# Richie Ling

Richie Ling (October 18, 1867 – March 5, 1937) was an English singer and actor, whose career was mainly in the United States. He was originally an operatic tenor, became a stage actor, and later made some silent films. He was the original Gold Star member of Actors' Equity Association, having been the first performer to heed the callout for the 1919 Actors' Strike. Among many Broadway productions, his portrayal of Fabius Maximus for Robert E. Sherwood's historical satire The Road to Rome was his longest running role at 396 performances. He was on the stage for more than fifty years, and had just finished a Broadway show two weeks before his death.

## Early years

Richard Wilson Ling was born on October 18, 1867, in Hammersmith, London, to Richard Thomas Ling and his wife Jane Bellamy. He was baptised at St Alphege London Wall on December 22, 1867. By 1891 he was living with his widowed mother, and sisters Agnes and Jennie, in Peckham, London.

## UK career
### Opera

His first known public performance was in September 1888, when he sang in the comic opera The Bey of Tunis by M. Audibert at Portland Hall in Southsea. Credited as "Richie Ling", he sang the lead role of Luigi, Prince of Sicily. The local reviewer said he "sang well", his final number "being received with rounds of applause and repeated." Two months later, he performed with the Carl Rosa Opera Company in a light opera, Paul Jones, by Robert Planquette and H. B. Farnie, performed at the Theatre Royal in Bolton. Ling would continue with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, playing the role of Rufino in Paul Jones, at venues throughout England and Scotland during 1889, up through June 1890.

### Stage

Ling is next heard of with the Anomalies Amateur Dramatic Club's production of Jim the Penman, in West Norwood, during May 1891. That same month he performed in an original one-act musical comedy called Sweepstakes. Both were short-lived productions; by June, Ling was reduced to a chorus part in a musical play.

## US operatic career
### Vagabond tenor

The New York Times reported in late August 1891 that Richie Ling was sailing on RMS Aurania, having been signed by Rudolph Aronson for an engagement at the Casino Theatre. Ling would perform Count Stanislaus in Der Vogelhändler. For this engagement, the operetta's libretto was translated into English, and the work itself renamed The Tyrolean. Marie Tempest was also signed by Aronson for The Tyrolean, for which the English soprano would perform as Adam, the eponymous male lead. The Sun reported that Tempest did well in the trouser role while Ling was nervous on opening night. After two months, he was replaced in the company.
Following five months of occasional recitals, Ling joined the King's Opera Comique Company in Philadelphia, where he was cast for the role of Arthur in Falka, and Symon Symonovici in The Beggar Student. He is next heard of with an operetta company called The Albanians performing the Louis Varney work called The Musketeers. During late April 1893 he joined the O'Neill Grand and Comic Opera Company for a tour of the southeastern United States, which collapsed in June 1893 under the weight of temperament. The company had two prima donnas; when they quarrelled, the other members took sides. Ling and music director Max Hirschfeld sided with soprano Agnes Delaporte. He then joined the Reed Opera Company in St. Louis, where he "considerably strengthened" the troupe. After a summer season in St. Louis, Ling returned to New York to be pronounced "somewhat weak" as Philémon in Philémon et Baucis, criticism that was repeated as he played the role on tour with the Duff Opera Company.
Ling rejoined diva Agnes Delaporte in April 1894, who now headed her own company. The company's first performance at Elmira, New York drew a scathing review from the local critic, though Ling was judged the best member of the company. For the summer of 1894, Ling returned to St. Louis, this time with the Hagan Opera Company, at a venue called Terrace Park.

