Robert Goulet

I wish I'd been around from the mid 40s to the mid 50s to see people like him on Broadway during its golden years. I would have loved to see him at his peak in Carousel.

I'm hypnotized by him in this clip.

You hoes will find anything with a dick attractive.

R1 Robert Goulet was born in 1933 and didn't become famous until 1959 when he starred in "Camelot." So your "mid-40s to mid-50s" timeline is off by about a decade.

One of my favorite Robert Goulet songs:

If Ever I would Leave You

R5. Robert Goulet was so handsome. Great photos of him in that video. Good-looking, damn.

I wonder if Robert Morse serviced Goulet while they were filming?

That site claimed Louisa May Alcott wrote [italic]Uncle Tom's Cabin[/italic], OP.

Must have been something to see Burton, Andrews, Goulet, and McDowall live in Camelot. No equivalent star power today.

Robert Goulet! Robert Goulet! My God, Robert Goulet!

Try being married to him!!

Robert Goulet on "What's My Line?"

R9 There is a pretty decent audio of a CAMELOT performance out there. As it was taped from the audience, you do get the occasional cough. But worth having for the original performance by Burton, Andrews, Goulet and McDowell.

I love his chemistry with Judy Garland on that 1962 Jack Parr Show. Judy is clearly infatuated with him.

He has always been kitsch personified to me.

R13, just out of curiosity, did they smuggle audio recording equipment into a theater in 1960? Wasn't everything recorded on bulky reel to reel in those days? No battery-powered portable cassette recorders existed yet. Or was it simply recorded from the auditorium without any attempt at concealment?

I recommend his movie "I Deal in Danger." He has at least three shirtless scenes and looks hot! When not distracted by his chest (when he's wearing a tux) check out those stunning blue bedroom eyes.

WTF is the obsessions with French Canadians around here?

OP has a type and it is some sort of Canadian heritage person. Just move there already!

You can tell he's cancer ridden here

It always sounds like he is singing while lovingly gazing at himself in the mirror!

He had talent and looks, but was very cheesy.

I once saw his wife Carol dancing in milk crates by the lake at Epcot Center. It was quite a comedown from Broadway.

Robert Goulet for Emerald Nuts

Like Camelot, he had his moment in time.

He died of a rare lung ailment that required a lung transplant, but none was located in time.

I remember stirrings in my loins when watching his short-lived TV series, "Blue Light" in the mid-'60s.

He was a drunk.

Does anyone remember Will Ferrell's Goulet impression on SNL? In the skit the Goulet brothers traveled around the country in the musical drama "Red Sails to Spain." Hilarious Broadway bombast!

for R28

Say what you like, R15, but the man had an incredible voice.

His holiday album, This Christmas I Spend With You, is a must-have. But I'm sure you find Christmas music too kitschy for words.

The Happy Time....

R9 It was one of the first show I saw as a kid (born in 1953). I have the original cast recording on CD. It was magic to me at the time and listening to the cast album in 2018, nothing comes close on B'way. Goulet's booming baritone, Burton's speak singing more effective than almost any B'way trained voice today and of course Andrews in her prime was sublime.

I was into the British Invasion rock acts of the 60s - Beatles, Herman's Hermits, Dave Clark 5, Peter & Gordon - and thought Broadway music to be cheesy and for squares

Does anyone know why his marriage to Carol broke up?

Robert Goulet was

1: A wicked lush.

2: about 5'3"

3: incapable of singing the words to the national anthem at a prizefight in his mother's hometown.

I assumed a lot had to do with his drinking, r34. And by drinking I don't mean her International Coffee!

[R10] that was my first response too! And then I see it was "voice of the night!" Really you? You've been missed

Gorgeous eyes...

They say the depth of a man's voice suggests the size and drop of his testicles. When I listen to Robert Goulet sing I can't help but imagine him having a set balls the size of grapefruit.

[quote]But I'm sure you find Christmas music too kitschy for words.

