Richard Vernon(1953-2006)
- Actor
Opera singer Richard Vernon was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on May 9,
1953. He began his career while in his teens, singing with the Memphis
Children's Theater, Memphis Opera Theater, the Southern Opera Theater,
North Carolina Opera Theater, and the Houston Grand Opera. He won the
Regional Metropolitan Opera auditions in 1977, and made his debut with
the Met in a 1980 production of Satie's Parade. Vernon, an operatic
bass, sang nearly 800 performances in leading and supporting roles with
the Met. Vernon also appeared with the San Francisco Opera, the
Washington Opera, San Diego Opera, Cincinnati Opera, and numerous other
opera companies throughout the United States. He performed in such
televised opera productions as Der Rosenkavalier (1982), Ernani (1983),
La Forza del Destino (1984), Tosca (1985), and The Girl of the Golden
West (1992). He also voiced such diverse roles as Pimen in Boris
Godunov, Colline in La Boheme, Banquo in Macbeth, Ferrando in Il
Trovatore, and the Commendatory in Don Giovanni. His final performance
was in a Metropolitan Opera production of Tosca the week before his
death. He died suddenly of a heart attack brought on by asthma at his
home in Shohola, Pennsylvania, on December 2, 2006, at the age of 53.