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William Warfield

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Vocalist

The Resume

    (January 22, 1920-August 25, 2002)
    Born in West Helena, Arkansas
    Middle name was Caesar
    Bass baritone opera singer
    Portrayed Joe in the 1951 remake of ‘Show Boat’
    Married to Leontyne Price

Why he might be annoying:

    His marriage to Leontyne Price was hurt when her star eclipsed his (they divorced after twenty years of marriage in 1972).
    Plans for a 1952 musical version of ‘Huckleberry Finn’ starring himself and Dean Stockwell were scrapped (elements of the project made their way into a 1960 non-musical version but with a completely different cast).
    A Family Guy cutaway gag depicting Ashlee Simpson lip-syncing and square dancing to audio of Ol’ Man River is regularly listed as it being sung by Paul Robeson (when anyone familiar with both singers can clearly tell it’s Warfield).

Why he might not be annoying:

    He served in the Army during World War II.
    He met Leontyne Price on the European tour of Porgy and Bess.
    Their performance of the opera was even better received than the original Broadway run.
    He sang in three separate cast albums of Show Boat.
    He spoke warmly about Price even after their divorce.
    His singing voice had almost completely deteriorated into his seventies.
    He won a Spoken Word Grammy Award in 1984 for his narration of Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait.
    He represented the United States during foreign tours, including six for the State Department.

Credit: BoyWithTheGreenHair


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