Helena Bliss

Helena Bliss (December 31, 1917 – April 19, 2014) was an American actress and singer. A talented soprano, she actively performed in musicals, operettas, and operas in the United States, both on stage and on television and radio, from the 1930s through the 1950s. She is best known for her portrayal of Nina Hagerup in the original Broadway production of Robert Wright and George Forrest's Song of Norway. She also appeared successfully in a few productions on London's West End.

Helena Bliss was born as Helena Louise Lipp in St. Louis, Missouri on December 31, 1917. Her parents were Albert Lipp and Augusta Clemens. She was educated at Washington University in St. Louis. In 1947 she married actor and singer John Tyers who starred opposite her is several productions and performed with several notable opera companies; including the Metropolitan Opera. He died in 2007 after 60 years of marriage. The couple had two sons together: John and Michael Tyers.

Bliss began her career in the late 1930s singing opera on radio and television. She made her stage debut in November 1939 in the role of Helen in a production of Very Warm for May at the Alvin Theatre. During the early 1940s she appeared in several musical and opera entertainments presented to American troops by the United Service Organizations. In July 1943 she performed the title role in Rudolf Friml's Rose-Marie with the St. Louis Municipal Opera. In 1943-1944 she performed in the final season of Sylvan Levin's Philadelphia Opera Company, where she sang Marguerite in Charles Gounod's Faust, Micaela in Georges Bizet's Carmen, Mimi in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème, and Rosalinde in Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus.

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