Handsome, talented, versatile baritone whose too-short career before his untimely death at the age of fifty-eight encompassed
grand opera (Metropolitan, New York City, and Santa Fe Opera Companies,
primarily), Broadway musicals (He introduced the Comden-Styne-Green
standard "Make Someone Happy" in the 1961 show "Do-Re-Mi"), and
television, primarily as a frequent guest on "Mister Rogers's
Neighborhood." The latter was something of a personal thing, as he and
Fred Rogers had been friends since college.