Born 1909 in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canadian-American actress, dancer, and singer Ruby Keeler was around 14 years old when she was hired by Nils Granlund, the publicity manager for Loews Theaters.
In 1933, producer Darryl F. Zanuck cast Keeler in the Warner Bros. musical 42nd Street. The film was a huge success due to Busby Berkeley’s lavish innovative choreography. Following 42nd Street, Jack L. Warner gave Keeler a long-term contract and cast her in Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, Dames and Colleen.
In 1963, Keeler appeared in The Greatest Show on Earth, Jack Palance’s television series based on the earlier Charlton Heston circus film of the same name, and made a brief cameo in the 1970 film The Phynx.
In 1971, Keeler was acclaimed as a star again in the successful Broadway revival of the 1920s musical No, No, Nanette. After suffering a brain aneurysm in 1974, she became spokeswoman for the National Stroke Association.
In 1979, Keeler was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by St. Bonaventure University. In 1992, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to her. She has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6730 Hollywood Blvd.
Keeler died of kidney cancer in 1993, aged 83, in Rancho Mirage, California.
Take a look at these glamorous photos to see the beauty of young Ruby Keeler in the 1930s.
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