--- name: "Ruby Keeler" canonical: "https://film.one/person/ruby-keeler" roles: ["Actor"] born: "25 August 1910" died: "28 February 1993" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 70 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-19T22:26:11.123116+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Ruby Keeler Actor. Born 25 August 1910 in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. Died 28 February 1993. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 25 August 1910, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada - **Died:** 28 February 1993 - **Active:** 1933–1934 - **Also known as:** Ethel Ruby Keeler - **Average Fi1m score:** 70, as actor, over 2 titles - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Keeler, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q272092, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0444528/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/30001 ## Streaming the US now - **HBO Max:** [*42nd Street*](https://film.one/film/42nd-street.md) (82) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Biography Ruby Keeler, also credited as Ethel Ruby Keeler, was a Canadian-American actress, dancer and singer. She began her career as a chorus girl and tap dancer on Broadway in the 1920s before moving into films. Keeler made her film debut as Peggy Sawyer in the Warner Bros. musical *42nd Street* (1933), opposite Dick Powell. She appeared in several further Busby Berkeley-choreographed musicals at the studio, including *Gold Diggers of 1933* (1933), *Footlight Parade* (1933) and *Dames* (1934). She was married to singer Al Jolson from 1928 to 1940. Keeler retired from films in the early 1940s but returned to the stage for the 1971 Broadway revival of *No, No, Nanette*. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, britannica.com, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *Flirtation Walk* (1934), Fi1m 57, as Kathleen "Kit" Fitts — [page](https://film.one/film/flirtation-walk.md) - *42nd Street* (1933), Fi1m 82, as Peggy — [page](https://film.one/film/42nd-street.md) ## Complete filmography (18) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Beverly Hills Brats* (1989), as Goldie - *That's Dancing!* (1985), as From '42nd Street' and 'Dames' (archive footage) - *The Phynx* (1970), as Ruby Keeler - *The Greatest Show on Earth* (1963), series, Actor - *Vacation Playhouse* (1963), series, as Ruby - *Sweetheart of the Campus* (1941), as Betty Blake - *Mother Carey's Chickens* (1938), as Kitty Carey - *A Day at Santa Anita* (1937), as Ruby Keeler (uncredited) - *Ready, Willing and Able* (1937), as Jane - *Colleen* (1936), as Colleen Reilly - *Shipmates Forever* (1935), as June Blackburn - *Go Into Your Dance* (1935), as Dorothy 'Dot' Wayne - *Flirtation Walk* (1934), as Kathleen "Kit" Fitts — Fi1m 57, [page](https://film.one/film/flirtation-walk.md) - *Dames* (1934), as Barbara Hemingway - *Footlight Parade* (1933), as Bea - *Gold Diggers of 1933* (1933), as Polly - *42nd Street* (1933), as Peggy — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/42nd-street.md) - *Show Girl in Hollywood* (1930), as Ruby Keeler ## Gallery - ![Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler on board the Olympic before or after their honeymoon voyage, New York, 1928](https://film.one/media/person/1225896/gallery-fde9e8c9cef0.jpg) Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler on board the Olympic before or after their honeymoon voyage, New York, 1928 — Los Angeles Times, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Al_Jolson_and_Ruby_Keeler_on_board_the_Olympic.jpg/1280px-Al_Jolson_and_Ruby_Keeler_on_board_the_Olympic.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Promotional photograph for the film 42nd Street starring Una Merkel, Ruby Keeler and Ginger Rogers (1936)](https://film.one/media/person/1225896/gallery-520d7ac8e5bd.jpg) Promotional photograph for the film 42nd Street starring Una Merkel, Ruby Keeler and Ginger Rogers (1936) — Warner Bros., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/42nd-Street-Merkel-Keeler-Rogers.jpg/1280px-42nd-Street-Merkel-Keeler-Rogers.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Lobby card for the 1933 film Footlight Parade.](https://film.one/media/person/1225896/gallery-b0059559f52b.jpg) Lobby card for the 1933 film Footlight Parade. — Warner Bros., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Footlight_Parade_lobby_card_2.jpg/1280px-Footlight_Parade_lobby_card_2.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Cinecon 1990, Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, September, 1990](https://film.one/media/person/1225896/gallery-846e205556af.jpg) Cinecon 1990, Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, September, 1990 — Alan Light, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Ruby_Keeler_and_Penny_Singleton_%281896007801%29.jpg/1280px-Ruby_Keeler_and_Penny_Singleton_%281896007801%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Ruby Keeler](https://film.one/media/person/1225896/gallery-49dfdea3166b.jpg) Ruby Keeler — Image via TMDB - ![Ruby Keeler](https://film.one/media/person/1225896/gallery-49ec3e41b8e2.jpg) Ruby Keeler — Image via TMDB - ![Ruby Keeler](https://film.one/media/person/1225896/gallery-9c0da75d9e5c.jpg) Ruby Keeler — Image via TMDB - ![Ruby Keeler](https://film.one/media/person/1225896/gallery-67a690102dad.jpg) Ruby Keeler — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Other awards — 1 won - Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year 1972: Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year (won) *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/ruby-keeler