### Lillian Russell

After three years in America, moving from one short-lived opera company to another, Ling was hired by Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau in January 1895 as leading tenor for the Lillian Russell Opera Company. This brought stability to his career and professional exposure on a national scale. He began by singing Piquillo in a revival of La Périchole at the Chicago Opera House on February 21, 1895, making "a most agreeable impression". The Chicago Tribune went further, saying Ling was "a vast improvement in the personnel of the company". The company alternated La Périchole with The Grand Duchess on a tour of major Eastern and Midwestern cities. A typical assessment of Ling on the tour was that he "sang pretty well and acted even better".
During May 1895 the Lillian Russell Opera Company debuted a new work, The Tzigane. This lacked a leading tenor role, so Ling went with the Castle Square Opera Company for the summer, but was to return to Lillian Russell's Company. Ling joined a revised The Tzigane in time for its Boston opening in September 1895, taking the minor part of Naryschkin. Russell's tour alternated The Tzigane with La Périchole, and later The Little Duke; for the latter two works Ling was the leading male.
Russell and Ling sang in the first performance of The Goddess of Truth, a new light opera by Julian Edwards and Stanislaus Stange, in Baltimore during February 1896. Later that month the opera premiered on Broadway at Abbey's Theatre. The reviewer for The New York Times was not impressed with the operetta nor Lillian Russell personally, but grudgingly acknowledged the work's popular appeal and admitted Ling "tolerably seconded" Russell's performance. The Goddess of Truth was added to the repretoire of Russell's company, and Ling continued to tour as her leading man until Russell's voice broke down while singing La Périchole on April 30, 1896.
Ling briefly joined a summer season opera company at the American Theater in Manhattan, starting with The Bohemian Girl, followed by The Mikado, both of which he had sung before. He sailed for Europe in early June 1896, returning by September when he rejoined Russell's company for a tryout of An American Beauty, by Gustave Kerker and Hugh Morton. He toured with Russell through December, but in January 1897 rejoined the Castle Square Opera Company in Boston.

### Castle Square Opera Company

At Castle Square Ling sang in The Gondoliers for the first time. Another new work for him was the eponymous role in Lohengrin, and a third was Cavalleria rusticana. He also sang in a four-act English version of Mignon. The pinnacle of his season came with Il trovatore, where he sang Manrico, his first known grand opera role. For all of these "firsts" he was paired with soprano Clara Lane; the local reviewer said they both "sang excellently". Ling was sent out with the Castle Square Opera Company for a summer season based at the Academy of Music in Baltimore. Among other works, he performed Don José in Carmen.
By July 1897, Ling was signed for Vernona Jarbeau's company in a new comic opera, The Paris Doll, by Reginald De Koven and Harry B. Smith. The initial performances took place in September 1897, with a local reviewer in New Haven, Connecticut saying "Mr. Richie Ling as Tito was by far the best vocalist in the company. His voice is of pure tenor quality and remarkably robust". Ling toured with this company until November, when he reunited with Clara Lane in a Boston Lyric Opera production of Carmen at Chicago's Great Northern Theatre. During one performance Ling lost part of his thumb in the Act III fight between Don José and Escamillo (J. K. Murray), but finished the opera after being bandaged. While in Chicago, the Boston Lyric played its repretoire of works, including The Pirates of Penzance, for which Ling sang Frederic. Ling stayed with the company on tour, arriving back in Boston during late March 1898, where he performed through mid-April, but then quit over a $50 per week reduction in salary.

### Later opera companies

Richie Ling returned to Chicago, joining the Schiller Opera Company to sing in The Beggar Student opposite Dorothy Morton. During June 1898, after many weeks with this company, he declined the role of Rufino in Paul Jones, which he had last sung in England eight years before. This revival had been prompted by the recent naval victory of Admiral Dewey over the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay. The libretto requires the Spanish naval officer to tear down an American flag and spit on it. As an Englishman, Ling felt he couldn't get away with doing this on an American stage, so a substitute tenor was hired. Ling never regained his traction with this company, so he went to England for a visit. There he saw the original production of A Runaway Girl, and early August found him in New York as a member of Augustin Daly's company, rehearsing for the American debut of this work. However, the production debuted without Ling, who disappeared from the American stage for more than a year.
When he did reappear, it was in an August 1899 benefit production of As You Like It, where he played Amiens. He next sang opposite Alice Nielsen in The Singing Girl by Victor Herbert and Stanislaus Stange. This debuted at Her Majesty's Theatre, Montreal, on October 2, 1899. Its Broadway premiere came at the Casino Theatre on October 23, 1899, with The New York Times critic saying "Richie Ling looked well and acted satisfactorily but he did not always sing in tune". After its Broadway run ended in January 1900, Ling went on tour with The Singing Girl, but fell seriously ill in Pittsburgh during February 1900. He spent five weeks in hospital there, then was transported to New York where he was still too sick to work in May 1900. The Singing Girl company stayed on after their season to give a benefit performance for Ling in Providence, Rhode Island on May 16, 1900.
It was five months later, in October 1900, that Ling resumed singing, rejoining the Alice Nielsen Opera Company on its tour with The Singing Girl. He now also had a role in the company's alternate work, The Fortuneteller. The tour finished up playing this latter opera in Washington, D.C., during early March 1901. Alice Nielsen took her company to London next, but Ling decided to remain in America. He instead joined the Garden Theatre Opera Company for its summer season in Cleveland, where he sang for the opening in El Capitan. Ling sang opposite soprano Eleanor Kent for the season, as in The Daughter of the Regiment where he was Tony to her Marie. He finished with the title role in Fra Diavolo, taking August 1901 off to rest.