(raises hand)

He was famous in the early 1960s for both his hunkiness and his beautiful voice (which is why in "Goodbye Twelve, hello Love" in "A Chorus Line" the girl squeals, "Robert GOULET, Robert GOULET, OH MY GOD, ROBERT GOULET!!!"), but he was hard to cast. Like Peter Gallagher or Raul Esparza, he was much handsomer on stage at something of a distance than he was close-up in the movies or TV, and he was a limited actor who was best suited for musicals than serious works. As he got older his looks faded (as always happens), but his beautiful voice did not, and so he became mostly a nightclub and Vegas performer, and began to parody his own cheesiness when other people started to make fun of it (much like William Shatner did).

He married Carol Lawrence, among his many wives, and I think (?) also had an affair for a while with Lesley Ann Warren, who was like a female version of him (sexy, from a working class background, with a beautiful singing voice, and genuinely talented but hard to cast in film or TV). I think he cheated a lot on his wives because he was so desirable.

The title of the linked website is a misnomer. He was plucked from complete obscurity on the dint of his looks and talent to play Lancelot in Lerner and Loewe's Camelot which premiered in 1960. No one in the US had heard of him before that, and it made him a star overnight.

My parents had the album. I was much more impressed by the Chrysler limo

Loved that Truman Capote dismissed the pointsettia plant as the 'Robert Goulet of botany'.

those eyes were mesmerizing.

He was from working class Lawrence, Massachusetts, which recently had the terrible gas line explosion fires. He donated the stage to my high school there (Central Catholic HS.)

What does that even mean, R44?

Don't care. I care about his Camelot. His is Lancelot. IS LANCELOT.

From Long Island. My Mom was a huge Broadway fan and we had all the cast albums. One day she announced that me and my two brothers, we were young, like 4, 5 & 6 were going somewhere special that weekend. She took us all for new dress up clothes. Saturday comes and we went to The Westbury Music Fair. It was about a half hour out of Manhattan. They started out as a tent but they were so successful they built a building. It was "In The Round" and my first live show was Robert Goulet and his wife Carol Lawrence in "I Do I Do". Of course I knew the whole score by heart by then from my Mom's constant playing before but that was my introduction to theater.

r37 That post was from 2014.

On an old thread a DLer posted a clip from the Tonight show in which Goulet is crying that his wife left him and finally Johnny tells him to pull himself together. It was surprising to see him in such a state on TV Crying like a little girl

What a beautiful man he was! AND that voice...!

There was a video out there of the appearance of the Camelot cast on The Ed Sullivan show in 1960. It was said that it was the only visual recording of the songs in that play. Great stuff.

We went to see Spider Woman only to find out that Carol was subbing for Chita. She was fine but didn't quite have that Chita "snap".

R39 He also has a cleft chin. That can be telling, too.

R39, what about the cleft chin?

R54, Phyllis Newman recently spoke of working with Carol Lawrence in Subways are for Sleeping, in which Phyllis won a Tony, beating out Barbra Streisand.

Newman recalled the friction backstage. "Carol was really difficult, I have to say--enough time has gone by-and she didn't have a part that showed off her strengths, but she was unpleasant. She wouldn't let me watch the show from the wings. She did not want me watching her. I never had that happen to me in my life, but with her . . ."

Confession: as a pre-adolescent gayling, Robert Goulet would make me tingle all over whenever he happened to appear on television on a talk show or commercial. I have always been star struck by him. He was a very handsome and charismatic gentleman IMHO.

Beautiful man but a nasty nasty drunk.

Didn't Elvis shoot the screen when he saw a televised Robert Goulet singing?

I saw him on Broadway in "The King and I" when I was about 13 while on a weekend in NYC with my parents and sister. I was so fucking turned on by him, my little 13-year-old gay world was turned upside down. I must have jerked off to that playbill a thousand times when we got home. I saw him in many things after that and always thought he was sexy and had a great voice.

WTF? As the King?

Someone other than Yul played the King on Broadway?

sorry R62 I meant South Pacific. I have no idea why I said TK&I. I"m old, that's probably why. Although no denying Yule did it for me too.

Just watched a Yul Brynner in a film called Once More With Feeling, costarring the beautiful Kay Kendall. Her last film, in fact. He looked SO GOOD.

