By Ap/KWMU
Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood actor and singer Howard Keel, who died this weekend in Los Angeles, was a navtive in southwest Illinois.
Keel is known for lending his voice to musicals like "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" before reviving his career on the TV show "Dallas." He was born Harold Clifford Leek in Gillespie, Ill. Gillespie is near Litchfield, which is about half-way between St. Louis and Springfield.
Howard Keel was 85; he starred in Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals in New York and London before being signed to an MGM contract after World War II. He became a star with his first MGM film, playing Frank Butler to Betty Hutton's Annie Oakley in "Annie Get Your Gun."