Derek Oldham Derek Oldham ( 29 March 1887 – 20 March 1968 ) was an English singer and actor , best known for his performances in the tenor roles of the Savoy Operas with the D ' Oyly Carte Opera Company . After performing in concerts as a boy soprano and working as a bank clerk , Oldham began a professional performing career in 1914 . With the outbreak of World War I , he joined the Scots Guards , serving with valour . After the war , he joined the D ' Oyly Carte Opera Company , singing the tenor leads in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas for three years . 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 " . He returned to the D ' Oyly Carte for brief periods from 1929 to 1937 . Oldham continued singing , recording and acting through the 1940s , also appearing in several films . He concentrated on legitimate theatre in the 1950s , acting until the age of 70 . He maintained a lifelong interest in Gilbert and Sullivan , serving as an officer of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society . He finally retired to Hampshire during the last ten years of his life . Life and career . Oldham was born John Stephens Oldham in Accrington , Lancashire , the son of Thomas Oldham and his wife Harriett , " née " Stephens . He had an elder brother , George , and a sister . As a child , Oldham was a boy soprano in demand for over five years in oratorios ( including Sullivan ' s " The Golden Legend " and " The Prodigal Son " ) , concerts ( including " Neath My Lattice " from Sullivan ' s " The Rose of Persia " ) , and pantomime s . As a young man , he worked as a bank clerk and sang in amateur operatic societies . 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 . " Later that year , at the Lyric Theatre , he played Bumerli in " The Chocolate Soldier " , in which he also won excellent notices . At the end of that year , after the outbreak of World War I , he joined the Scots Guards , a year later was commissioned in the East Lancashire Regiment and was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in Macedonia in 1918 . During the war , he formed a concert group to entertain his fellow servicemen , also producing " The Chocolate Soldier " not far from enemy lines . D ' Oyly Carte and musical comedy years . Oldham was demobilised in July 1919 and joined the D ' Oyly Carte Opera Company the following month , when the company opened its first London season in over a decade . 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 " . The following year , he also took on the roles of Ralph Rackstraw in " H . M . S . Pinafore " , Frederic in " The Pirates of Penzance " , and Richard Dauntless in " Ruddigore " . In 1921 he exchanged Cyril for Prince Hilarion in " Princess Ida " . Oldham left the D ' Oyly Carte company in 1922 to star in a great number of musicals and operettas during the 1920s at the Theatre Royal , Drury Lane and other West End theatres . His first musical was " Whirled into Happiness " at the Lyric Theatre , as Horace Wiggs , where his leading lady was his future wife , Winnie Melville . They married in 1923 . She later joined the D ' Oyly Carte Opera Company as a principal soprano . Oldham wrote , " The sheltered , almost student life of the D ' Oyly Carte Opera Company gave place to the hard glitter and luxury of the West End theatre – a world of restaurants , supper parties , and all the trappings that went with London theatrical life between the two wars " . Other musicals in which Oldham starred included " Madame Pompadour " ( 1923 , as Rene ) , " The Merry Widow " ( 1923 , as Camille ) , and " Rose - Marie " ( 1925 , as Jim ) . In 1927 , Oldham and Melville starred together in the European première of " The Vagabond King " , he as François Villon , and she as Katherine de Vaucelles . They separated in 1933 and later divorced , and she died in 1937 . 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 . In the 1934 – 35 season , he played these roles on the company ' s first major American tour in the 20th century . In 1936 , during the company ' s season at Sadler ' s Wells , he played Hilarion , and he was leading tenor in the 1936 – 37 season , which included another long American tour . Oldham ' s presence was a condition demanded by the American promoters . During this tour he and Sylvia Cecil were seconded by the company for one night to sing " Prithee , pretty maiden " , from " Patience " at President Roosevelt ' s inauguration party at the White House . Later years . Oldham later played in many musicals and plays , including " The Song of the Drum " at Drury Lane , as Captain Anthony Darrell ( 1931 ) . He appeared at the Royal Albert Hall as Chibiabos in " Hiawatha " in 1938 , conducted by Malcolm Sargent . After 1948 he developed a career as a Lieder singer and lecture - recitalist and later as a character actor in non - musical plays . His last role in London was Dr . Stoner in the Agatha Christie play " Verdict " ( 1958 ) . Between 1934 and 1957 , he also appeared in several films . In 1940 , on 29 February , the character Frederic came of age , as described in " The Pirates of Penzance " , Act II . This was a significant date for any G & S tenor . In New York , the Gilbert and Sullivan Society journal , " The Palace Peeper " , marked the event by publishing an original ode to Frederic , in which Oldham was honoured as the archetype of the romantic Frederic . A member of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society in London from 1924 , Oldham was elected Vice - President of the Society in 1947 . During his last decade , Oldham lived in retirement in Hayling Island , Hampshire , but he often visited London . 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 . He died in Portsmouth in 1968 , just before his 81st birthday . Recordings and films . 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 made numerous recordings of songs , musicals and operettas . 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 .