### Musical comedy and comic opera

For the next few years Ling would move back and forth between comic opera and musical comedy, with an occasional non-singing role. He joined the opera company of Lulu Glaser for Dolly Varden, by Julian Edwards and Stanislaus Stange, based on a character in Charles Dickens' Barnaby Rudge. This was a bit of a risk, for Glaser's first production, Sweet Annie Page, had failed the previous season. The work opened on September 23, 1901, at the Princess Theater in Toronto. It toured throughout the Fall, but Ling left the cast in late December 1901, when he "refused to take the usual Christmas week cut in salary". He went into a three-act comedy The Diplomat by Martha Morton in March 1902, then in June performed in the opening of a musical comedy, The Defender. This had its Broadway run in Summer 1902, followed by a tour which Ling accompanied until the production collapsed financially during December.
The Jewel of Asia, a musical comedy by George W. Lederer starring James T. Powers, was already on Broadway when Ling joined it in late February 1903, replacing Clifton Crawford. Ling continued with the show when it left Broadway in April to go on tour. He then joined the cast of the American production of A Princess of Kensington during August, and stayed through its short Broadway run.
November 1903 saw him supporting Fritzi Scheff in the opening performance of Babette at Washington, D.C., with both the composer Victor Herbert and President Roosevelt in the audience. The production had its Broadway premiere a week later. Ling stayed with the Babette tour through May 1904.
Ling returned to musical comedy in the Fall of 1904, starting with a sketchy production. The West Point Cadet was a comeback effort by Della Fox, for which she played twins, male and female. It eschewed a tryout and had a brief Broadway run, abruptly closing after only four performances. The producers for The Baroness Fiddlesticks signed Ling shortly after The West Point Cadet debacle. This "musical satire on society" opened with tryouts in Binghamton and Rochester, New York, and premiered on Broadway at the Casino Theatre on November 21, 1904, for a limited engagement of five weeks. Ling finished out the year with a revival of Fatinitza, singing opposite Fritzi Scheff. He continued doing comic operas with Scheff, including Boccaccio in March 1905,

## US stage career
### Transition to speaking roles

For over a year Richie Ling disappeared from the American music theater, returning in June 1906 with a new comic opera, The Alcayde, in which he sang the title role. This operetta was by Frederick Barry and George Stephens Jr., produced by James K. Hackett. It opened in Atlantic City then played Chicago for the summer season, where one local critic said Ling sang well, but the opera suffered from a weak libretto. Ling next appeared in the opening of another new comic opera, The Girl and the Governor by Julian Edwards and S. M. Brenner, produced by the actor-manager Jefferson De Angelis. The debut performance in Washington, D.C., had one reviewer report "Richie Ling... made one of the distinct vocal hits of the performance in several songs, sung in a rich tenor voice of pleasing quality." Ling toured with this production through its Broadway run in February 1907, and post-Broadway through April 1907. From late April through November 1907, Ling was on the West Coast with an opera company called "The Californians".
From December 1907 on Ling no longer appears in operas, though he did sometimes sing in musicals. Later accounts suggest a severe cold ended his operatic career, though the date given for this is in 1909. He joined John Cort's company supporting Maude Fealy in the American adaptation of The Stronger Sex, starting in Montana. The local reviewer in Butte said he was "probably the strongest of the supporting members", while the critic in Billings said he was "[r]anking next to Miss Fealy in cleverness, and far above the leading man...". Ling stayed with this tour through January 1908, finishing in the Midwest. He is next seen with William Farnum's company in Cleveland, appearing in The Mallet's Masterpiece during September 1908, then on Broadway in November with a principal role in Blue Grass by Paul Armstrong.
Ling was cast for The White Sister, supporting star Viola Allen, from its first performance in February 1909. He continued with the production through its Broadway run, and the start of its national tour, all the way to the end of April 1910.
The following season he picked up with the American adaptation of Decorating Clementine in Fall 1910, followed by another adaptation from the French, The Zebra, which had a brief Broadway run starting February 1911. Will o' th' Wisp, by Alfred G. Robyn and Walter Percival, was Ling's first non-singing role in a musical comedy, playing St. Louis and Chicago during late spring and summer of 1911. Much of Ling's time in 1911 and 1912 was taken up playing featured parts in minor productions, but he had a major supporting role in A Butterfly on the Wheel, an English legal drama of divorce. The production had already played Broadway when Ling joined it in September 1912; he continued with it until late January 1913. Starting in May 1913, Ling was a principal in The Gentleman from No. 19, adapted by Mark E. Swan from a French farce.

