After living in Salt Lake City, the family moved to Los Angeles, where he attended Manual Arts High School.
[1] Unable to find openings in operas early in his career, Sullivan delved into musical comedy productions and toured with the Ice Follies for one winter.
"[6] Sullivan was heard frequently on The Bell Telephone Hour on radio and appeared often on The Voice of Firestone on television.
[1] In 1947, Columbia Records released a six-record album of music from Street Scene, with Sullivan and other cast members performing songs from the Broadway production.
He had been in Geneva, Switzerland, to sing Siegfried in a production of Götterdämmerung at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.