Robert Gerard Goulet (November 26, 1933 – October 30, 2007)
The Broadway star passed away at Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Tuesday morning, after doctors failed to find a suitable donor transplant to treat the lung disease Interstitial Pulmonary Fibrosis.
Goulet was diagnosed with the illness in September, when he was taken to a Las Vegas hospital after feeling increasingly weak and suffering from a shortage of breath.
He was transferred to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Oct. 13 to undergo an emergency lung transplant, after he had been diagnosed with the rare disorder.
According to his wife, Vera, Goulet remained in good spirits up until his death, even joking with doctors to "watch my vocal chords" before they inserted a breathing tube.
The Lawrence, Massachusetts-born Goulet began his career as a DJ in Canada but became a Broadway sensation in the early 1960s after landing the role as Lancelot in hit musical Camelot, opposite Richard Burton and Julie Andrews. He went on to claim a Tony Award in 1968 for his role in Happy Time.
His career as a crooner also won him high praise, and in 1962 he was honored with the Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
Goulet also became a regular on TV shows, playing cameos in The Jackie Gleason Show, Cannon, Police Woman and Fantasy Island, and his movie career saw him star in Atlantic City and Beetlejuice. He also provided the voice for Wheezy the Penguin in Toy Story 2.
The star played his last performance in Syracuse, New York, on Sept. 20, when he performed his one-man show A Man and His Music, complete with a 15-piece orchestra.
Goulet is survived by his third wife, Vera, and three children from his previous two marriages.
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