RUBY KEELER

Ruby Keeler was an actress from the 1930s to the 1980s. She was born Ethel Ruby Keeler in Canada in 1909, but her family moved to New York City when she was three. She took dance lessons at an early age, and when she was 14 she got a job in a Broadway show (lying about her age!), In 1927 she co-starred in The Sidewalks of New York where she was seen by Flo Ziegfeld, who hired her. The following year, while still a teenager, she married the 23 year older Al Jolson, and their marriage was partially the basis for the several versions of "A Star is Born" and "The Jolson Story" (but Keeler refused to allow the producers to use her name). In 1933 she co-starred in Busby Berkeley's 42nd Street, followed quickly by Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade and Dames and in 1935 she co-starred with her husband in Go Into Your Dance. They divorced in 1940, and she married a businessman and retired, having four children. In 1971 she returned to star in the Broadway revival of the 1920s musical No, No, Nanette. She passed away in 1993 at the age of 83.