Jeffrey Skitch

Jeffrey Ralph Skitch (16 September 1927 – 7 March 2013) was an Australian-born actor, operatic baritone, and teacher whose career centered on his work with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company between 1952 and 1965. He also appeared on Broadway in 1955, with credits including Trial by Jury, Princess Ida, and The Hot Mikado.

Born in Millicent, South Australia, Skitch was the son of Ralph Aubrey Skitch (1896–1959), a land agent, and Magda Katie Helena Herman Skitch (1897–1959), who had met in London during the First World War and married in Australia around 1920. In 1929, when Skitch was two years old, he traveled to England with his mother and older brother Robert Ernest Skitch (1923–1999), and the family did not return to Australia. His parents subsequently divorced, and his father remained in Australia and later remarried. Skitch received his education in England. Following National Service with the Royal Air Force during World War II and for two years afterward, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and The Old Vic Theatre School.

Skitch made his professional stage debut in London in 1949, appearing as an extra in She Stoops to Conquer at the Arts Theatre. That same autumn he worked at the Arts Theatre as both assistant stage manager and actor in The Romantic Young Lady. In 1951 he appeared in Idomeneo with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and the following year he joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company for the 1952–53 season.

His initial roles with D'Oyly Carte were Luiz in The Gondoliers and the smaller part of Second Yeoman in The Yeomen of the Guard. When Alan Styler temporarily departed the company, Skitch began sharing the role of Giuseppe in The Gondoliers and expanded his repertory to include Archibald Grosvenor in Patience, Strephon in Iolanthe, and Pish-Tush in The Mikado. The following season brought the role of Captain Corcoran in HMS Pinafore, the part for which he became perhaps best remembered, along with a brief appearance as Samuel in The Pirates of Penzance. In 1954 he took over the role of Florian in Princess Ida and also played the Counsel for the Plaintiff or the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury on occasion. With the exception of a break from the company in the second half of 1957, Skitch performed most of these roles through 1965. The company toured extensively throughout Britain and also toured the United States during these years, which brought Skitch to Broadway in 1955. In 1975, during D'Oyly Carte's centennial season, he was invited back to participate in a special final performance of Trial by Jury, in which fourteen former company stars joined the regular chorus.

Skitch recorded several roles with D'Oyly Carte on the Decca label, among them Doctor Daly in The Sorcerer (1953), Florian in Princess Ida (1955 and 1965), Captain Corcoran in H.M.S. Pinafore (1960), and Luiz in The Gondoliers (1961). He also took part in numerous radio broadcasts during his tenure with the company. Grosvenor was his own favourite role, and his portrayals of Grosvenor and Pish-Tush were particularly admired by contemporaries.

While on tour with D'Oyly Carte in Los Angeles, Skitch met an American singer named Stella Maria Hawley. The two married at the Actors' Church in New York City, after which Skitch returned to London with his wife. They had two sons, Robert, who became a schoolmaster, and Phillip, who became a hotel manager.

During his years with D'Oyly Carte, Skitch studied law. After leaving the company he earned a BSc in Biological Science from London University and moved into teaching, first at Oakham School in Rutland and then at Malvern College, where he served as head of the Biology Department. In 1981 he became Principal of Elmhurst Ballet School, with his wife serving as vice-principal, a position he held until 1995. His former D'Oyly Carte colleagues reportedly found his role at a ballet school amusing, as they had not considered dancing among his strengths. Skitch and his wife owned a weekend home in Lymington, Hampshire, where they sailed a yacht they named Pinafore. Upon his retirement in 1995, the couple relocated permanently to Lymington, where Skitch served as a director of a property management company called South Grove Maintenance (Lymington) Limited. He died in Southampton at the age of 85.