Helen Keel Kadin; Retired Ballet Dancer

Helen Keel Kadin, a ballet dancer and former wife of actor Howard Keel, has died at a Sherman Oaks hospital. She was 65.

An Encino resident for 22 years, Miss Kadin died Monday of cancer, said her daughter, Kaija Keel of Brentwood.

Born in Montclair, N. J., and raised in Lake Worth, Fla., Miss Kadin had aspired to be a ballerina since childhood, her daughter said. After high school, she traveled to New York, where she studied with the New York City Ballet in the early 1940s. In 1947, she joined the London production of “Oklahoma!” as the company’s dance captain. It was there that she met Keel, who was appearing as Curly in the popular musical. The two were married from 1949 to 1969.

Miss Kadin retired from dance after the London tour and began raising a family in Beverly Hills. She met her second husband, James Kadin, in 1971 and the couple opened a travel agency, Small World, in 1973. The Kadins operated the Mid-Wilshire business until 1990, when it was sold. Miss Kadin then retired.

For the past four decades, Miss Kadin worked with SHARE (Share Happily and Reap Endlessly), a Los Angeles charity that raises money to aid mentally retarded children. She was also a small-plane pilot and was an avid golfer.

In addition to her husband James and her daughter Kaija, Miss Kadin is survived by daughter Kirstine Sharp of Visalia; son Gunnar Keel of Hollywood; stepdaughters Tracey Kadin of North Hollywood and Lesley Kadin of Santa Monica, and seven grandchildren.

Services will be private. Donations can be made in Miss Kadin’s name to the American Cancer Society, 14602 Victory Blvd., Van Nuys 91411.