Biography

Leonard Warren was born on April 21, 1911 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002), Otello (1948) and The Prisoner of Castle If (1988). He died on March 4, 1960 in New York City, New York, USA.

One of the great star baritones of the Metropolitan Opera Company from his debut in 1938 through his sudden death on stage 22 years later, he was a specialist in the Italian repertoire, scoring his greatest successes in the operas of Giuseppe Verdi (he was regarded as the finest Rigoletto of his generation) and Giacomo Puccini.

Suffered a fatal heart attack during an actual performance of Verdi's "La Forza del Destino," in which he was appearing at the old Metropolitan Opera House. Critics and audiences who were watching the performance were stunned at the event.

Sang the role of Rigoletto in conductor Arturo Toscanini's historic 1944 War Bonds Concert at Madison Square Garden, in which the great conductor performed Act IV of "Rigoletto" complete, among other selections by Verdi and Wagner. The other soloists included Jan Peerce and Zinka Milanov. The performance is considered among Toscanini's greatest, and, although the concert features only Act IV of Verdi's opera, it is the only recording we have of Toscanini conducting any of "Rigoletto".