Sydney Granville

Sydney Granville, born Walter Dewhurst in Bolton, Lancashire in 1880, was an English singer and actor whose career centered on the comic bass-baritone roles of the Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire. He performed with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1907 to 1942, with brief interruptions for work with other organizations, and brought his stage experience to Broadway between 1934 and 1939. He died in Stockport, Cheshire, on 27 December 1959, at the age of 79.

Before joining D'Oyly Carte, Granville appeared in a musical comedy called Dorcas, a romantic drama titled The God of War, and in grand opera with the Moody-Manners Opera Company. He entered the D'Oyly Carte chorus in 1907, quickly moving into understudy work, including the role of Lord Mountararat in Iolanthe at the Savoy Theatre in London. During tours from 1908 to 1914, he accumulated a wide range of Gilbert and Sullivan credits, among them the Counsel to the Plaintiff in Trial by Jury, Colonel Calverley in Patience, Strephon in Iolanthe, Arac in Princess Ida, Pish-Tush in The Mikado, and Luiz in The Gondoliers. Outside the company during this period, he played the Demon Killjoy in a pantomime production of Cinderella at the London Palladium.

Granville left D'Oyly Carte a second time in 1917, returning a year later to resume lyric baritone roles that Leo Sheffield had vacated. His repertoire expanded to include Cox in Cox and Box in 1921, and by 1925 he had transferred to the company's smaller touring operation, where he took on heavier parts including the title role in The Mikado and Sir Roderic Murgatroyd in Ruddigore. That same year he departed for a third time, touring Australia and New Zealand in 1926 and 1927 with the J. C. Williamson organisation in the bass-baritone Gilbert and Sullivan roles. Back in England in 1927, he made BBC radio broadcasts, including a performance in The Red Pen, described as "a sort of opera" with music by Geoffrey Toye and text by A. P. Herbert. He also toured in Robert Stolz's musical The Blue Train and played Lockit in The Beggar's Opera at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, in 1928.

Rejoining D'Oyly Carte in 1928 to replace the retiring Leo Sheffield, Granville took permanent possession of the company's bass-baritone roles. These included the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury, the Sergeant of Police in The Pirates of Penzance, Private Willis in Iolanthe, Pooh-Bah in The Mikado, Sir Despard Murgatroyd in Ruddigore, and Don Alhambra in The Gondoliers. He added Wilfred Shadbolt in The Yeomen of the Guard in 1929 and King Hildebrand in Princess Ida in 1931. The Observer noted in 1938 that Granville had progressed over more than twenty-five years from lighter parts such as Strephon to become one of the great Savoy veterans. He retired from D'Oyly Carte in December 1942.

His Broadway appearances between 1934 and 1939 included productions of Princess Ida, Iolanthe, Ruddigore, Trial by Jury, and The Hot Mikado. Granville also appeared as Pooh-Bah in the 1939 Technicolor film version of The Mikado. His recording work with D'Oyly Carte for His Master's Voice spanned two decades and included roles across nine operas: Captain Corcoran and Boatswain in H.M.S. Pinafore (1922), Florian in Princess Ida (1924), Private Willis in Iolanthe (1929), Boatswain again in Pinafore (1930), Don Alhambra in The Gondoliers (1931), the Sergeant in Pirates of Penzance (1931), Sir Despard in Ruddigore (1931), Shadbolt in Yeomen (1931), and Pooh-Bah in The Mikado (1936).

Known within the D'Oyly Carte company by the nickname "Granny," Granville was married to Anna Bethell, a chorister and small-part player principally associated with the role of Mrs. Partlett in The Sorcerer. Bethell later served as stage director of both the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1947 to 1949 and the J. C. Williamson Gilbert and Sullivan Company.