Career
His work on stage included Kismet; Richard Rodgers's first musical for which he wrote both music and lyrics, No Strings; the Buddy Hackett vehicle I Had a Ball; and the lead roles in Redhead, Man of La Mancha, and the play The Incomparable Max.
He starred in the television play, Patterns (Kraft Television Theatre), which aired live on January 12, 1955. It caused a sensation, and won an Emmy for its screenwriter Rod Serling.
He won Tony Awards as Best Actor in a musical for the first two. The dual role of the middle-aged Miguel de Cervantes and Don Quixote is one of the few musical roles which entails both the role of the leading man and that of a character actor at the same time, rather than the conventional handsome hero who wins the girl. Kiley had gone on record as saying that he had grown tired of the regular "leading man" role but was always grateful for having been given the chance to play it. Tony Martinez played Sancho Panza to Kiley's Don Quixote.
Read more about this topic: Richard Kiley
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“In time your relatives will come to accept the idea that a career is as important to you as your family. Of course, in time the polar ice cap will melt.”
—Barbara Dale (b. 1940)
“I doubt that I would have taken so many leaps in my own writing or been as clear about my feminist and political commitments if I had not been anointed as early as I was. Some major form of recognition seems to have to mark a woman’s career for her to be able to go out on a limb without having her credentials questioned.”
—Ruth Behar (b. 1956)
“A black boxer’s career is the perfect metaphor for the career of a black male. Every day is like being in the gym, sparring with impersonal opponents as one faces the rudeness and hostility that a black male must confront in the United States, where he is the object of both fear and fascination.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)