1. Richard Bonelli attended Syracuse University, initially studying engineering, but the quality of his singing voice altered those early academic pursuits.
13 Facts About Richard Bonelli
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Richard Bonelli soon began actively training with voice teachers, including Arthur Alexander in Los Angeles and with Jean de Reszke and William Valonat in Europe.
3.
Richard Bonelli toured with the San Carlo Opera Company between 1922 and 1924.
4.
Richard Bonelli returned to Europe in 1924 to sing at the Monte Carlo Opera and was eventually engaged by the Theatre de la Gaite in Paris.
5.
Between 1925 and 1931 Richard Bonelli performed with the Chicago Opera Company and between 1926 and 1942 frequently performed at the San Francisco Opera.
6.
Richard Bonelli remained on the Met's active roster until 1945, making his final performance as Rossini's Figaro on 14 March that year.
7.
Richard Bonelli was the Tonio in the first ever live telecast of opera, from the Met on 10 March 1940 alongside Hilda Burke and Armand Tokatyan.
8.
Richard Bonelli returned to the Met in 1966 as an honored guest at the 'Gala Farewell' marking the last performance by the Metropolitan Opera in the old opera house at Broadway and 39th Street, before moving to the Lincoln Center.
9.
Richard Bonelli appears in at least three surviving films: as the "Eminent Baritone" in a 1928 short, one of Fox Studio's earliest sound films, in which he performs "Largo Al Factotum" from The Barber of Seville; in the 1935 feature Enter Madame; and in a cameo appearance in the 1941 feature The Hard-Boiled Canary.
10.
In 1949 when Edward Johnson retired from his position of general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, Richard Bonelli was a contender for the job though it ultimately went to Rudolf Bing.
11.
American baritone Robert Merrill had stated that Richard Bonelli was his inspiration to study singing, after hearing him perform the Count di Luna at the Met alongside Giovanni Martinelli and Elisabeth Rethberg in 1936.
12.
Richard Bonelli, who was the uncle of actor Robert Stack, married twice, the first time to opera singer Pauline Cornelys.
13.
Richard Bonelli's body was cremated, and the ashes were placed in Niche 32072 in the Columbarium of Victory at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.