Holiday Bitz – Remembering Robert Goulet

Remembering Robert Goulet

Entertainment icon and supercrooner Robert Goulet was born in Lawrence in 1933. He lived in the city’s Tower Hill neighborhood until he was 13, when he moved to Alberta, Canada. He studied voice at hThe Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and later began appearing in televised talent shows of the day, such as “Pick the Stars” and “Singing Stars of Tomorrow.” A gaffe in 1965 earned him a burst of publicity. Goulet changed “dawn’s early light” to “dawn’s early night” while singing the national anthem at a boxing match for the heavyweight championship between Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston in Lewiston, Maine, and made national news. But the saying that all press is good press proved to be true; he had his biggest pop hit, “My Love, Forgive Me,” later that year.

Goulet toured with a number of Broadway musicals including “Camelot,” “Man of La Mancha,” and “South Pacific.” He was a television regular, appearing in “I Love Lucy,” “Mission: Impossible,” and “Mr. Belvedere,” along with many more recent shows. His film credits included “Beetlejuice,” “Scrooged” and “Toy Story 2.”

The chanteur produced several Christmas albums, and even was heard on “The Simpsons,” singing the irreverent favorite “Jingle Bells, Batman Smells.” The holiday was so important to Goulet that his official website includes a page where you can scroll through Christmas cards featuring pictures of him and third wife Vera Novak that span from 1982 to 2005.

Goulet died of a rapidly progressive lung disease in October 2007 just one month short of his 74th birthday, but his memory and his voice live on. He has a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in Toronto, and has been immortalized by Will Ferrell’s satirical impersonations on “Saturday Night Live.”