### The Temperamental Journey and first films

   “Richie Ling, once a comic opera tenor, disproves the old dictum of Von Buelow that 'a tenor is not a man but a disease'. He has the best part in the play, except the artist, and he plays it with a variety and effectiveness which shows a good head as well as abundant stage skill". ---Review of The Temperamental Journey from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
With The Temperamental Journey, produced by David Belasco, Ling was part of a Broadway hit. After a tryout in Rochester, New York during late August 1913, the production went to Broadway in September, where it premiered at the Belasco Theatre. It was adapted by Leo Ditrichstein, who also starred in it, from a 1912 French work. Ling supported Ditrichstein, with Josephine Victor and Isabel Irving completing the quartette of leads. The Broadway production ran for 123 performances, through December 20, 1913, before going on tour.
During February 1914, Ling joined the cast of What Would You Do?, which starred Bessie Barriscale. It was a rare villain's role for Ling, who drew critical praise in a failing effort. So too with What's Wrong?, a question the local reviewer answered in detail at the Washington, D.C. tryout during May 1914. Ling finished out 1914 and the Winter of 1915 playing on the road in a second company for the hit A Pair of Sixes.
His first three silent films were made over the Summer of 1915 at the George Kleine Studios in New York. He was by no means a lead in any of these films, but played supporting and character parts. First up was The Woman Next Door, started the last week of June 1915. Irene Fenwick was the star of this and the other movies Ling made this year. The second film to be made was The Green Cloak, a murder mystery in which Ling played a butler with a secret knowledge of the eventual murder victim. The third picture, The Sentimental Lady, was shot in early September at both the studio and on location at Saranac Lake, New York, by which time The Woman Next Door had been showing to audiences for several weeks. It is now considered to be a lost film, but copies of The Green Cloak and The Sentimental Lady survive.

### Chu Chin Chow and later films

Chu Chin Chow had been playing in London for two seasons before an American production had its Broadway premiere on October 22, 1917. Reviewer Ralph Block said "the singing is mediocre" and "the ballets are undistinguished", but was full of praise for the sounds, settings, costumes, and characters that evoked a fantasy Baghdad from a thousand years ago. Initially, Ling had a featured role as Otbah for this production, but when Chu Chin Chow moved to the Century Theatre during January 1918, he took over the role of Ali Baba from Henry Dixey. This was a leading part that required singing, which Ling had not done professionally for many years, nevertheless, The Daily Standard Union said "Richie Ling makes an impressive Ali". Ling's fourth silent film, The Imposter, starring Ann Murdock, was released this same month.
Chu Chin Chow went on tour in August 1918, with Ling continuing as Ali Baba. During the tour Ling's fifth silent film, Come On In starring Shirley Mason, was released. The tour finished up in Toronto during early May 1919, after which a revival was announced for Broadway the following August 4, 1919.

### Actors' Strike of 1919

During late July 1919, Richie Ling was in rehearsals for the revival of Chu Chin Chow at the Century Theatre. The producers, F. Ray Comstock and Morris Gest, had failed to issue any contracts to the performers after ten days of rehearsals. The presiding council for Actors' Equity Association (Equity) decided to select this production for a demonstration strike starting July 29, 1919. However, they failed to plan in advance; instead, they relied on personally visiting the theater on the day in question. Ling had been tipped off by Frank Gilmore and so didn't come to the rehearsal that day. Three other principals, including Marjorie Wood who was opposed to Equity affiliating with the American Federation of Labor, were persuaded by Morris Gest to ignore the callout, while the remaining cast never received word of the action until the next day. Ling stayed out on July 30, 1919, but was joined by only three other performers: Lucy Beaumont, Ida Mulle, and Clara Verdara. These four became Equity's first Gold Star members. The general strike, which began in early August, was successfully concluded in thirty days, but Ling was out of a job and didn't appear on Broadway again until April 1920. Ed Wynn, one of the few actor-managers who had sided with Equity, brought Ling into his "carnival", a large-scale vaudeville show mounted at the New Amsterdam Theatre starting April 5, 1920. The New York Herald said: "Richie Ling received a hand as much for his acting as for his historic position as the first striking actor in history". Ling served on Equity's Council for several years following the strike.

