Goodbye to Goulet

Robert Goulet's singing voice was a given at his funeral. But those gathered Friday to say goodbye to the entertainer may have been surprised to be treated one more time to his words and his sense of humor.

Mourners heard Goulet's signature song, "If Ever I Would Leave You," but also a gospel song called "Pull Me Up Lord," which he and music director Vince Falcone co-wrote a year and a half ago and recorded for a prospective gospel album.

"I'm in no hurry to go, I still have seeds to sew, but I'll leave it to you to know when to pull me up," went the poem Goulet handed Falcone. Then the two sat at the piano and turned out a melody within 15 minutes, Falcone recalled after the service. "I think he was surprised at how fast it came."

More than half of the 2,500-seat sanctuary of the Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer was filled for the afternoon service. The program also included farewells Goulet penned before his death Oct. 30 at age 73. One read: "There will be sadness and some tears, but shared memories will evoke laughter and that will make me happy. They should discern a chortle from my urn!

"My epitaph shall read: 'He left them smiling.' "

Goulet's oldest son, Christopher, speculated that his father probably wrote the goodbye poems after he was diagnosed with interstitial pulmonary fibrosis. "He was very pragmatic."

Christopher and younger brother Michael drew laughter by imitating their father's booming speaking voice in anecdotes recalled during the service, a Catholic Mass conducted by the Rev. Paul L. Bianchi.

"There was so much more to him as a man than just singing and acting onstage," Michael said during his eulogy, recalling his father's habit of surprising friends with random calls. "He did not see color in people, he did not see social status, he did not see wealth. He only saw who they were, not what they were, and that was a marvelous lesson for me."

Other eulogies came from Goulet's daughter, Nicolette; his longtime physician, David Kipper; the Rev. Don Moomaw; longtime friend R.E.G. Sinke Jr.; and Mike Merrick, a veteran show producer who was Goulet's first Broadway publicist.

Celebrities on hand included TV late-show host Jimmy Kimmel and comedian girlfriend Sarah Silverman; veteran stars Tony Curtis, Debbie Reynolds and Phyllis McGuire; Mayor Oscar Goodman; and several contemporary Las Vegas headliners, including Bill Acosta, Lance Burton, David Brenner, Danny Gans, Clint Holmes, Rich Little and Frank Marino.

Singer Steve Lawrence, a contemporary of Goulet's who knew him since the 1960s, served as a pallbearer. "You never picture a guy who's that big and strong and gorgeous dying," Lawrence said before the service. "It's never the right time, especially for people you consider to be bigger than life."

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0288.