet was performing.

If Elvis wasn't a Goulet fan, plenty of others were. The singer won a 1962 Grammy as Best New Artist. His catalog of hits included "What Kind of Fool Am I?," His discography encompassed more than 60 albums.

An inveterate stage performer, Goulet appeared in dozens of musicals, on Broadway and parts elsewhere. He returned to Camelot again and again, including a 1993 Broadway revival, where he claimed Burton's old crown as King Arthur.

In recent years, as Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack crowd fell away, Goulet became something of the last showroom star standing, and began to embody classic Las Vegas cool. The persona, parodied by Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live, proved enticing to the corporate likes of ESPN and Emerald Nuts, for whom the real Goulet starred in commercials.

Goulet worked in film and TV, as well, a fact to which Wheezy the Penguin owes his Toy Story 2 singing voice. Other credits included Beetlejuice, The Naked Gun 2-1/2: The Smell of Fear and the 1962 animated musical, Gay Purr-ee, in which he vocalized opposite Judy Garland.

Of late, Goulet toured with the one-man show, "The Man and His Music." What turned out to be his final performance occurred just over a month ago--on Sept. 20 in Syracuse, New York.

In an interview leading up to the date, Goulet spoke his mind to the Syracuse New Times on the state of music--"I don’t listen to Britney Spears. She has no voice at all, and she’s made $100 billion, and I’ve made 28 cents."--and his personal recipe for success.

"I stick to good lyrics and good music," Goulet said. "I don’t sing junk."

Via eonline