Richard Paul Kiley (March 31, 1922 – March 5, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actor and singer. He is best-known for his distinguished theatrical career in which he twice won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.[1] Kiley created the role of Don Quixote in the original 1965 production of the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha and was the first to sing and record "The Impossible Dream", the hit song from the show. In the 1953 hit musical Kismet, he played the Caliph in the original Broadway cast and, as such, was one of the quartet who sang "And This Is My Beloved". Additionally, he won four Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards during his 50-year career[2] and his "sonorous baritone"[3] was also featured in the narration of a number of documentaries and other films. At the time of his death, Kiley was described as "one of theater's most distinguished and versatile actors" and as "an indispensable actor, the kind of performer who could be called on to play kings and commoners and a diversity of characters in between."[2]
Early life
Kiley was born on March 31, 1922, in Chicago, and raised Catholic. He graduated from Mt. Carmel High School in 1939, and after a year at Loyola University Chicago he left to study acting at Chicago's Barnum Dramatic School.[1] In the late 1940s, he performed in Chicago-area summer stock theaters with actors such as Alan Furlan.[4] Following his service in the Navy during World War II, he returned to Chicago working as an actor and announcer on radio before moving to New York City. In New York he studied singing with Ray Smolover.[5]
Kiley won Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Musical for Redhead in 1959 and Man of La Mancha in 1966. The dual role of middle-aged author Cervantes and his fictional creation Quixote is one of the few musical roles that requires the talents of both leading man and character actor.[6] Kiley said while La Mancha was on Broadway that despite the fact he had grown tired of playing leading men, he would always be grateful for having been given the chance to perform in La Mancha.[citation needed] He performed in the original production for over five years and returned for Broadway revivals in 1972 and 1977 saying he had become "very possessive" of the role.[7]
Kiley's baritone made him a favorite to narrate documentaries for television. Starting with ‘Land of the Tiger’ in 1985, Richard Kiley provided narration for multiple National Geographic Videotelevision specials. Kiley also voiced two 1975 episodes of CBS Radio Mystery Theater.
In Jurassic Park, Kiley's voice narrates the park's vehicle tour. 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 where the owner of the park said he "spared no expense" hiring Kiley.[6] Visitors to Universal's Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando, Florida, and the former attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood hear Kiley as the narrator of the Jurassic Park River Adventure ride – making him the only person to appear in the book, the film, and the ride.
Kiley died of an unspecified bone marrowdisease at Horton Hospital in Middletown, New York, on March 5, 1999, less than a month before his 77th birthday. He was survived by his wife, dancer Patricia Ferrier,[9] and six children from his first marriage:[10] sons David and Michael Kiley and daughters Kathleen, Dorothea, Erin and Deirdre. His remains were interred in Warwick, New York. Broadway's lights went dark in his honor.