### Broadway 1921-1926

Richie Ling appeared in a half-dozen Broadway shows during this time, starting with the short-lived Sonny in August 1921. Some had respectable length runs, such as The National Anthem, a scolding drama by J. Hartley Manners decrying gin-swilling flappers and jazz (the anthem of the title), and Rose Briar, a Booth Tarkington comedy, both opening in 1922. He was at best a supporting player in these productions, and more often played a featured character part, as in the 1923 revival of the melodrama Sweet Nell of Old Drury. He did draw critical praise for his supporting role in the long-running The Swan, and in the revival of Shaw's Candida.

### The Road to Rome

Playing his last leading role, Ling would be occupied with this production from January 1927 through June 1928. The star was Jane Cowl, who played a much younger fictional Greco-Roman wife to Ling's Roman senator, Fabius Maximus. The second lead was Philip Merivale, who portrayed Hannibal. For dramatic purposes, Ling's character was intentionally depicted as farcical and indecisive by playwright Robert E. Sherwood, a far cry from the historical general who devised the Fabian strategy. It was a thankless role, the insuffiency of the middle-aged husband meant to point up the vigor of the masterful Hannibal, nevertheless Ling did draw some praise from critics Burns Mantle and Rowland Field.

### Last years on Broadway

Following his success in The Road to Rome, Ling had good parts in Olympia, one of Ferenc Molnár's more bitter works, and in the long-running A. A. Milne mystery comedy, The Perfect Alibi. Both had opened in 1928, with the Milne play running well into 1929. However, Ling did not appear again on Broadway until October 1931 with a flop called Divorce Me, Dear. He appeared the following February in another Milne play, the moralizing They Don't Mean Any Harm. A year later he was in For Services Rendered, a short-lived Somerset Maugham drama of family life in the wake of The Great War. The historical "docudrama" Yellow Jack was Ling's first performance in 1934. This was followed by the long-running Moss Hart-Desmond Carter musical celebrating the work of Johann Strauss Sr. and Jr., The Great Waltz. Ling played Herr Hartkopf, a music publisher who hates music. He told an interviewer in January 1935 that his last singing performance had been for Ed Wynn's Carnival in 1920. During October 1935, Ling opened in another Broadway musical, Jubilee.

## Personal life

A New York arriving passenger list from RMS Oceanic during December 1910 described him as being of British nationality, 5'9 1/2" (176.5 cm) with brown hair, and blue eyes. Despite his many years in the United States, there is no record of him applying for citizenship. Ling was a member of the New York City Garrick Club during 1895. By 1898 he belonged to the Lambs Club, and later Players. He was well known enough among fencers in New York to agree to a bout with actress Louida Hilliard in 1904.
While touring with Lillian Russell in 1895, a newspaper article suggested Ling and she were a couple. They were observed to go bicycling together and always stayed at the same hotel. Both Russell and Ling denied the rumors. Ling's longtime best friend was another English actor in America, Guy Standing.
Ling married actress Charlotte Faust on November 9, 1902, when both were performing in The Defender. In a 1904 interview, Faust revealed that Ling actually went by "Dick" offstage. A highly colored account suggests the couple became estranged when Ling spent seven months on the West Coast in 1907 while Faust was back in New York. She filed for divorce in October 1909 on grounds of desertion, but died in January 1910 before a final decree was issued.
He then married Rose Beatrice Winter, née Jones, a prima donna for Eddie Foy's company, on December 26, 1912, in Wilmington, Delaware. She was also English, who used her ex-husband's surname on stage. This marriage ended in divorce.

## Death

Ling died on March 5, 1937, in his room at the Lamb's Club in Manhattan. He had just completed a Broadway run in And Now Goodbye on February 22, 1937, but was feeling low over the recent death of his old friend Guy Standing. According to unnamed club members, he had come down for breakfast, but felt ill and returned to bed. He was found there by a page boy sent to call him for lunch, dead of heart disease. He had no children; his survivors were a sister in South Australia and a niece in London. Obituaries at the time contained two common errors: overestimating his age as 70 or 71; and claiming he was the first to sing In the Good Old Summer Time, during the original run of The Defender in 1902.

