Davis Cunningham

Thomas Davis Cunningham (May 7, 1916 – June 19, 1984) was an American tenor who had prominent career in operas, musicals, concerts, and on television from 1949 through 1973.

Cunningham was born in the Philippines, the son of an American doctor serving in the United States military. He studied singing at Wooster College and the Juilliard School before making his professional stage debut in the 1939 musical Stars In Your Eyes where he portrayed a handful of small roles. He returned to Broadway in 1941 as Jack in Kurt Weill's Lady in the Dark. That same year he signed a contract with the Philadelphia Opera Company, joining their roster of principal tenors. However, Cunnigham was conscripted into the United States Air Force forcing him to postpone his opera career. He served as an Air Force Lieutenant during World War II from 1941-1946. Following the war he sang in operettas and musicals throughout the United States.

Cunningham finally made his operatic debut in 1949 with the Central City Opera and was a regular presence at that house for many years. Beginning in 1952, he sang frequently on television for the NBC Opera Theatre, including singing Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Prince Anatole in War and Peace, Pelléas in Pelléas et Mélisande, and Belmonte in The Abduction from the Seraglio. In 1960 he portrayed Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca for an ABC television production. On Dec 27, 1954 he portrayed Michele in the world premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti's The Saint of Bleecker Street on Broadway.

...
Wikipedia