Richard Kiley

Attended and graduated from Mount Carmel High School in Chicago, Illinois (1939). Attended Loyota University Chicago, but dropped out after one year.

Introduced the Bob Wright/Chet Forrest song "Stranger in Paradise" (with Doretta Morrow) in the stage musical "Kismet" (Ziegfeld Theatre New York (1953).

Although Richard Kiley's rich baritone and strong vocal talent was much in evidence and received due respect with his award of a Tony for "Man of La Mancha", it was little used in his television and movie appearances. Won two Tony Awards as Best Actor (Musical): in 1959 for "Redhead" and in 1966 for his signature role, "Man of La Mancha".

He was nominated for a 1987 Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award for Best Actor in a Play for "All My Sons" on Broadway in New York City.

First of only three actors who has been named as a character in a fictional novel, then appeared as themselves in that role in the film. Richard did so in Jurassic Park (1993). Colin Firth, who had already played Mr. Darcy in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), was also featured as a character in the sequel novel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004). He returned to play both his original character and himself, though the scene in which he played himself was deleted. Paolo Roberto then went on to play himself in The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009).

Following his death, he was interred at Warwick Cemetery in Warwick, Orange County, New York. He passed away on March 5, 1999, 26 days before what would have been his 77th birthday on March 31.