## Operatic credits

Performances by year of Ling's first involvement, excluding later productions of the same work.
| Year | Play | Role | Venue | Notes/Sources |
| 1888 | The Bey of Tunis | Prince Luigi | Portland Hall, Southsea | |
| 1888 | Paul Jones | Rufino de Martinez | Touring Company | Ling played the villain, a Spanish naval officer, for 18 months. |
| 1891 | The Tyrolean | Count Stanislaus | Casino Theatre | The three-act comic opera by Carl Zeller was the opener for the one-act Cavalleria Rusticana. |
| 1892 | Falka | Arthur | Empire Theatre | |
| 1892 | The Beggar Student | Symon Symonovici | Empire Theatre | |
| 1893 | The Musketeers | Gontran de Solanges | Rutland Opera House | Ling would perform this same role later in the year for the Reed Opera Company. |
| 1893 | Iolanthe | | New York Athletic Club | A two-performance benefit for the club. |
| 1893 | The Mikado | Nanki-Poo | Touring company | |
| 1893 | Faust | Faust | Touring company | |
| 1893 | Billee Taylor | Bille Taylor | Schnaider's Garden | |
| 1893 | Fatinitza | Julian Hardy | Schnaider's Garden | |
| 1893 | Patience | Archibald Grosvenor | Schnaider's Garden | The local paper noted Ling's tenor voice in what is usually a baritone part. |
| 1893 | The Queen's Lace Handkerchief | Cervantes | Schnaider's Garden | |
| 1893 | Tennessee | Milton Hardluck | Schnaider's Garden | An original comic opera satirizing the state militia during a coal miner's strike. |
| 1893 | Philémon et Baucis | Philémon | Herrmann's Theatre | This was the two-act version, performed in English with just the four principals and a chorus. |
| 1894 | Faust | Faust | Elmira Opera House | The Agnes Delaporte Grand Opera Company played just the first, third, and fifth acts. |
| 1894 | Galatea | Pygmalion | Elmira Opera House | The local reviewer explicitly declined to comment on this production. |
| 1894 | Dorothy | Geoffrey Wilder | Terrace Park | |
| 1894 | The Bohemian Girl | Thaddeus | Terrace Park | |
| 1894 | The Merry War | Marquis | Terrace Park | |
| 1894 | Pagliacci | Canio | Terrace Park | This was done in English according to a local reviewer. |
| 1894 | Trial by Jury | The Defendant | Terrace Park | |
| 1894 | Boccaccio | Pietro | Terrace Park | |
| 1894 | Amorita | | Terrace Park | |
| 1895 | La Périchole | Piquillo | Chicago Opera House Touring company | This was Ling's first performance with Lillian Russell and her company. |
| 1895 | Grand Duchess | Fritz Schimmel | Touring company | |
| 1895 | Giroflé-Girofla | Marasquin | Castle Square Theatre | This was an English-language version of the opera. |
| 1895 | Clover; or the Search for Luck | Rudolph | Castle Square Theater | An English adaptation of Die Jagd nach dem Glücke by Franz von Suppé. |
| 1895 | The Bohemian Girl | Thaddeus | Castle Square Theatre | Ling had performed this role the previous summer in Terrace Park. |
| 1895 | The Brigands | Duke of Mantua | Castle Square Theatre | An English-language version; Ling's role was normally a baritone. |
| 1895 | The Chimes of Normandy | Jean Grenicheux | Castle Square Theatre | Irene Murphy sang Serpolette without a rehearsal and only three hours notice. |
| 1895 | Maritana | Don César de Bazan | Castle Square Theatre | Ling's acting, as well as his singing, was celebrated by the Boston critic. |
| 1895 | The Tzigane | Naryschkin | Touring company | Three-act comic opera by Reginald De Koven with libretto by Harry B. Smith. |
| 1895 | The Little Duke | Montlandry | Touring company | New English adaptation of Charles Lecocq's opera was by stage manager Max Freeman. |
| 1896 | The Goddess of Truth | Michael (Sculptor) | Academy of Music Abbey's Theatre | A light opera by Julian Edwards and Stanislaus Stange, loosely based on the Galatea myth. |
| 1896 | An American Beauty | Richard Grenville | Touring company | Comic opera by Gustave Kerker and Hugh Morton. |
| 1897 | The Gondoliers | Marco Palmieri | Castle Square Theatre | |
| 1897 | Lohengrin | Lohengrin | Castle Square Theatre | This work was performed with an English libretto. |
| 1897 | Cavalleria rusticana | Turiddu | Castle Square Theatre | |
| 1897 | Mignon | Wilhelm Meister | Castle Square Theatre | |
| 1897 | Il trovatore | Manrico | Castle Square Theatre | |
| 1897 | Satanella | Rupert | Castle Square Theatre | |
| 1897 | Carmen | Don José | Academy of Music | |
| 1897 | The Paris Doll | Tito | Touring company | A reviewer claimed this work was "hardly opera", and labelled it "musical comedy" instead. |
| 1897 | The Pirates of Penzance | Frederic | Great Northern Theatre | |
| 1899 | The Singing Girl | Count Otto | Touring company Casino Theatre | |
| 1901 | The Fortune Teller | Capt. Ladislas | Touring company | |
| 1901 | El Capitan | Count Hernando Verrada | Garden Theater (Cleveland) | |
| 1901 | The Daughter of the Regiment | Tony | Garden Theater (Cleveland) | |
| 1901 | Erminie | Eugène Marcel | Garden Theater (Cleveland) | |
| 1901 | Amorita | Angelo | Garden Theater (Cleveland) | |
| 1901 | Fra Diavolo | Fra Diavolo | Garden Theater (Cleveland) | |
| 1901 | Dolly Varden | Capt. Hoarce Belleville | Touring company | A two-act opera by Julian Edwards and Stanislaus Stange, based on Charles Dickens Barnaby Rudge. |
| 1903 | A Princess of Kensington | Brook Green | Broadway Theatre | |
| 1903 | Babette | Marcel | Broadway Theatre | A tale of the 17th Century Dutch revolt against Spanish rule. |
| 1905 | Boccaccio | Leonetta | Broadway Theatre | Ling had previously sang Pietro in this comic opera. |
| 1906 | The Alcayde | Don Manuel de Mendoza | Touring company | Story of Spanish Moors, the Alcayde being the young ruler of Seville. |
| 1906 | The Girl and the Governor | Dick Kingsley | Touring company Manhattan Theatre | Fictional South American colony in 16th Century is setting for this work. |
| 1907 | Robin Hood | Robin Hood | Touring company | Revival by a touring group calling themselves "The Californians". |
| 1907 | The Serenade | Lopez | Touring company | Revival by The Californians. |

