Los Angeles ? Howard Keel, the broad-shouldered baritone who romanced his way through a series of glittery MGM musicals such as “Kiss Me Kate” and “Annie Get Your Gun,” and later revived his career with television’s “Dallas,” died Sunday. He was 85.

Keel died Sunday morning of colon cancer, according to his son, Gunnar.

Keel starred in Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals in New York and London before being signed to an MGM contract after World War II. The timing was perfect: He became a star with his first MGM film, playing Frank Butler to Betty Hutton’s Annie Oakley in “Annie Get Your Gun.”

Keel’s size and lusty voice made him an ideal leading man for such stars as Esther Williams (“Pagan Love Song,” “Texas Carnival,” “Jupiter’s Darling”), Ann Blyth (“Rose Marie,” “Kismet”), Kathryn Grayson (“Show Boat,” “Lovely to Look At,” “Kiss Me Kate”) and Doris Day (“Calamity Jane”).

His own favorite film was the exuberant “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.”

“It was a fine cast and lots of fun to make,” Keel remarked in 1993, “but they did the damn thing on the cheap. The backdrops had holes in them, and it was shot on the worst film stock. … As it turned out, the miracle worker was George Folsey, the cinematographer. He took that junk and made it look like a Grandma Moses painting.”

When film studios went into a slump, MGM’s musical factory was disbanded. Keel kept busy on the road in such surefire attractions of “Man of La Mancha,” “South Pacific,” “Annie Get Your Gun” and “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.”

Keel was 66 and presumably nearing the end of his career when he suddenly became a star in another medium.

From its start in 1978, “Dallas” with its combination of oil, greed, sex and duplicity had become the hottest series in television. Jim Davis, who had played the role of Jock Ewing, died in 1981, and the producers needed another strong presence to stand up to the nefarious J.R. Ewing Jr. (Larry Hagman). They chose Keel.

“The show was enormous,” Keel reflected in 1995. “I couldn’t believe it. My life changed again. From being out of it, I was suddenly a star, known to more people than ever before.”

Keel was married and then divorced twice: to actress Rosemary Cooper and dancer Helen Anderson, with whom he had three children: Kaija, Kristine and Gunnar. In 1970 he married former airline stewardess Judy Magamoll. They had one daughter, Leslie.