Born in Gillespie, Illinois, to Navyman-turned-coalminer Homer Keel and his wife, Grace Osterkamp Keel, young Harry spent his childhood in poverty. After his father's death in 1930, he and his mother moved to California, where he graduated from Fallbrook High School at the age of 17 and took various odd-jobs until finally settling at Douglas Aircraft Company, where he became a traveling representative.
At the age of twenty, he was overheard singing by his landlady, Mom Rider, and was encouraged to take vocal lessons. One of his musical heroes was the great baritone Lawrence Tibbett and Howard would later say that finding out that his own voice was a basso cantante was one of the greatest disappointments of his life. Nevertheless, his first public performance came in the summer of 1941 when he played the role of Samuel the Prophet in Handel's oratorio Saul and David (singing a duet with bass-baritone George London).
Just a couple years after this, in 1943, Harold met and married his first wife, actress Rosemary Cooper. In 1945 Harold briefly understudied for John Raitt in the Broadway hit Carousel, before being assigned to Oklahoma! by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. It was during this time, he accomplished a feat that has never been duplicated. He performed the leads in both shows on the same day.
In 1947 Oklahoma! became the first American musical, post-war, to travel to London, England, and Harold went with it. Opening night , 30th April, at the Drury Lane Theatre, the capacity audience (which included the Queen) demanded fourteen encores. Harold Keel was hailed as the next great star and was the toast of the West End.
During the London run, the marriage of Harold and Rosemary ended in divorce, and Harold fell in love with a young member of the show's chorus, dancer Helen Anderson. They married in January 1949 and, a year later, Harold - now called Howard - became a father for the first time to daughter Kaija.
While living in London, Keel made his film debut as Howard Keel at the British Lion studio in Elstree, in The Small Voice (1948), released in the US as Hideout, playing an escaped convict, holding up a playwright and his wife in their English country cottage.
Additional Broadway credits include Saratoga, No Strings, and Ambasador. He appeared at The Muny in St. Louis, MO as General Waverly in White Christmas (2000), Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady (1996); Emile de Becque in South Pacific (1992), and Adam in Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1978).
From London's West End, Howard ended up at MGM making his film musical debut as Frank Butler in Annie Get Your Gun.
Howard's MGM career was to be a frustrating business. MGM never seemed to know quite what to do with him and, outside of plum roles in the films Show Boat, Kiss Me, Kate and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, he was forced into a stream of worthless musicals and B-films. On loan-out at Warner Bros., he played Wild Bill Hickok in Calamity Jane, a highly popular, Oscar-winning musical filmed in 1953, starring Doris Day in one of her most famous screen roles. This was Warner's answer to Annie Get Your Gun, and the film that produced the smash hit number, "Secret Love".
There were two more children born to Howard and Helen, daughter Kirstine in 1952 and son Gunnar in 1955. Soon after, Howard was released from his contract and returned to his first love, the stage.
Sadly, as America's taste in entertainment changed, finding jobs became harder and harder for Howard. The 1960s held little chance for career advancement with a round of nightclub work, b-Westerns and summer stock. Under the strain, Howard began to drink heavily, and his marriage to Helen crumbled. They divorced in 1970.
But 1970 proved to be fortuitous for Howard after all. He was set up on a blind date with airline stewardess Judy Magamoll who was twenty-five years his junior and had never even heard of him. They were married in December 1970 and his drinking problem soon ceased.
By 1980 he had had enough of struggling to find work and he moved his family to Oklahoma, intending to join an oil company. They had barely settled there when Howard was called back to California to appear with Jane Powell on an episode of The Love Boat. While he was there, he was told that the producers of the smash hit television series Dallas wanted to talk to him. After several cameo appearances, Howard joined the show permanently as the dignified, if hot tempered, oil baron Clayton Farlow and his career reached heights it had never seen before.
With his renewed fame, Howard began his first solo recording career at age sixty-four, as well as a wildly successful concert career in the UK. He released an album in 1984 called "With Love", that sold poorly, thus indicating that though the American public were happy to see him as a supporting actor on hit TV show, they were not prepared for a full resumption of his previous stardom.
Even after Dallas he continued to sing, and kept his voice in remarkable shape. In 1994, he and Judy moved to Palm Desert, CA. The Keels were always active in charity events, helping their community and were well loved amongst the residents. In particular, Howard and Judy attended the annual Howard Keel Golf Classic at Mere Golf Club in Cheshire, England, which raised money for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). He attended for many years, up until the year of his death.
Howard died at his home in Palm Desert on November 7, 2004, six weeks after being diagnosed with colon cancer. He is survived by Judy, his wife of thirty-four years, his four children, ten grandchildren and a great-granddaughter. He was cremated and his ashes scattered at various favorite places including Mere Golf Club, Liverpool John Lennon Airport, and in Tuscany, Italy.
