Derek Oldham

He then starred in musicals and operettas in the West End in the 1920s, including Madame Pompadour, The Merry Widow, Rose-Marie and The Vagabond King.

[1][2] He debuted on the professional adult stage in 1914, as Julien in The Daring of Diane, an operetta by Alfred Anderson and Heinrich Reinhardt, presented at the London Pavilion.

He made an immediate mark: The Observer said that he "has an exceptionally charming tenor voice, uses it with fine art, and acts with engaging simplicity and sincerity.

He immediately assumed the leading Gilbert and Sullivan tenor roles of Alexis in The Sorcerer, Lord Tolloller in Iolanthe, Cyril in Princess Ida, Nanki-Poo in The Mikado, Colonel Fairfax in The Yeomen of the Guard, and Marco in The Gondoliers.

His first musical was Whirled into Happiness at the Lyric Theatre, as Horace Wiggs, where his leading lady was his future wife, Winnie Melville.

[10] Oldham returned several times to D'Oyly Carte, appearing in the 1929–30 season and on tour in his old roles of Ralph, Frederic, Tolloller, Hilarion, Nanki-Poo, Fairfax, and Marco.

[14] During this tour he and Sylvia Cecil were excused by the company for one night to sing a program of classical and popular favorites, including "Prithee, pretty maiden" from Patience, the evening before President Roosevelt's 2nd inauguration, at a party at the White House.

He acted as compère for the D'Oyly Carte company's last night revelries at the close of its 1961–62 London season at the Savoy Theatre.

[14] Oldham played leading tenor roles in nineteen full and abridged HMV Savoy opera recordings, as follows: Defendant in Trial by Jury (1928), Alexis in The Sorcerer (1933), Frederic in Pirates (1920, 1929 and 1931), the Duke of Dunstable in Patience (1930), Earl Tolloller in Iolanthe (1922 [part] and 1929), Hilarion in Princess Ida (1924 and 1932), Nanki-Poo in The Mikado (1926 and 1936), Richard Dauntless in Ruddigore (1924 and 1931), Colonel Fairfax in Yeomen (1920, 1928 and 1931) and Marco in The Gondoliers (1927 and 1931).

He also appeared in several films between 1934 and 1957, including The Broken Rosary (1934), as Giovanni; Charing Cross Road (1935), as Jimmy O'Connell; Melody of My Heart (1936), as Joe Montfort, and Dangerous Exile (1957), as William.