Biography

John Reed

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John Reed performed as a baritone with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company between 1951 and 1979. His featured roles with the company were: Cox in "Cox And Box" The Associate in "Trial by Jury" The Judge in "Trial by Jury" Mr Wells in "The Sorcerer" Sir Joseph in "H.M.S. Pinafore" Major-General in "The Pirates of Penzance" Major Murgatroyd in "Patience" Bunthorne in "Patience" Lord Chancellor in "Iolanthe" Gama in "Princess Ida" Ko-Ko in "The Mikado" Robin Oakapple in "Ruddigore" 2nd Citizen in "The Yeomen of the Guard" Jack Point in "The Yeomen of the Guard" Antonio and Annibale in "The Gondoliers" The Duke of Plaza Toro in "The Gondoliers" Scaphio in "Utopia, Ltd." Rudolph in "The Grand Duke" John Reed also recorded for Decca the following of his roles: Judge; Wells; Sir Joseph (twice); Major-General; Bunthorne; Lord Chancellor (twice); Gama; Ko-Ko; Robin; Jack Point; Duke; Scaphio; Rudolph. John toured the UK, America, Australia and New Zealand with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, and was awarded the O.B.E. in 1977. He returned to the D'Oyly Carte in 1981/2 as a guest artiste. More recently John has been working as a director for both amateur and professional productions.
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous

He was the fifth man to inhabit roles regularly for the D'Oyly Carte. The previous four men were comics, George Grossmith, Henry Lytton, Martyn Green, and Peter Pratt who was his predecessor and mentor.
He was a butcher's son and a self-taught stage performer.
He is survived by his companion of more than half a century, Nicholas Kerri.
He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1977 Queen's Honours List for his services to drama.

In 1988: It's funny how the brain works. I can be standing there singing the Nightmare Song from 'Iolanthe," looking out at a woman in the audience wearing a hat and thinking 'My God, that hat is so big the man behind her can't see.' And the works keep coming with no problem.

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