Richard Kiley

Richard Paul Kiley (March 31, 1922 – March 5, 1999) was an American stage, television, and film actor. He is best known for his voice work, as narrator of various documentary series, and for having played Don Quixote in the original 1965 production of the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha. Kiley was the first who sang and recorded The Impossible Dream, the hit song from the show. In the 1953 hit musical Kismet, he played the Caliph, and introduced the song Stranger in Paradise.

Early life

Kiley was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised Roman Catholic. He graduated from Mt. Carmel High School in 1940, and after a year at Loyola University Chicago^[1] he left to study acting at Chicago's Barnum Dramatic School. Following a stint in the Navy, he returned to Chicago working as an actor and announcer on radio before moving to New York City.

Career

His work on stage included Richard Rodgers's first musical for which he wrote both music and lyrics, No Strings, the Buddy Hackett vehicle I Had a Ball, and the lead roles in Redhead, Man of La Mancha, and the play The Incomparable Max.

He won Tony Awards as Best Actor in a musical for the first two. The dual role of the middle-aged Miguel de Cervantes and Don Quixote is one of the few musical roles which is both a character actor role and a leading man at the same time, rather than the conventional handsome hero who wins the girl, and Kiley, who had gone on record as saying that he had grown tired of the regular "leading man" role, was always grateful for having been given the chance to play it.^{[citation needed]}

Later years

Kiley won several Emmy Awards and Golden Globe Awards for his work in television, including The Thorn Birds (as Paddy, Rachel Ward's father) (1983) and A Year in the Life (1986, 1987-1988). Kiley appeared as Gideon Seyetik in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Second Sight".

In Jurassic Park, the park's impresario boasts about the tour of the park, "The voice you're now hearing is Richard Kiley. We've spared no expense." Kiley was introduced as the narrator for the tour first in the novel by Michael Crichton, and later in the film adaptation by Steven Spielberg. Visitors to Universal's Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando, Florida and Universal Studios in Hollywood hear Kiley as the narrator of the Jurassic Park River Adventure ride.

Death

Kiley died of an unspecified bone marrow disease in Warwick, New York in 1999. He was interred in Warwick. The lights on Broadway theaters were turned off in his honor.

Filmography

• Patch Adams (1998)
• Tigers of the Snow (1997) (TV)
• Phenomenon (1996)
• The Gospel according to Matthew (film)(the apostle Matthew/narrator) (1996)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (guest star, "Second Sight") (1993)
• Jurassic Park (1993) (voice)
• A Year in the Life (1986, 1987-1988) TV
• Howard the Duck (1986) (voice)
• George Washington (1984) TV Miniseries
• The Thorn Birds (1983) TV Miniseries
• Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977)
• The Little Prince (1974)
• The Phenix City Story (1955)
• Blackboard Jungle (1955)
• Pickup on South Street (1953)

References

Sources

• Man of La Mancha - original theatrical program, for Kiley's personal comments on playing Don Quixote

External links

• Richard Kiley at Find a Grave
• Richard Kiley at the Internet Movie Database
• Richard Kiley at the Internet Broadway Database
• Richard Kiley at the Internet off-Broadway Database
• Richard Kiley at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)