Richard Kiley

Richard Kiley (March 31, 1922 – March 5, 1999) was an American actor and singer whose stage, film, and television career spanned five decades. Born in Chicago, Illinois, to an Irish-American Catholic family, Kiley graduated from Mt. Carmel High School in 1939. He spent a year at Loyola University Chicago before leaving to study acting at Chicago's Barnum Dramatic School. From 1943 to 1946 he served as a gunner instructor in the U.S. Navy. After his discharge he worked in Chicago as a radio actor and announcer, performed in summer stock theaters in the Chicago area, and eventually relocated to New York City, where he studied singing with Ray Smolover.

Kiley's Broadway career ran from 1953 to 1987 and encompassed productions including All My Sons, The Heiress, Voices, Absurd Person Singular, and Man of La Mancha. His Broadway debut year brought him a Theatre World Award in 1953, the same year he appeared in the original cast of Kismet, playing the Caliph and joining the quartet that performed "And This Is My Beloved." He went on to originate the lead in Redhead, earning his first Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 1959. That production was followed by No Strings, the musical in which Richard Rodgers wrote both music and lyrics following the death of Oscar Hammerstein II, and I Had a Ball, a vehicle for Buddy Hackett.

The role most closely identified with Kiley is Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha, which he originated in the show's 1965 Broadway production. The dual character — middle-aged author Cervantes and his fictional creation Quixote — demanded the combined skills of a leading man and a character actor, and Kiley was the first performer to sing and record "The Impossible Dream" from the score. He performed in the original production for more than five years and returned to the role in Broadway revivals in 1972 and 1977, stating that he had grown "very possessive" of the part. His performance earned him a second Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 1966. He also appeared on Broadway in The Incomparable Max.

Kiley's television work brought him additional recognition. He starred in the live television play Patterns, which aired on January 12, 1955, and earned an Emmy Award for its writer, Rod Serling. His film credits from the same year included The Phenix City Story, in which he played John Malcolm Patterson, and Blackboard Jungle, in which he portrayed math teacher Joshua Edwards. On television he won Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for his work in The Thorn Birds (1983), playing Paddy, the father of Rachel Ward's character, and for A Year in the Life (1986, 1987–1988). A third Emmy came for a Guest Actor in a Drama Series appearance on Picket Fences, where he had a recurring role as the father of main character Jill Brock. He also received an Emmy nomination for portraying Chief Justice Earl Warren in the 1991 miniseries Separate but Equal. Additional television appearances included a murderous police commissioner on a 1974 episode of Columbo, a guest role as Gideon Seyetik on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and appearances on Ally McBeal, Hawaii Five-O, and Gunsmoke.

Kiley's baritone voice made him a prominent narrator across multiple platforms. He narrated the seven-part 1986 PBS documentary series Planet Earth and provided narration for National Geographic Video television specials beginning with Land of the Tiger in 1985. From 1994 to 1998 he narrated the A&E series Mysteries of the Bible, and he voiced two episodes of CBS Radio Mystery Theater in 1975. In the 1993 film Jurassic Park, directed by Steven Spielberg, his voice narrates the park's vehicle tour — a role that originated in Michael Crichton's novel — and he continued in that capacity for the Jurassic Park River Adventure ride at Universal theme parks, making him the only individual to appear in the book, the film, and the attraction. His final acting role was in the television movie Blue Moon, which debuted in 1999 after his death.

Kiley died on March 5, 1999, of an unspecified bone marrow disease at Horton Hospital in Middletown, New York, less than a month before his 77th birthday. He was survived by his wife, dancer Patricia Ferrier, and six children from his first marriage: sons David and Michael and daughters Kathleen, Dorothea, Erin, and Deirdre. His remains were interred in Warwick, New York. Broadway's lights were dimmed in his honor.