Darrin McGavin also played the King on Broadway...the King of Siam doesn't have to be bald.

Xaviera Hollander, the Happy Hooker hints in her autobio that she had a three way with Goulet and Lawrence.

I love his appearance in Murder She Wrote with Cesar Romero, Stewart Granger and Capucine. Such a campy group.

[quote]He was from working class Lawrence, Massachusetts, which recently had the terrible gas line explosion fires.

Lawrence was also the birthplace of Leonard Bernstein.

We used to call it "Larry"

Bette Davis and Jack Kerouac were born in nearby Lowell

As a child of the '70s and '80s, I was only aware of Robert Goulet as the guy with the cheesy moustache and dyed jet black hair (toupee?), turning up on talk and variety shows to sing old-fashioned lounge music and on unhip tv shows my parents loved, like Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and Murder She Wrote. So my early impression of him was that of a cheesy lounge lizard. Later in adulthood, I saw pictures of him in his heyday and thought "Wow! Who knew he was such a hunk??" I was completely surprised.

Didn’t realize that he was so short...

R5, he looks a little like Justin Theroux.

Robert Goulet 1933-2007; died at age 73.

Goulet was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on Greenwood Street in the Tower Hill section, the only son of Jeanette (née Gauthier) and Joseph Georges André Goulet, a laborer. His parents were both of French Canadian ancestry. He was a descendant of French-Canadian pioneers Zacharie Cloutier and Jacques Goulet. Shortly after his father's death, 13-year-old Goulet moved with his mother and sister Claire to Girouxville, Alberta, and he spent his formative years in Canada.

Goulet had an intact cock.

[quote]Bette Davis and Jack Kerouac were born in nearby Lowell

Nearby Haverhill is the hometown of Tom Bergeron, host of "Dancing With the Stars."

Robert Goulet was not short; he was six feet tall. Check any database or watch his old TV clips--he was a tall man.

R75 Doubtless because his parents were too poor to pay the extra $10 or so then charged for circumcision.

I wonder if Richard Burton hatefucked him backstage during "Camelot."

We all know a couple of things:

1) Burton fucked every one of his leading ladies before he ended up with Liz Taylor

2) The only exception to #1 was Julie Andrews, who was either too prim or too lesbian to let him fuck her, so he wasn;t getting it rom her

3) Burton had sex with men (like Olivier and Ralph Richardson), and hatefucked/raped Eddie Fisher to end his relationship with Taylor

4) People made a much bugger fuss over how hot Goulet was in "Camelot" than himself

So Burton's not getting any backstage during "Camelot," he likes the pole and the hole, and he's being outshined by Goulet. Wouldn't you naturally expect he hatefucked him?

Goulet and Carol Lawrence had two sons, both born in the 1960s. They must be gorgeous with those genes though they'd be well into their 50s by now.

I think Goulet was at the height of his beauty at the end of the 1960s when he stopped greasing down his hair.

I love listening to him in The Happy Time. I wish Encores would revive it.

R80 Yah think?

Son Christopher

Son Michael

Eeww

Andover, MA is the hometown of Jay Leno. Nearby Lowell is the home of Ed MacMahon.

Actress Thelma Todd was born in Lawrence and is buried there in the same cemetery as my grandparents.

He was devastatingly handsome, and very talented. He ended up becoming a sort of parody of himself, but it seemed like he was in on the joke. Which is pretty great.

I didn’t know Burton fucked/raped Eddie Fisher...

He suffered from the enormous cultural change of the mid-1960s.

What was in in 1960 was unquestionably out by 1969. He would have probably had a much bigger and longer career in 1940s/50s Broadway and Hollywood.

Goulet fucking up the national anthem was just a harbinger of things to come at the Ali-Liston fight, considered one of the sketchiest heavyweight bouts ever held.

"...by the time fight night arrived, he (Goulet) might not have passed a field sobriety test. According to the late Boston Globe sportswriter Will McDonough, an emcee at a pre-fight party wanted his Irish tenor friend to sing the anthem instead of Goulet, so he “set out to get Robert bombed at the cocktail party. And he did a fair job of it.”