## Dramatic credits

Stage performances (including musical comedies) by year of Ling's first involvement. :
| Year | Play | Role | Venue | Notes/Sources |
| 1891 | Jim the Penman | Lord Drelincourt | | |
| 1891 | Sweepstakes | Bertie Grant | Terry's Theatre | A one-act three-character musical comedy by Ernest Lake. |
| 1891 | A Scilian Idyll | Chorus | Vaudeville Theatre | A pastoral musical by John Todhunter. |
| 1899 | As You Like It | Amiens | Larchmont Yacht Club | A one-time outdoors benefit production for the St. Johns Episcopol Church in Larchmont. |
| 1902 | The Diplomat | Julian Shipman Rossiter | Madison Square Theatre | Three-act comedy by Martha Morton |
| 1902 | The Defender | Charles Dare | Touring company Herald Square Theatre | Ling met Lotta Faust, who became his first wife, through this musical. |
| 1903 | The Jewel of Asia | Yussuf Potiphar | Criterion Theatre | Ling replaced Clifton Crawford in this role on Broadway. |
| 1904 | The West Point Cadet | Ernest Everett | Princess Theatre | Three-act musical comedy adapted from a French original by A. M. Norden. |
| 1904 | Baroness Fiddlesticks | Archer | Casino Theatre | |
| 1907 | The Stronger Sex | Oliver Thorpe | Touring company | |
| 1908 | The Mallet's Masterpiece | | Touring company | |
| 1908 | Blue Grass | Van Day Parker | Touring company | Kentucky racing melodrama by Paul Armstrong. |
| 1909 | The White Sister | Lieutenant Basili | Touring company Daly's Theatre | Ling played in this four-act drama from February 1909 through April 1910. |
| 1910 | Compromise | David Durand | Majestic Theatre Touring company | One-act play starring William Hawtrey, with Agnes Marc and Paul Pilkington. |
| 1910 | Decorating Clementine | Paul Margerie | Lyceum Theatre | An English-language adaptation of Le Bois sacré by de Caillavet and de Flers. |
| 1911 | The Zebra | Col. George De Peyster | Garrick Theatre | Three-act farce, adapted by Paul M. Potter from Le Zèbre by Nicolas Nancey and Paul Armont. |
| 1911 | Will o' th' Wisp | Ralph Dean | Olympic Theatre Studebaker Theater | Musical comedy set in Heidelberg and Paris. |
| 1911 | Dear Old Billy | Perks | Whitney Opera House | William Hawtrey's London hit did not play well in Chicago. |
| 1911 | The Lovely Liar | | English's Theatre | Louise Dresser musical comedy was "smothered" in "verbiage". |
| 1912 | The Come-on | | Touring company | A one-act vaudeville play with Hale Hamilton, supported by Ling and Inez Macauley. |
| 1912 | A Butterfly on the Wheel | George Admaston | Touring company | An English cast for this drama of a London divorce court. |
| 1913 | The Gentleman from No. 19 | Benjamin | Touring company | Three-act farce adapted by Mark E. Swan from Une Nuit de Noces by Andre Keroul and Albert Barré. |
| 1913 | The Temperamental Journey | Billy Shepherd | Lyceum Theatre Belasco Theatre Republic Theater | Adapted by Leo Ditrichstein from Pour Vivre Heureux by André Rivoire and Yves Mirande. |
| 1914 | What Would You Do? | Howard M. Smote | Touring company | Four-act melodrama about a profligate wife married to a bank clerk. |
