Garrison Keillor facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Garrison Keillor |
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Keillor in 2009
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| Birth name | Gary Edward Keillor |
| Born | August 7, 1942 Anoka, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Medium | Radio, print, film |
| Alma mater | University of Minnesota |
| Years active | 1969–present |
| Genres | Observational comedy, storytelling |
| Subject(s) | American culture (especially the Midwest), American politics |
| Spouse |
Mary Guntzel
(m. 1965; div. 1976)Ulla Skaerved
(m. 1985; div. 1990)Jenny Lind Nilsson
(m. 1995) |
| Children | 2 |
Garrison Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American writer, singer, and radio star. He is famous for creating and hosting the radio show A Prairie Home Companion. This show was on the air from 1974 to 2016.
Keillor also created the make-believe town of Lake Wobegon in Minnesota. Many of his books, like Lake Wobegon Days, are set there. He also created characters like Guy Noir, a funny detective from his radio skits. Keillor also made a short daily radio show called The Writer's Almanac. On this show, he shared poems and talked about important events from history.
Even after retiring from his main show, Keillor still performs a stage version of A Prairie Home Companion.
Contents
Early Life and School Days
Garrison Keillor was born in Anoka, Minnesota. His parents were Grace Ruth and John Philip Keillor. His dad was a carpenter and worked for the post office. His mom's parents came from Scotland. Garrison was the third of six children in his family.
His family belonged to a Christian group called the Plymouth Brethren. Keillor later joined other churches, including an Episcopal church in Minnesota.
Keillor finished high school in Anoka in 1960. He then went to the University of Minnesota and earned a degree in English in 1966. While in college, he started his radio career at the student radio station, which is now called Radio K.
In one of his books, Keillor mentioned some interesting family members from history. One was Joseph Crandall, who worked with Roger Williams. Williams founded Rhode Island and the first American Baptist church. Another was Prudence Crandall, who started the first school for African-American women in America.
Keillor's Amazing Career
Radio Shows and Stories
Garrison Keillor began his professional radio career in 1969. He worked for Minnesota Educational Radio, which later became Minnesota Public Radio (MPR). He hosted a show called A Prairie Home Entertainment. This show played many different kinds of music, which was new for the station.
In 1971, Keillor left the show for a short time. When he came back, the show was renamed A Prairie Home Companion.
Keillor got the idea for his live Saturday night radio show after writing about the Grand Ole Opry. A Prairie Home Companion (PHC) started on July 6, 1974. It was a live variety show with music, comedy skits, and cool sound effects.
The show had funny fake commercials for things like Powdermilk Biscuits. It also had funny serial stories, like The Adventures of Guy Noir, Private Eye. Keillor did voices for many characters and sang songs. The show was broadcast from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.
After a break in the show, Keillor would read greetings from the audience. Then, he would tell a story called The News from Lake Wobegon. This was about a made-up town. Keillor described Lake Wobegon as a place "... where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."
The first PHC show ran until 1987. Keillor then started a new show in New York City with a similar style. In 1992, he brought it back to St. Paul and changed the name back to A Prairie Home Companion. It stayed a popular Saturday night show for many years.
Keillor often took his radio show on tour across the United States. These shows would feature local guests and jokes about the area. He even took the show to Scotland in 2000. In some countries, the show was called Garrison Keillor's Radio Show. He also hosted The Writer's Almanac from 1993 to 2017.
In 2015, Keillor announced he would retire from A Prairie Home Companion. His last episode was recorded live at the Hollywood Bowl in California on July 1, 2016. President Barack Obama even called him to say congratulations! The show continued with a new host, Chris Thile.
Writing Books and Articles
When he was 13, Keillor started using "Garrison" as his pen name. He uses this name for his public work.
Many people say Keillor is a great writer about life in the American Midwest. He has written many articles for magazines and newspapers. He has also written more than a dozen books for both adults and children. He wrote for famous magazines like The New Yorker and National Geographic. He also wrote an advice column called "Mr. Blue."
In 2004, Keillor published a book of political essays called Homegrown Democrat. He also wrote a column called The Old Scout.
Owning a Bookstore
On November 1, 2006, Keillor opened his own bookstore. It was called "Common Good Books, G. Keillor, Prop." in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
In 2012, the store moved to a new spot. In 2019, Keillor sold his part of the bookstore. The store is now called Next Chapter.
Voice Acting Work
Keillor has a unique voice, and he often does voice-overs. Some of his voice work includes:
- Being the voice for Honda UK's "the Power of Dreams" commercials.
- Voicing the Norse god Odin in an episode of Disney's Hercules.
- Being the narrator for historical figures like Walt Whitman in Ken Burns's documentaries The Civil War and Baseball.
- Narrating a documentary called "River of Dreams" at a museum in Iowa.
- Releasing an album in 1991 called Songs of the Cat, which had songs about cats.
Making a Movie
In 2006, Keillor wrote and starred in a musical comedy film. It was called A Prairie Home Companion. The movie was about what might happen behind the scenes of his radio show. It had many famous actors like Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin. The film got good reviews and did well at the box office.
Personal Life and Family
Garrison Keillor is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which is a political party. He is 6 feet 3 inches tall. He has said he prefers to be alone and doesn't like to make eye contact. He also believes he might be on the autism spectrum, which means his brain works a bit differently. He talked about this at an autism conference in 2014.
Keillor has been married three times and has two children.
In 2009, Keillor had a minor stroke and was in the hospital briefly. But he was back to work just a few days later.
Awards and Special Honors
Garrison Keillor has received many awards for his work:
- His show A Prairie Home Companion won a Peabody Award in 1980.
- He received a Medal for Spoken Language in 1990.
- In 1994, Keillor was put into the National Radio Hall of Fame.
- He received a National Humanities Medal in 1999.
- In 2007, he won the first Moth Award for storytelling.
- He also received the John Steinbeck Award in 2007. This award is for artists who show kindness and believe in the importance of everyday people.
- Keillor won a Grammy Award in 1988 for his recording of Lake Wobegon Days.
- In 2016, he received the Fitzgerald Award for Achievement in American Literature.
- He has also won two CableACE Awards and another George Foster Peabody Award.
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See also
In Spanish: Garrison Keillor para niños