"In the days following, Goulet's performance made the headlines that celebrities try to avoid. Bud Collins, another Globe writer, said: "The only guy in St. Dom's more disappointing than Liston was Robert Goulet…[Ali] hit the wrong guy."

Very astute comment, r88. His background made him part of another generation and he stayed rather square in his public persona. He was perfect for Las Vegas and road shows, but would never be Hollywood.

Did he ever really sing above an Eb or E natural?

Well, he was a baritone.

I saw him in "Carousel" at Westbury where he must have been drunk, because instead of singing during the "Soliloquoy" that "dozen of boys pursue her", he sang "dozens of boys'll screw her", among other variations. Plus he cut out "What's the Use of Wondrin'" and some other songs. I met someone in the cast who said he was misbehaving by having stuff like that done.

....

In the 1984 Tonys, he was clearly drunk off his ass when he sang the title number from "The Happy Time," surprisingly without the French-canadian accent. See him here at 15:32 and following where he misses his entrance cue: "Have we started?... THE HAPPY TIME! Remember, remember the Christmas morning long ago..."

This is my all-time favorite Tony Awards, because it has Dorothy Loudon being so hilariously insane during her renditions of "Broadway Baby" and "Mame," and because Julie Andrews is so classy as the co-host.

oops, forgot the link!

He wasn't drunk in that scene

That was a great year on Broadway, saw all those shows

I wonder if he and Carol ever swapped with Andy and Claudine?

didn't Andy Williams admit to male sex and LSD therapy in his book that came out in the 90s

will

I guess since they were Bob and Carol, they should've found a couple named Ted and Alice.

I hope Andy left the Osmond boys alone.

R15 nailed it. Robert Goulet was mannequin-like and as uncool as any uncool celebrity in the 1960s. Beautiful voice, but no emotional range as a singer. His "acting" in films and TV, wooden. He fancied himself as a funny guy in interviews.

"...befriending such gay favorites as Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, and Cher."

Befriending? He worked with Garland a couple of times. He was on the same record label as Streisand (Columbia), but no friendship. Cher? Was he a guest on her TV series? Odd how the blogger in OP's link cannot identify Bobby Morse (aka Bert Cooper).

I never spent time with him when he was drunk but I worked with him and he was sober and very nice.

I remember him guest starring on one of the Lucy shows in the '60s. I think he played himself but for some reason she didn't know it was him and wanted him to "impersonate" Robert Goulet. Hijinx ensued.

Robert Goulet/Carol Lawrence vs. Eydie Gorme/Steve Lawrence. I used to get them mixed up as a youngster.

I remember seeing a Broadway flop called Dance a Little Closer (it was dubbed Close a Little Faster) and thinking how much better Goulet would have been in the lead rather than Len Cariou. The character (an over the hill Vegas lounge singer) was meant to be sexy in sort of a sleazy way. Carious wasn’t sexy in any way. Goulet would have been perfect.

It was a show so bad that even George Rose came of looking bad. Very nice score though, but depressing book.

came off

[quote]Robert Goulet/Carol Lawrence vs. Eydie Gorme/Steve Lawrence. I used to get them mixed up as a youngster.

Of the four, Eydie was by FAR the best singer.

Carol Lawrence carried a fucking grudge FOREVER. She was very blatant with her hatred of him for years.

Eydie Gorme the BEST so much better than Bobby or Carol combined.

Funny--he was SUCH a cornball and square, and yet his image remains so VIVID--those eyes! that laugh! Much more vivid, really, than Richard Burton....

Carol Lawrence's gorgeous voice as Maria in the OBC of West Side Story is unforgettable. Far superior to Marni/Natalie.

Where and when did she ever comment on her marriage to Goulet, r111? I must have missed that.

She went black belt christian. Can't go three sentences without coughing up jeebus.

[R107]: That’s a very good point you make about Goulet being better casting in DANCE A LITTLE CLOSER. He really would have bern perfect as a fading lounge singer.

I saw the show in previews, and God knows its flaws were legion! But I am so glad that marvelous score was recorded.