| 1914 | What's Wrong | Perry Dodge | Touring company | Three-act comedy about overworked American businessmen. |
| 1914 | A Pair of Sixes | Thomas Vanderholdt | Touring company | Ling was engaged for a road company of this Broadway hit. |
| 1916 | The Devil's Invention | | Touring company | Ling played a lawyer trying to help Dr. Hale (William B. Mack). |
| 1917 | Chu Chin Chow | Otbah/Ali Baba | Manhattan Opera House Century Theatre | Ling appeared in this American adaptation for over 200 performances. |
| 1920 | Ed Wynn's Carnival | | New Amsterdam Theatre Selwyn Theatre | This was a vaudeville revue which ran from April through August 1920. |
| 1921 | Sonny | Harper Craig | Cort Theatre | Comedy with incidental songs by George V. Hobart. |
| 1922 | The National Anthem | Reuben Hale | Henry Miller's Theatre | Four-act drama by J. Hartley Manners starring his wife Laurette Taylor. |
| 1922 | Rose Briar | Little | Empire Theatre | Comedy by Booth Tarkington starred Billie Burke. |
| 1923 | Sweet Nell of Old Drury | Lord Rochester | 48th Street Theatre | Revival of Paul Kester melodrama starred Laurette Taylor. |
| 1923 | The Swan | Caesar | Cort Theatre | By Ferenc Molnár, this romantic comedy starred Eva Le Gallienne and Basil Rathbone. |
| 1925 | Candida | Mr. Burgess | Comedy Theatre | Revival of Shaw's three-act comedy. |
| 1927 | The Road to Rome | Fabius Maximus | Playhouse Theatre | Ling's longest role, from January 1927 through June 1928. |
| 1928 | Olympia | Colonel Krehl | Empire Theatre | Ling is a "blundering police official" in this anti-royalist story by Ferenc Molnár. |
| 1928 | The Perfect Alibi | Edward P. Carter | Charles Hopkins Theatre | A "detective comedy" by A. A. Milne, with Ling as "arch-villain", produced and staged by Charles Hopkins. |
| 1931 | Divorce Me, Dear | Geoffrey Lawrence | Avon Theatre (New York City) | Three-act comedy flop by Katherine Rogers was staged by Antoinette Perry. |
| 1932 | They Don't Mean Any Harm | James | Charles Hopkins Theatre | Ling is "a man of God" in this preachy work by A. A. Milne. |
| 1933 | For Services Rendered | Leonard Ardsley | Booth Theatre | Somerset Maugham's grim drama on the after effects of The Great War. |
| 1934 | Yellow Jack | Colonel Tory | Martin Beck Theatre | Dramatization of the fight against Yellow fever. |
| 1934 | The Great Waltz | Herr Hartkopf | Center Theatre | Though a musical, Ling had a speaking role. |
| 1935 | Jubilee | Lord Wyndham | Imperial Theatre | |
| 1937 | And Now Goodbye | Dr. Ringwood | John Golden Theatre | Ling's last performance was in this aptly named and short-running drama. |

## Filmography

Film (by year of first release) :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes & Cites |
| 1915 | The Woman Next Door | Ben Whittier | The first of three five-reel silent films Ling made with star Irene Fenwick for George Kleine. |
| 1915 | The Green Cloak | Wilkins | |
| 1915 | The Sentimental Lady | Johnson | |
| 1918 | The Imposter | Loftus Walford | Some scenes were filmed inside the Plaza Hotel with actual guests in the background. |
| 1918 | Come On In | The Colonel | |