Robert Gérard Goulet (November 26, 1933 – October 30, 2007) was an American actor and singer from Lawrence, Massachusetts. He first became well-known for his role as Lancelot as part of the original Broadway cast of Camelot. His other theater credits included Carousel, The Pajama Game, South Pacific, Kiss Me, Kate and La Cage aux folles. He also won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1963 and a Tony Award for The Happy Time in 1968.
Goulet also had a lengthy television career, making guest appearances on shows such as Mission: Impossible, The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote, and Recess. He even played himself from time to time, as on episodes of Mr. Belvedere, The Simpsons, Boy Meets World, and Just Shoot Me!. He could also be seen on the silver screen in films like Beetlejuice, Scrooged, and The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (appearing in the latter as the villainous Quentin Hapsburg). One of his last film appearances was in Toy Story 2, as the uncredited singing voice of Wheezy the Penguin.
At this point he is arguably better known to modern audiences through the parody performance of him by Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live.
He was married to Louise Longmore, Carol Lawrence, and Vera Chochorovska Novak, and had a daughter with Longmore (Nicolette, who was a singer and actress in her own right) and two sons with Lawrence.
Goulet died of pulmonary fibrosis in 2007 at the age of 73.
Tropes:
- Death by Cameo: Goulet appeared as the Special Guest at the beginning of an episode of Police Squad! in which he's executed by a firing squad. He also made an appearance in the video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's "You Don't Love Me Anymore" as a piano player who gets seriously injured.
- Porn Stache: Part of his look from the '70s onward.
