21 Facts About Lawrence Tibbett

Lawrence Mervil Tibbett was an American opera singer and recording artist who performed as a film actor and radio personality.

Lawrence Tibbett performed diverse musical theatre roles, including Captain Hook in Peter Pan in a touring show.

Lawrence Tibbett was born Lawrence Mervil Tibbet on November 16,1896, in Bakersfield, California.

Lawrence Tibbett's father was a part-time deputy sheriff, killed in a shootout with outlaw Jim McKinney in 1903.

Lawrence Tibbett graduated from Manual Arts High School in 1915.

Lawrence Tibbett studied in New York City with Frank La Forge and in 1923 at the age of 26, he signed his first contract, for $60 per week, with the Metropolitan Opera, using the name "Lawrence Tibbett".

Lawrence Tibbett's Met roles included Valentin in Charles Gounod's Faust, Silvio, and later, Tonio, in Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and the King's Herald in Richard Wagner's Lohengrin.

Lawrence Tibbett first achieved national recognition playing Ford in Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff.

Lawrence Tibbett made his first recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1926.

Also during the 1930s, Lawrence Tibbett had a domestic radio program sponsored by the Packard Motor Car Company of America on which he sang formal music.

Lawrence Tibbett chose him to announce the Packard 120 to the world on air; he drove one.

Lawrence Tibbett was the guild's proactive president for 17 years.

In January 1937, during a rehearsal onstage at the Met for Richard Hageman's opera Caponsacchi, Lawrence Tibbett accidentally stabbed a long-time member of the chorus, Joseph Sterzini, during a fight scene, causing a small wound in Sterzini's hand.

Lawrence Tibbett spent a summer in stock as the Reverend Davidson in Rain and played Captain Hook in a short-lived tour of the John Burrell staging of Peter Pan that was mounted for Jean Arthur and featured a musical score by the young Leonard Bernstein.

In later years Lawrence Tibbett served as host of a radio show featuring historic recordings of operatic singers.

Lawrence Tibbett leavened matters with reminiscences of his own stage experiences.

Lawrence Tibbett died on July 15,1960, after hitting his head on a table during a fall in his apartment.

Lawrence Tibbett's voice was large, with a dark timbre approaching that of a bass, and he commanded a full range of dynamics in his prime, from powerful fortes to delicate pianissimos.

Lawrence Tibbett was renowned for his affinity with the works of Verdi, notably his breakthrough role of Ford in Falstaff, the title role in Simon Boccanegra, and Iago in Otello.

Lawrence Tibbett was an imposing, sinister Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca, a swaggering Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, and a powerful Tonio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.

Lawrence Tibbett starred in Howard Hanson's Merry Mount, as well as The King's Henchman and Peter Ibbetson, operas by Deems Taylor.