Richie Ling

Richie Ling (October 18, 1867 – March 5, 1937) was an English singer and actor born Richard Wilson Ling in Hammersmith, London, to Richard Thomas Ling and his wife Jane Bellamy. He was baptized at St Alphege London Wall on December 22, 1867, and by 1891 was living in Peckham with his widowed mother and sisters Agnes and Jennie. Though his career began in England, his professional life unfolded primarily in the United States, where he worked for more than fifty years as a performer on the operatic and theatrical stages before his death in 1937.

Ling's earliest documented performance took place in September 1888, when he sang the lead role of Luigi, Prince of Sicily, in the comic opera The Bey of Tunis at Portland Hall in Southsea. Within two months he had joined the Carl Rosa Opera Company, performing in Paul Jones by Robert Planquette and H. B. Farnie at the Theatre Royal in Bolton. He continued with the Carl Rosa company in the role of Rufino, touring venues across England and Scotland through June 1890. His subsequent stage work in London included an appearance with the Anomalies Amateur Dramatic Club in Jim the Penman in West Norwood in May 1891, as well as a one-act musical comedy called Sweepstakes that same month.

In late August 1891, the New York Times reported that Ling had sailed aboard RMS Aurania after being signed by Rudolph Aronson for an engagement at the Casino Theatre. He was cast as Count Stanislaus in Der Vogelhändler, performed in an English translation retitled The Tyrolean, alongside soprano Marie Tempest. After two months he was replaced in the company. He subsequently moved through a succession of operatic engagements, including roles with the King's Opera Comique Company in Philadelphia, where he played Arthur in Falka and Symon Symonovici in The Beggar Student. He also performed with The Albanians in Louis Varney's The Musketeers, joined the O'Neill Grand and Comic Opera Company for a southeastern tour in 1893, and spent summer seasons with the Reed Opera Company and later the Hagan Opera Company in St. Louis.

A turning point came in January 1895, when Ling was hired by Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau as leading tenor for the Lillian Russell Opera Company. He opened with the role of Piquillo in a revival of La Périchole at the Chicago Opera House on February 21, 1895, earning favorable notices from the Chicago Tribune. The company toured major Eastern and Midwestern cities, alternating La Périchole with The Grand Duchess, and later added The Tzigane and The Little Duke to its repertoire, with Ling serving as Russell's leading male in the latter two works. In February 1896, Ling and Russell appeared together in the first performance of The Goddess of Truth, a new light opera by Julian Edwards and Stanislaus Stange, which premiered in Baltimore before moving to Broadway at Abbey's Theatre. He continued touring with Russell until April 1896, when her voice broke down during a performance of La Périchole.

Ling subsequently joined the Castle Square Opera Company in Boston in January 1897, where he took on a range of new roles including the title role in Lohengrin, Manrico in Il trovatore, Don José in Carmen, and parts in The Gondoliers, Cavalleria rusticana, and Mignon. His performance as Manrico represented his first known grand opera role. Later in 1897 he toured with Vernona Jarbeau's company in The Paris Doll by Reginald De Koven and Harry B. Smith, and during a Boston Lyric Opera production of Carmen in Chicago he sustained an injury, losing part of his thumb in the Act III stage fight, yet completed the performance after being bandaged.

Ling's Broadway career spanned from 1899 to 1937 and encompassed productions including Yellow Jack, For Services Rendered, And Now Good-bye, Jubilee, and the musical The Great Waltz. His longest-running Broadway role was Fabius Maximus in Robert E. Sherwood's historical satire The Road to Rome, which ran for 396 performances. He completed a Broadway engagement just two weeks before his death on March 5, 1937.

Beyond his performing career, Ling held a distinction within the American theatrical profession as an original Gold Star member of Actors' Equity Association, having been the first performer to respond to the call during the 1919 Actors' Strike. He also appeared in silent films at some point during his career.