He sat across from me on a flight from LA to Sydney, totally drunk, obnoxious, loud, even the flight attendants were sick of his BS.

Len Cariou's voice was pretty shot in "Dance A Little Closer" after doing too many performances of "Sweeney Todd" (in which he was brilliant).

R118, it particularly showed in a very good song “I Never Want to See You Again.” Goulet would have done a great job with it.

He could have been my father's brother. Same looks, same heritage, from same area. Not surprisingly, my mother had a thing for Goulet, and my dad would sing along. I had to hear that cheesy shit my entire childhood.

[quote] I had to hear that cheesy shit my entire childhood.

My God! How did you survive???

I was talking about the theater with my shrink one day and she mentioned that she saw the original Camelot open in Toronto. The underdeveloped show christened the brand new O'Keefe Centre and ran for about 4 hours.

I had all kinds of questions, but she remembered next to nothing except that she was a teenager in love with Richard Burton. Can't blame her for that. We were talking about If Ever I Would Leave You by Aretha Franklin, that's how this all came up....I digress.

Goulet was a decent singer, but he's no Brian Stokes Mitchell - the most beautiful resonant Broadway baritone ever. Good actor too. Goulet was neither. He was lantern jaw handsome I guess? No thanks.

Carol got rhythm.....

I hadn't realized Lawrence was that talented!

As I wrote above, r124, I saw her instead of Chita in Spider Woman. We were somewhat far back. Vocally and visually you could have mistaken her for Chita. Her dancing was fine....but it didn't have that Chita snap to it.

Big voice = big balls.

Did he give good dick?

Did Michael Bennett choreograph that number for Carol Lawrence? The moves reminded me of the dances he did for Hullaballoo around the the same time.

She's really pretty sensational in it (though I imagine her singing was pre-recorded).

Oh puhleeze (insert Jessica Walter eye-rolling gif). Mickey and I wiped the floor with Bob and Carol in Kiss Me Kate!

Bob & Carol & Allen & .......

I remember him mostly from Beetlejuice.....

Carol = brass band

Saw Carol Lawrence on a Dinah Shore show in the 1970s, when Carol was appearing in a Funny Girl revival. She went on and on about how she was "not ugly" and unsuited to play Fanny Brice. I thought as a 15 year old, if you're not *that UGLY* why did you take the fucking role bitch? This was when Babs was a huge movie star.

Elvis Presley reportedly hated Robert Goulet, and shot out the screen of a tv that was showing some program with Goulet on it. Why would he hate him? I think it was jealousy. Goulet was tall, dark, classically handsome and had a rich, magnificent voice. I think he was everything Elvis wished he could be. Elvis was good looking and talented in his own way, but he wasn't good looking and talented like THAT.

Elvis didn't like Goulet style kitsch, R134, you ignorant tastless fool.

R134, his exact words when Elvis shot out the screen were apparently “That’ll be enough of that bullshit.”

R135, you're a blithering idiot. Elvis Presley didn't like Goulet's "style kitsch?" The same Elvis Presley who did movies like "Tickle Me" and "Harum Scarum and "Clambake"?" The same Elvis Presley who recorded songs like "There's No Room to Rhumba In A Sports Car" and "Scratch My Back. Then I'll Scratch Yours" and "Yoga Is As Yoga Does?" Elvis Presley was no stranger to "kitsch", in fact for many years he wallowed in it. Yep, he was jealous of Goulet alright. He was a, handsome, black-haired (Elvis's hair was naturally blondish) man with a voice that certainly outshone Presley's. Yeah, it was jealousy that drove him to extremes like shooting out a tv set. Seeing Goulet sing no doubt made him green with it.

R137, compared to Elvis, even 1960s ridiculous Elvis, Goulet was a SQUARE.

At 2:56 Goulet’s fantastic dance moves really kick in. Or maybe it is a Darvon/Dexedrine/Vodka cocktail that kicks in.

