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Ruby Keeler, born Ethel Hilda Keeler, (August 25,
1910 - February 28, 1993), was an actress, singer,
and dancer.

She was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in
either 1909 or 1910. Her first "show-business" job
was as a chorine, working in a speakeasy for the
Prohibition-era hostess Texas Guinan. After that
stint, Keeler made her Broadway debut (at Guinan's
request) in George M. Cohan's The Rise of Rosie
O'Reilly in 1923. In 1927, Keeler appeared in a
total of three musicals: Bye Bye Bonnie, Lucky,
and Sidewalks of New York.

During her days at Texas Guinan's nightclub,
Keeler met legendary entertainer Al Jolson. The
couple began dating and wed in 1928. Jolson got
Keeler her next starring role in Florenz
Ziegfeld's 1929 spectacle Show Girl. But alas, the
marriage (in which they adopted a son) was a rocky
one and the couple divorced in 1940. Keeler
remarried in 1941 to John Homer Lowe, in which
they had four children. He died of cancer in 1969.
In 1933, producer Darryl F. Zanuck cast Keeler in
the Warner Bros. musical 42nd Street opposite Dick
Powell and Bebe Daniels. The film was a huge
success due to Busby Berkeley's lavish
choreography. Due to the film's success, Jack L.
Warner gave Keeler a long-term contract and cast
her in such hits as Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933),
and Dames (1934). Her co-stars were usually Dick
Powell and Joan Blondell, among others. Keeler
left the studio in 1937 after her films started
failing at the box-office. She was the sister of
minor actresses, Helen Keeler and Gertrude Keeler.

In 1971, Keeler came out of retirement to star in
the hugely successful Broadway revival of No, No,
Nanette, along with Helen Gallagher and the late
Patsy Kelly. The production was directed by
Keeler's 42nd Street director Busby Berkeley.

Ruby Keeler died of cancer in Rancho Mirage,
California and was interred in the Holy Sepulcher
Cemetery in Orange, California. She has a Star on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6730 Hollywood Blvd.

==Filmography==
*Show Girl in Hollywood (1930) (Cameo)
*42nd Street (1933)
*Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
*Footlight Parade (1933)
*And She Learned About Dames (1934) (short
subject)
*Dames (1934)
*Flirtation Walk (1934)
*Go Into Your Dance (1935)
*Shipmates Forever (1935)
*Colleen (1936)
*Ready, Willing and Able (1937)
*Hollywood Handicap (1938) (short subject)
*Mother Carey's Chickens (1938)
*Screen Snapshots Series 19, No. 6 (1940) (short
subject)
*Sweetheart of the Campus (1941)
*The Phynx (1970) (Cameo)
*Beverly Hills Brats (1989)

See also: Canadian pioneers in early
Hollywood|Other Canadian pioneers in early
Hollywood.