Richard Tauber

Austrian-born actor and operatic tenor, considered by some to be one of the five greatest tenors of the 20th century. He recorded a repertory of more than 700 titles of great versatility ranging from Mozart to Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Tauber was born to parents who both worked in the theater (his father was an actor) but were not married, at least not to each other. He began taking voice lessons, and in 1913 was offered a contract at the Dresden Opera in Austria. He stayed there for the next five years, and expanded his base in 1919 to include Dresden, Berlin and Vienna. In 1926, Tauber filled in for an ailing star in Puccini’s "Turandot" and went on to more opera successes, while also involved in operettas. In 1923, he joined a run of "Frasquita" in Vienna and made it a hit.

He grew in popularity and from 1930 began appearing in movies. After the Nazis seized power in Germany, Tauber, whose father was Jewish, focused his career in Vienna. In the summer of 1934, he introduced his own operetta, "Der Singende Traum," sometimes singing and sometimes conducting. He was simultaneously making films.

Tauber was married to an Englishwoman, Diana Napier.

In 1938, he left Vienna and settled in London. By the mid-‘40s, his sound had begun to seem old-fashioned. His last appearance was in 1947 with the Vienna State Opera, although he was already stricken with lung cancer. Tauber died on 8 January 1948.