I miss Christmas Shows like this

Goulet and Lawrence seem unsavory in some way. They are before my time but I remember his old age greasiness. There is a reason they aren't top level talent and it's here to see in the clips on this thread. They just weren't good enough or special enough. I smell a lot of booze and cigarettes, frustration and failure, mediocrity and mundane assault. Both of them whoring it up until they moved on and reconciled to their C level talents and other opportunities. She seems a particularly rough character. Less talented than Joey Heatherton. And old George there, well he's a canadian isn't he?

Carol and Matt.......

Sorry, it is funny he would think Goulet cheesy. In the 70s I was a teen and we laughed at the 70s Elvis. The jumpsuits, the sunglasses. We thought the 60s Elvis was cool but not the has been 70s Elvis.

I can see why some posters here might call Goulet cheesy or unsavory.

But Carol Lawrence?? She was a true triple threat talent and the epitome of class on Broadway and in all of her TV appearances, as the links above will attest.

Goulet does sound really good on "The Happy Time" recording and looks fine in videos of songs from the show. He was handsome, had a lovely voice, but he did seem a bit stiff as he entered the 1970s though. Liquor though loosened him up, unfortunately it was quite apprently during some live performances.

Carol Lawrence was a true triple threat -- and one with a soprano extension (like Donna McKechniie), but unfortunately for her, after "West Side Story" she didn't really have a hit on Broadway, despite sounding very nice indeed in "Subways Are For Sleeping" and "Saratoga".

[quote]And old George there, well he's a canadian isn't he?

George who? George Glass?

Apparently there is one person on the planet who thinks that Elvis was jealous of Robert Goulet and that single person, posts here, apparently.

That's hilarious. Even fat Elvis had swag

I think her triple threats just weren't distinct enough, r145.

"But Carol Lawrence?? She was a true triple threat talent and the epitome of class"

Couldn't connect with her. She did everything well, but suffered from no-appeal, no charisma, no whatever it is. And she was endlessly affected like she had taken a dozen years of lessons on how not to sound like she was where she was from. In addition, Carol Lawrence couldn't cross over into different mediums, she couldn't successful cover popular music outside of the theater. In other words, very limited.

That's a more detailed description of what I was trying to say, r150. Kind of sums it up.

Kind of like she graduated from one of the musical theater conservatories today (with the exception of the affected speaking voice).

"Apparently there is one person on the planet who thinks that Elvis was jealous of Robert Goulet and that single person, posts here, apparently."

Why else would he have disliked Goulet? Because he was "cheesy" and "kitschy?" Seems like the pot calling the kettle black, considering the cheese and the kitsch Elvis reduced himself to in the sixties. He partially redeemed himself with the comeback special and songs like "Suspicious Minds" but became an absolute joke in the seventies, a fat guy in a jumpsuit, all charisma and sex appeal gone. He was certainly in no position to pass judgement on Goulet's talent, considering how he squandered and demeaned his own.

I always got Carol Lawrence mixed up with Anna Maria Alberghetti.

Damn, I’d love to have been in a threeway with Bert Convy and Robert Goulet.

[quote]Couldn't connect with her. She did everything well, but suffered from no-appeal, no charisma, no whatever it is.

True. I grew up in the 60s, so I remember as a guest on the variety, talk and game shows... but in the end, the most memorable thing she ever did were those coffee commercials.

* so I remember her as a guest

R157 That's the Bell Telephone Hour.

For those of you who might not know: Larry Kert died if AIDS.

R153, there are myriad reasons why Elvis (and many other people) don't like Robert Goulet that have nothing to do with jealousy...

"Why else would he have disliked Goulet?"

Because Goulet was a sleazy lounge lizard has-been trying to look cool and younger than he was? Goulet and Elvis had something in common. The real reason probably was that Elvis did not like seeing Goulet sing "On a Clear Day" on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1965.

The image of Elvis in a recliner shitfaced on quaaludes and booze taking aim at Goulet on TV is great.

"Because Goulet was a sleazy lounge lizard has-been trying to look cool and younger than he was?"

