Thomas Hardie Chalmers (October , â€" June , ) was an American opera
singer, actor, and filmmaker.Thomas Chalmers was born on October , in
New York City, the son of Thomas Hardie and Sophia Amanda (De Bann)
Chalmers. In , he went to Florence to study singing with Vincenzo
Lombardi and made his operatic debut in May in Fossombrone as
Marcello in La bohème. His first appearance in the United States was
as Jack Rance in The Girl of the Golden West with Henry Wilson
Savage's English Grand Opera Company. Chalmers toured the United
States with the company from to . He then sang as the leading
baritone with the Boston National Opera Company and the Century Opera
Company before making his Metropolitan Opera debut on November , as
Valentin in Faust. He went on to appear regularly at the Met until
and sang in the world premiere of Shanewis, the US premiere of
Mârouf, and the first Met performances of La forza del destino and
Crispino e la Comare. His recordings were all made for Edison and
covered a wide range of repertoire from folk songs to opera; he
recorded both on cylinder and the Edison Disc Record formats.Following
a throat operation, Chalmers withdrew from opera and became a stage
and film actor. His many stage roles included several Broadway
premieres such as Landolfo in Pirandello's The Living Mask (Henry IV),
; Doctor Schindler in Schnitzler's The Call of Life (Der Ruf des
Lebens), ; Captain Adam Brant in O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra, ;
Ben Loman in Miller's Death of a Salesman, ; and Richard Bravo in
Maxwell Anderson's The Bad Seed, .One of Chalmers's earliest film
roles was The Minister in the silent film Puritan Passions, based on
Percy MacKaye's play The Scarecrow, which was in turn based on
Feathertop, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. His last film role was The Judge
in Martin Ritt's The Outrage, released in . Chalmers also produced and
directed several short comedy films written by Robert Benchley,
including The Sex Life of the Polyp and The Treasurer's Report, both
released in . His voice can be heard as the narrator in two
documentary films by Pare Lorentz, The Plow That Broke the Plains ()
and The River (), both with scores by Virgil Thomson.
singer, actor, and filmmaker.Thomas Chalmers was born on October , in
New York City, the son of Thomas Hardie and Sophia Amanda (De Bann)
Chalmers. In , he went to Florence to study singing with Vincenzo
Lombardi and made his operatic debut in May in Fossombrone as
Marcello in La bohème. His first appearance in the United States was
as Jack Rance in The Girl of the Golden West with Henry Wilson
Savage's English Grand Opera Company. Chalmers toured the United
States with the company from to . He then sang as the leading
baritone with the Boston National Opera Company and the Century Opera
Company before making his Metropolitan Opera debut on November , as
Valentin in Faust. He went on to appear regularly at the Met until
and sang in the world premiere of Shanewis, the US premiere of
Mârouf, and the first Met performances of La forza del destino and
Crispino e la Comare. His recordings were all made for Edison and
covered a wide range of repertoire from folk songs to opera; he
recorded both on cylinder and the Edison Disc Record formats.Following
a throat operation, Chalmers withdrew from opera and became a stage
and film actor. His many stage roles included several Broadway
premieres such as Landolfo in Pirandello's The Living Mask (Henry IV),
; Doctor Schindler in Schnitzler's The Call of Life (Der Ruf des
Lebens), ; Captain Adam Brant in O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra, ;
Ben Loman in Miller's Death of a Salesman, ; and Richard Bravo in
Maxwell Anderson's The Bad Seed, .One of Chalmers's earliest film
roles was The Minister in the silent film Puritan Passions, based on
Percy MacKaye's play The Scarecrow, which was in turn based on
Feathertop, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. His last film role was The Judge
in Martin Ritt's The Outrage, released in . Chalmers also produced and
directed several short comedy films written by Robert Benchley,
including The Sex Life of the Polyp and The Treasurer's Report, both
released in . His voice can be heard as the narrator in two
documentary films by Pare Lorentz, The Plow That Broke the Plains ()
and The River (), both with scores by Virgil Thomson.
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