Robert Rounseville

Robert Rounseville (25 March 1914 – 6 August 1974) was an American tenor, who appeared in opera, operetta, and Broadway musicals.

Rounseville was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts. He made his Broadway debut in a small role in the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart musical Babes in Arms, then appeared in other musicals in the chorus. Between 1943 and 1945, Rounseville was billed as Robert Field, using his middle name as a surname. He again played small roles on Broadway, in a revival of The Merry Widow and in Up in Central Park. Rounseville appeared several times on television, as well as in two films. He is perhaps best known to opera buffs for starring in the role of Hoffmann in Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger's film of Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann (1951), the first color film of an opera to use genuinely cinematic techniques (as opposed to filming a performance on stage). That same year, he was also the first Tom Rakewell, in the world premiere of Igor Stravinsky's opera The Rake's Progress, onstage at La Fenice. He was fortunate to have as his co-stars Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Jennie Tourel. In October 1951 he portrayed Channon in the world premiere of David Tamkin's The Dybbuk at the New York City Opera with Patricia Neway portraying his love interest.