Google Ads
Login | Sign Up

Job Actress
Years active 1923-1989
Top Roles Barbara Hemingway, aka Joan Grey, Kathleen 'Kit' Fitts, Polly, Bea Thorn, Katherine 'Kitty' Carey
Top Genres Musical, Comedy, Romance, Drama, Crime, Science Fiction
Top Topics Pre-Code Cinema, Busby Berkeley, Dance, Based on Play, Money
Top Collaborators Dick Powell, Joan Blondell, Busby Berkeley (Director), Guy Kibbee, Dennis O'Keefe, Hobart Cavanaugh, Frank Borzage (Director), Hugh Herbert
Also Born on August 25
Also Born in 1910
Also a Virgo

Ruby Keeler Overview:

Legendary actress, Ruby Keeler, was born Ethel Hilda Keeler on Aug 25, 1910 in Halifax, Canada. Keeler died at the age of 82 on Feb 28, 1993 in Rancho Mirage, CA and was laid to rest in Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Orange, Orange County, CA.

MINI BIO:

Dark-haired Canadian-born star of Hollywood musicals of the thirties, often in tandem with Dick Powell. The famous initial description of Astaire on his arrival in Hollywood - "Can't act, can't sing, can dance a little" - would have fitted Ruby, though even her clackety-clack dancing was hopeful and energetic rather than hep. Still, she was pretty, and whenever the leading lady broke a leg, Ruby went out there and became a star. Married (first of two) to Al Jolson from 1928 to 1939. Died from cancer.

(Source: available at Amazon Quinlan's Film Stars).

HONORS and AWARDS:

.

She was honored with one star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the category of Motion Pictures. Keeler was never nominated for an Academy Award.

Ruby Keeler BlogHub Articles:

Silver Screen Standards: Ruby Keeler in 42nd Street (1933)

Silver Screen Standards: Ruby Keeler in 42nd Street (1933) Every time I watch 42nd Street (1933) I fall in love with Ruby Keeler all over again. Just like Peggy Sawyer, the character she plays in the movie, Keeler was a bright newcomer getting her big break; although she had been dancing on stage... Read full article


Silver Screen Standards: Ruby Keeler in 42nd Street (1933)

Silver Screen Standards: Ruby Keeler in 42nd Street (1933) Every time I watch 42nd Street (1933) I fall in love with Ruby Keeler all over again. Just like Peggy Sawyer, the character she plays in the movie, Keeler was a bright newcomer getting her big break; although she had been dancing on stage... Read full article


Classic Movie Travels: Ruby Keeler

Classic Movie Travels: Ruby Keeler Ruby Keeler When thinking of early musicals, the output of Warner Bros. studios is certainly worth noting. In the Gold Digger musicals and so many others, a wide variety of Warner Bros.’s triple-threat talents shone in the musical genre. Though Ruby Kee... Read full article


All in the Family: Ruby Keeler, Ken Weatherwax and Joey D. Vieira

Ruby Keeler and Nephews Ken Weatherwax and Joey D. Vieira Actress/singer/dancer Ruby Keeler was most famously paired with Dick Powell in the iconic Warner Brothers’ Busby Berkeley musicals — including 42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade and Dames. Keeler also happ... Read full article


Monday Serenade: Ruby Keeler Meows in Footlight Parade (1933)

</embed> Ruby Keeler clumps along in her kitty costume, but she's still awfully cute in the Sittin' on a Backyard Fence number from Footlight Parade (1933). That's Billy Taft singing with her.... Read full article


See More Ruby Keeler Articles

Ruby Keeler Quotes:

Molly Howard, aka Lucille Thompson: What happened?
Dorothy Wayne: Well, man meets girl, girl meets husband, husband meets man, man meets sidewalk.

Betty Blake: Ozzie and Harriet, Ozzie and Harriet, Ozzie and Harriet - you say it like they go together like ham and eggs!

Barbara Hemingway: I'm free, white, and 21. I love to dance AND I'm going to dance.
— From: Dames
See more quotes from Ruby Keeler...
Ruby Keeler Facts
Aunt of Ken Weatherwax. He was Pugsley Addams of "The Addams Family" (1964).

Older sister of Gertrude Keeler and Helen Keeler.

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.


According to her mother, Al Jolson gave Ruby a dowry of $1 million when they were married.

See More Facts about Ruby Keeler >>