Higher Than a Hawk
Howard Keel Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My love is deeper than a well
I'm thinkin' in a little while
My love and I'll be doin' very well
An owl is givin' me the eye
The wind is blowin' me a kiss
I wouldn't be at all surprised
And when I strut about like a Sunny Jim
Dressed in yeller and red
Folks'll shout, "Take a look at him!
He's tetched in the head!"
I said that I would never fall
I laughed at others when they fell
And here I'm falling, higher than a hawk
And deeper than a well..
And when we're all rigged out like a birthday cake
Eyes'll pop everywhere.
Folks'll shout, "Don't you think
They make a wonderful pair?"
I said that I would never fall
But if you promise not to tell
My love for you is higher than a hawk
And deeper than a well
In this song, Howard Keel sings about his deep and all-consuming love for his significant other. He compares his love to a hawk flying high and soaring above all else - suggesting that it is a love that is transcendental and higher than anything else in his life. Similarly, he compares the depth of his love to a well - suggesting that it is vast and seemingly bottomless. He expresses his confidence that he and his partner will be "doing very well" together in the near future, indicating that his love provides both emotional and practical support.
As the song progresses, however, Howard Keel admits that his love has caused him to be somewhat delusional. He imagines that an owl is giving him a meaningful look and the wind is blowing him a kiss - indicating that he is seeing signs of his love even in nature. He acknowledges that others may think he is "tetched in the head" for being so deeply in love. Nevertheless, he cannot help feeling completely consumed by his love - even though he had previously believed he would never fall. In the end, he admits that he has indeed fallen for his beloved - and that his love is both higher than a hawk and deeper than a well.
Line by Line Meaning
My heart is higher than a hawk
My love is extremely strong and passionate, just like how a hawk can soar high in the sky.
My love is deeper than a well
My love for you is bottomless and profound, just like a deep well that can hold endless water.
I'm thinkin' in a little while
My love and I'll be doin' very well
Soon, my love and I will be happy and content, enjoying each other's company and the depth of our love.
An owl is givin' me the eye
The wind is blowin' me a kiss
I wouldn't be at all surprised
If I were only dreamin' all of this
The universe seems to be acknowledging and approving of my love, and it feels too good to be true, almost like I'm dreaming.
And when I strut about like a Sunny Jim
Dressed in yeller and red
Folks'll shout, "Take a look at him!
He's tetched in the head!"
When I am filled with happiness and love, others may think I'm crazy or foolish for being so openly and confidently in love.
I said that I would never fall
I laughed at others when they fell
And here I'm falling, higher than a hawk
And deeper than a well..
I used to think I was invincible and immune to love, but now I am completely and helplessly in love with you, more so than I ever imagined possible.
And when we're all rigged out like a birthday cake
Eyes'll pop everywhere.
Folks'll shout, "Don't you think
They make a wonderful pair?"
When we're together, we will turn heads and make an impression as a perfect match, and people will take notice and admire us.
I said that I would never fall
But if you promise not to tell
My love for you is higher than a hawk
And deeper than a well
Despite claiming I would never fall in love, I now surrender to the strength and depth of my love for you, which is beyond measure and comparison.
Contributed by Nathan L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@stellap7624
Howard Keel at his absolute best. What a handsome Man, and what an amazing singer. I just love this song. It's the sheer richness of his voice.
@user-mn4kg3jb4j
I own the 1953 classic movie Calamity Jane on videotape, Laser Disc, DVD and Blue Ray! Thank you for posting and sharing this movie magic! I was born in 1978. I love it!
@Anjuli50
Interesting thing is that, in his autobiography, Keel said he never liked this song...but I think it's one of his loveliest, and much overlooked.
@ohdear5671
That's true
@mylist8324
One of my favourite songs of all time, a lovely melody and a song i regularly hum to myself.
@JDMatthias
I could see why he didn't enjoy he didn't enjoy the song that much...every line is a resurrected clichรฉ of a love sonet.
The melody and harmony is beautiful though
@stellap7624
I totally agree, it is just wonderful.
@G0thCrayon
It's very short and sweet, sort of like a Opposite-Land version of the song "When the Tigers Broke Free" by Pink Floyd... But even the bawdy-house ladies are packing .357 worth of "Nope" in their garterbelts.
So yeah, very much the Opposite-Land version of European Proto-Gutter Punk. None of these actors even look like they would have the slightest clue how to buy "the whacky tobaccy" on the street.
@calvin777100
I just break down when I hear this man singing this song. He was so handsome in this movie and his voice is UNFORGETTABLE. When I want to see him the way I want to remember I just pop in CALAMITY JANE. When he was like this, he was HOWARD KEEL AT HIS BEST. He was in all his glory in this movie.
@Anjuli50
+calvin777100 I think I sort of like "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" best -- but both of them have their flaws. "Calamity Jane" is incredibly racist against Indians and very misogynistic, and "Seven Brides" is misogynistic, too! But the music in both movies is lovely, and the dancing in "Seven Brides" is Kidd at his best. And Keel's voice in both movies is fabulous!