If Goulet was that (and I don't think he was) then Elvis was in no position to judge him, considering what he became in just a few years: an obese has-been doing shows at Las Vegas and venues in such places as Roanoke, Virginia and Des Moines, Iowa. And Elvis tried (and failed) to look younger and cooler than he was by dyeing his hair, wearing flashy outfits and getting some plastic surgery on his face. And believe me, Elvis knew a LOT about sleaze. Goulet was a Prince compared to the obese, stoned out of his gourd Elvis.

R162, what's the point of posting that over and over, like you fear we don't get it? Everyone's entitled to their opinion even if it doesn't make sense. Elvis disliked Robert Goulet, period. Obviously Elvis didn't consider himself a fat clown. And Goulet was well past his prime in the 1970s with toupee, sideburns and trendy mustache. There is no reason Elvis would be jealous of Goulet singing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" on the Merv Griffin Show.

Btw, Elvis was dying his hair from light brown to black in the 1950s. Both Goulet and Elvis had their eyelids done in the 1970s, Goulet talked about it on TV, Elvis didn't. Both of them were hanging on to what was left of what made them stars, and not very successfully. Neither were "princes," and they had a lot in common.

Robert Goulet had a long and lasting career as a stage actor. He could have probably been a great comic straight man presence in movies, but it was obvious that the stage was his first love. He was a little stiff, but never cheesy, nor was he a diva. Even with his booming baritone, he remained a humble man. Here's a nice tribute from NPR (Scott Simon)

Uh Elvis was still filling huge venues at the time. It was Goulet who had become the TV game show joke. Goulet's voice grated on Elvis' last nerve which is fairly amusing.

Sorry, have to chime in. If you aren't a teenager in the mid to late 70s you aren't going to understand that in no way was Elvis considered cool. He was the fat guy in the sparkly jumpsuit who had to leave the stage while performing to take a dump because he was eating banana splits before concerts he was giving that were attended by crazy middle-aged women. He was a joke and pretty much considered as smarmy as Goulet at the time. Oh, and dont forget the sunglasses, the karate kicks, and visit with Nixon. And the TCB shit. People born after and before us might look back on 70s Elvis thinking he was cool, but we only thought early Elvis was cool. 70s Elvis was too old to be acting young, like Peter Lawford and Sammy. Sorry, it was just funny at the time. We could tell he was a mess

That's correct, R166, Elvis was an ugly joke, but he still filled stadiums with his "base." Goulet was a joke too, or a "game show joke" as R65 said. Other than TV, with the night club business dwindling down to the airport lounge, Goulet probably had a hard time making a living. Oh, yes, there was Las Vegas where he could find his "base," which was probably the same middle aged swooners that went for Elvis circa 1975.

"Uh Elvis was still filling huge venues at the time. It was Goulet who had become the TV game show joke. Goulet's voice grated on Elvis' last nerve which is fairly amusing."

Presley's performances had turned into freak shows. His singing capacity had greatly deteriorated. He looked awful. But the people kept coming to see him just to see him; I don't think they were expecting much of a good show. They just came to see Elvis, much in the way Liza Minnelli's fans come to see her, despite her inadequate singing and bloated appearance. And it's ironic that Goulet's voice "grated on his last nerve" , considering how poor a singer Elvis Presley was at the time. I think Elvis's voice would have grated on Goulet's "last nerve", if he ever listened to it, which I doubt he ever did. I doubt Robert Goulet ever gave Elvis Presley a second thought.

I remember when Elvis died, as I had been camping with a friend before we went off to freshman year at college. We got back in the car and learned the news from the radio. At the time, Elvis was a has-been. We couldn't believe the rampant wailing and to-do over someone whose best days had been way in the past. A few years later, I was visiting Memphis and someone suggested going to Graceland. It was incredibly tacky and on a busy street. I guess Priscilla was able to take things over and make it nicer, but it was a joke at the time, as was Elvis when he died. Especially learning that he had died on the toilet.

Of course it was tacky Elvis was poor white trash in his youth but he still packed in big audiences regularly up until his death. His fans didn't care that he was fat and couldn't hit the notes as before The same was true of Sinatra When you're a national treasure there is always an audience

That’ll be enough of this Elvis bullshit.

R171. Must. Control. Datalounge.

....

