Opera singer and educator William Caesar Warfield was born on January 22, 1920 in West Helena, Arkansas. Warfield attended the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, where he received his B.A. degree in music studies in 1942. He first acted in the Broadway show Call Me Mister, and was cast in 1948's Set My People Free and 1950's Regina. In 1950, Warfield was cast in the film adaptation of Show Boat and made his New York City Town Hall debut. In 1952, he starred in Porgy and Bess alongside his wife, opera legend Leontyne Price, and later toured internationally with the U.S. Department of State. Warfield also taught music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Texas at San Antonio, and Northwestern University. He received a 1984 Grammy Award in the spoken word category and served as president of the National Association of Negro Musicians. He passed away August 25, 2002.
Alternative title
History Makers video oral history with William Warfield