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Early Life and Training

Robert Goulet was born on November 26, 1933, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, to French Canadian parents and spent most of his formative years in Canada after his family relocated to Alberta. Growing up in a bilingual household and within a strong francophone community, he developed a resonant baritone voice early on and pursued formal vocal study. By his late teens he was performing on Canadian stages and on radio and television, including appearances for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, where he learned repertory discipline and microphone technique. Those years of training shaped the meticulous diction and unforced lyricism that later defined his singing on Broadway, in concert halls, and on recordings.

Breakthrough with Camelot

Goulet's career turned decisively when he was cast as Lancelot du Lac in the original 1960 Broadway production of Camelot, the musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. Sharing the stage with Richard Burton and Julie Andrews, he introduced the song If Ever I Would Leave You, which quickly became his signature. Exposure on The Ed Sullivan Show helped transform the newcomer into a national name, and his suave stage presence, dark-hued tone, and precise phrasing placed him in the top tier of musical-theater baritones. The role also forged professional ties and friendships with luminaries of the era, and it marked him as a leading interpreter of classic Broadway lyricism.

Recording and Concert Success

Launching a parallel recording career in the early 1960s, Goulet won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1962. His albums showcased standards, show tunes, and contemporary ballads, and his renditions of If Ever I Would Leave You and My Love, Forgive Me were widely requested on radio and in his concert programs. He built a robust touring schedule, headlining major concert venues and nightclubs and becoming a perennial presence in Las Vegas showrooms. In these settings he refined a relaxed, conversational style between songs while maintaining high musical polish, an approach that endeared him to bandleaders and arrangers as well as to audiences.

Stage Roles Beyond Camelot

Goulet remained committed to the stage and returned to Broadway in The Happy Time (1968), a Kander and Ebb musical directed by Gower Champion, for which he received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. The role confirmed his stature as more than a balladeer: he could anchor a production dramatically as well as vocally. Over subsequent decades he toured in national companies of classic shows and periodically revisited Camelot, eventually taking on the role of King Arthur, bringing the perspective of maturity to a part he had once approached from the vantage of youthful chivalry. His collaborators across these productions included directors, choreographers, and music directors who prized his professionalism and ability to sustain long runs without sacrificing vocal quality.

Film, Television, and Pop Culture

Goulet's screen work extended his reach to new audiences. He appeared in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (1988) as the business tycoon Maxie Dean and lampooned his own image in Scrooged the same year. In The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991) he played the villain Quentin Hapsburg, gamely sending up debonair stereotypes. He also lent his voice to animation, memorably providing the singing voice for Wheezy in Toy Story 2's end-credits rendition of You've Got a Friend in Me. Television variety series and guest spots kept him visible, and he even became a touchstone for parody; Will Ferrell's exuberant impression on Saturday Night Live introduced his persona to a younger generation, which Goulet met with good humor by occasionally joining in on the joke. Earlier in his career he had one notorious live-television moment: he flubbed lines to The Star-Spangled Banner before a heavyweight title fight in 1965, a misstep that he acknowledged with candor, later treating it as an object lesson in the risks of live performance.

Personal Life

Family life connected Goulet closely to the theater world. His second marriage, to actress-singer Carol Lawrence, known for originating Maria in West Side Story, placed him within a circle of Broadway performers, choreographers, and producers at the height of the musical's golden age. They had two sons, Christopher and Michael. His first marriage, to Louise Longmore, produced a daughter, Nicolette, who pursued acting. In 1982 he married writer and artist Vera Novak, who became a key partner in managing his career in later years, accompanying him on tours and coordinating projects. Friends and colleagues recalled his generosity with younger performers and his willingness to offer practical advice on vocal care and stagecraft, habits formed from his early training and decades of experience.

Later Career and Performances

From the 1970s through the early 2000s, Goulet balanced stage revivals, touring concerts, and television guest appearances. He was a fixture in Las Vegas, where his name on a marquee signaled classic showmanship and orchestral elegance. He frequently returned to symphony pops programs and gala events, appearing with conductors who appreciated his ability to front a full orchestra and bring theater songs into a concert setting without losing dramatic nuance. Even as musical tastes shifted, he kept his repertory fresh, mixing standards with contemporary material and reinterpreting hallmark numbers with subtle changes in tempo and color.

Illness and Death

In 2007 Goulet was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. He died on October 30, 2007, in Los Angeles at age 73, while awaiting a lung transplant. He was survived by his wife, Vera Novak, and by his three children, as well as by a wide community of colleagues and admirers across the United States and Canada. Tributes from Broadway peers and from television and film collaborators emphasized both his technical mastery and his humor, noting that the same presence that filled large theaters also enlivened small rehearsal rooms.

Legacy

Robert Goulet's legacy rests on a rare combination of vocal authority and theatrical intelligence. He brought a classically grounded baritone to Broadway at a moment when the musical was evolving, helping define how leading men could sound and act in the modern repertoire. His Lancelot introduced a generation to Camelot, while his Tony-winning work in The Happy Time demonstrated his range as an actor. Collaborations with Julie Andrews and Richard Burton, creative partnerships with Lerner and Loewe and with Kander and Ebb, and the guidance of directors like Gower Champion placed him within the innermost circles of musical theater's creative life. Beyond the stage, his playful appearances in films and on television, from Beetlejuice to The Naked Gun 2 1/2 and The Simpsons, kept him culturally current, and his voice reached children and families anew through Toy Story 2. To audiences who first heard him sing If Ever I Would Leave You, and to those who discovered him through parodies and cameos, he remains an emblem of elegance, a singer whose clarity of line and generosity of spirit made classic songs feel both grand and intimately personal.