What does any of this tacky slob Elvis stuff have anything to do with over the hill tacky has-been crooner Robert Goulet? They competed for the same middle aged women that made up their audience in the 1970s - that could have been why Elvis shot the TV.

No, not the same audience. Far from it.

Check out a terrible movie he did in the 1960s with Robert Morse called “Honeymoon Hotel.” It shows up on TCM sometimes and is virtually unwatchable (smarmy sex farce co-starring Nancy Kwan and Jill St. John). I mention it because Goulet strips down to his very fit, trim but muscular body throughout the film.

also watch "I'd Rather Be Rich" - one of my favorite bad movies of all time..

Yes, it was the same audience, R175. Tom Jones' also. How old are you?

Goulet gave off a smarmy vibe but I honestly can't imagine what alteration in his appearance could have helped him.

R169, I was in high school. We were at the local pizza place positioned in front of the tv. We were waiting for someone on a special or on the Tonight Show. I can't remember who, maybe Steve Martin. And they interrupted all programming after they announced his death for hours. We were so pissed. We started cracking jokes how they were interviewing anyone and their pets about Elvis. To us he was a has been. We were just so pissed we were missing our program. When I got older I liked the 60s Elvis, but never the 70s Elvis.

I'd like to see all of his performance in that version of "Carousel" that clip at R2 comes from. Seems to me he would have made a perfect Billy Bigelow, so handsome and masculine. I think he would have been much better in the role than Gordon MacRae, who did the film version. MacRae was a hopeless alcoholic, and in that movie it showed, his face showing the effects of his drinking.

And on a clearrrr dayyyyyy....

[quote]I love his chemistry with Judy Garland on that 1962 Jack Parr Show. Judy is clearly infatuated with him.

Don't know if the actual link was printed but here it is... Judy is in top form on this program. Garland is perfection. Jack adores her, and vice versa, and he can't stop complimenting her. Goulet sings first and then Judy comes in at 15:40.

Remember Louis Malle's movie "Atlantic City" where Robert Goulet plays himself in cameo? He was, as the phrase goes, in on the joke. I do recall an older female relative of mine expressing her disapproval at some of the details in Carol Lawrence's autobiography. She (the reader) thought the book was too candid and tell-all as RG and CL both had living children. That was then. Today this might be called pearl clutching. But I think both Goulet and Carol Lawrence suffered from the decline of the variety show.

[quote]WTF is the obsessions with French Canadians around here?

large, meaty unmutilated cocks does it for me

Robert Morse was fucking adorkable in HTSIBWRT and The Loved One

This will get shot down but I don’t care.

In my first year of uni ( I would have been eighteen) I fucked my first daddy at Kens of Kensington, one of Sydney’s most famous sex clubs. It was very handily just down the road from the University of NSW, where I was studying/drinking/shagging through my first year.

That guy, who was Canadian, told me that he had had a fling as a young man with Goulet who was a daddy to him at the time, hence the conversation.

The name meant little to me until I got home and checked out my parents’ collection of LPs, and there he was.

My daddy had no need to lie, especially as we were already fucking and there was little name recognition, but I’ve never forgotten my slight brush with slight fame, in a recherche, star-fucking kind of way.

Great story, R187, thanks! Not surprised at all Goulet dabbled in the homosex.

What about his sizemeat?

Goulet was a drunk

I got to see Carol Lawrence as the hotel owner in "Do I Hear a Waltz" at the Pasadena Playhouse and while no longer singing soprano had a delightful character presence, older but still attractive. I remember her as Anthony Geary's mother Angela Eckert on GH. As recently as five years ago, she was still working on stage, off Broadway in a comedy/drama, "Handle With Care".

I remember him being on the John Davidson Show and him kidding Goulet about being too sexy and his chest too hairy. It gave me the tingles. I always thought Davidson was gay but he was so bland he never moved my dick meter.

Davidson was definitely gay.

They stay passed their expiration date... Davidson had the $$$ and insight to leave the scene sooner rather than later. First saw him on the ‘60’s variety TV show “The Entertainers” with Burnett De Luise and Newhart .. By the late ‘70’s he was already Pushing it.....