Richard Vernon

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.