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 |
Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, singer, humorist, and radio personality. He is famous for creating and hosting the radio show A Prairie Home Companion. This show was broadcast by Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) from 1974 to 2016.
Keillor also created the imaginary Minnesota town called Lake Wobegon. Many of his books, like Lake Wobegon Days, are set in this town. Another one of his creations is Guy Noir, a detective character who appeared in funny skits on A Prairie Home Companion. Keillor also started The Writer's Almanac, a short daily radio show. It shares poems and facts about important events from history.
In 2017, Minnesota Public Radio ended its work with Keillor. This happened after some concerns were raised about his behavior. However, a settlement was reached in 2018. This allowed old episodes of A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer's Almanac to be available again. Keillor still creates new episodes of The Writer's Almanac on his website. He also performs a live stage version of A Prairie Home Companion.
Contents
Early Life and School
Garrison Keillor was born in Anoka, Minnesota. His parents were Grace Ruth and John Philip Keillor. His father worked as a carpenter and for the post office. Keillor's family had roots in England and Scotland. He was one of six children in his family.
His family belonged to a Christian group called the Plymouth Brethren. Keillor later chose to attend other churches, including an Episcopal church.
Keillor finished Anoka High School in 1960. He then went to the University of Minnesota and earned a degree in English in 1966. While in college, he began his career in radio at the student radio station, which is now called Radio K.
In one of his books, Keillor mentioned some interesting ancestors. These include John Crandall, who helped found Rhode Island. Another ancestor was Prudence Crandall, who started the first school for African-American women in America.
Career Highlights
Radio Shows
Garrison Keillor started his professional radio work in 1969. He worked for Minnesota Educational Radio (MER), which later became Minnesota Public Radio (MPR). He hosted a show called A Prairie Home Entertainment. This show played many different kinds of music.
Keillor left the morning show briefly in 1971. He returned later that year, and the show was renamed A Prairie Home Companion. He got the idea for a live Saturday night radio show after writing about the Grand Ole Opry.
A Prairie Home Companion (often called PHC) started on July 6, 1974. It was a live variety show with a studio audience. The show featured guest musicians and actors. They performed musical numbers and funny skits. They even used live sound effects!
The show also had fake commercials for made-up sponsors. These included Powdermilk Biscuits and the Ketchup Advisory Board. There were also funny serial stories, like The Adventures of Guy Noir, Private Eye. Keillor voiced many characters in these skits. The show was broadcast from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.
After a break, Keillor would read greetings from the audience. These were often funny messages to friends and family. Later in the show, Keillor would tell a story called The News from Lake Wobegon. This was about a made-up town. He 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 stopped it to work on other things. In 1989, he started a new show from New York City. It was called The American Radio Company of the Air. This show was very similar to PHC. In 1992, he moved the show back to St. Paul. A year later, he changed its name back to A Prairie Home Companion. It remained a popular Saturday night radio show for many years.
On A Prairie Home Companion, Keillor's name was usually not mentioned. He often gave himself a funny credit as "written by Sarah Bellum." Keillor often took the radio show on tour across the United States. These touring shows often included local guests and jokes about the area. He even took the show to Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2000.
Keillor also hosted The Writer's Almanac from 1993 to 2017. This show, like PHC, was produced by American Public Media. In 2015, Keillor announced he would retire from A Prairie Home Companion. His final episode was recorded live at the Hollywood Bowl in California on July 1, 2016. This ended 42 seasons of the show. After the show, President Barack Obama called Keillor to congratulate him. The show continued with a new host, Chris Thile, in October 2016.
Changes with MPR
In November 2017, Minnesota Public Radio ended its business ties with Keillor. This was due to concerns about his behavior. MPR stated that they had received reports of inappropriate incidents. Keillor denied doing anything wrong. He said his firing was due to one incident where he touched a woman's back. He said he had apologized for it.
MPR stopped playing old episodes of A Prairie Home Companion with Keillor. They also stopped distributing The Writer's Almanac. In April 2018, MPR and Keillor reached an agreement. This allowed the online archives of A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer's Almanac to be available again.
Writing Career
When he was 13, Keillor started using "Garrison" as his pen name. He wanted to keep his personal life separate from his writing. He is known for being a clever writer about life in the Midwest.
Keillor has written many articles for magazines and newspapers. He has also written more than a dozen books for both adults and children. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and National Geographic. He also wrote an advice column online called "Mr. Blue."
In 2004, Keillor published a book of political essays. It was called Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America. In 2005, he started a newspaper column called The Old Scout.
Bookselling
On November 1, 2006, Keillor opened his own independent bookstore. It was called "Common Good Books, G. Keillor, Prop." The store was located in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
In 2012, the bookstore moved to a new location. In April 2019, Keillor sold his share in the store. The store was renamed Next Chapter.
Voice-over Work
Keillor's unique voice and accent have made him a popular voice-over actor. Some of his notable voice roles include:
- Voiceover for Honda UK's "the Power of Dreams" advertisements.
- Voice of the Norse god Odin in an episode of Disney's Hercules.
- Voice of Walt Whitman and other historical figures in Ken Burns's documentaries The Civil War and Baseball.
- Narrator for the "River of Dreams" Documentary.
- In 1991, Keillor released an album called Songs of the Cat. It featured original and parody songs about cats.
Film Work
In 2006, Keillor wrote and starred in the musical comedy film A Prairie Home Companion. The movie was directed by Robert Altman. It showed a fictional look at what happens behind the scenes of the radio show. The film was well-received and had a good cast. This included Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Meryl Streep, and Lily Tomlin.
Personal Life
Keillor is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. He is 6 feet 3 inches tall. He has said he prefers to be alone and avoids eye contact. He also believes he might be on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum. He spoke about this at a conference in 2014.
Keillor has been married three times. He has two children. In 2009, he was briefly in the hospital after having a minor stroke. He returned to work a few days later.
Keillor has sometimes caused public discussion with his comments. In 2006, he made remarks about a church visit. In 2007, he wrote a column that some readers found upsetting. He later apologized for the misunderstanding. In 2008, he had a disagreement with a neighbor about a building project. They later reached an agreement.
Awards and Recognition
Garrison Keillor has received many awards for his work:
- A Prairie Home Companion won a Peabody Award in 1980.
- He received a Medal for Spoken Language in 1990.
- In 1994, Keillor was added to the National Radio Hall of Fame.
- He received a National Humanities Medal in 1999.
- In 2007, he received the first Moth Award for storytelling.
- Also in 2007, Keillor was given the John Steinbeck Award. This award honors artists who show empathy and belief in the common person.
- He 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.
See also
In Spanish: Garrison Keillor para niños
