Fiske O'Hara

Fiske O'Hara
Born George Russ Clary Fiske O'Hara
(1878-03-11)March 11, 1878
Rockland, Maine, U.S.
Died July 12, 1945(1945-07-12) (aged 67)
Hollywood, California, U.S.
Resting place Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, New York, U.S.
Occupation Singer and actor
Spouse(s) Marie Patricia O'Hara

Fiske O'Hara (March 11, 1878, Rockland, Maine – July 12, 1945, Hollywood, California) was an American singer and actor who was nicknamed the Irish Tenor.

He was born George Russ Clary Fiske O'Hara on March 11, 1878 and died on August 2, 1945, aged 67. He is buried in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York[1]

Early career, 1898-1909

He made his professional debut in 1898 under the name George Fiske with Mr. and Mrs. Charles Manley in the rural comedy Down on the Farm. The following year he supported Tony Farrell in My Colleen, and then came a season divided between McFee's Matrimonial Bureau and as principal tenor with Gus Sun's Minstrels. Beginning with the season of 1901-02 and for two years, O'Hara managed and played important parts with the People's Theatre Stock Company, Chicago, IL., and during the summer of 1903 he filled a special engagement with the Ferris Stock, St. Paul, Minn., being cast for such important juvenile roles as Albert in Monte Cristo, Judson Langhorne in All the Comforts of Home, Dechelette in Sapho. Tom Mayne in My Jim and Sir Reginald Dare in Shamus O'Brien, in which his singing of My Wild Irish Rose met with most hearty approval. O'Hara divided the season of 1903-04 between the Metropolitan Stock, Duluth, Minn., with which organization he played two roles each week, gaining an invaluable amount of experience, and with The Bostonians, singing tenor roles with this company in Robin Hood, The Serenade and The Queen of Laughter. It was following this that he made his debut before a New York audience, at the Majestic Theatre, August 23, 1904, as Lieutenant Harold Katchall in The Isle of Spice, meeting with most hearty approval. O'Hara then determined to embark upon starry waters, making his first appearance at the head of his own company happily enough, on Christmas Day, 1905. at Newark, N. J., in Mr. Blarney from Ireland, a piece written specially for him and in which he introduced several songs of his own composition. He devoted two seasons to this piece and then came a year and a half in an equally popular successor, Dion O'Dare.[2]

Vaudeville 1909

Color lithograph poster for Mr. Blarney from Ireland starring Fiske O'Hara, 1906.

In the early spring of 1909, O'Hara, having received most tempting offers, succumbed to the lure of vaudeville and he was a leading headliner attraction in our principal theatres, presenting an attractive Irish sketch, Captain Barry.[2]

Movies 1933-1935

Like many stage actors at the time, O'Hara tried his hand at motion pictures. His onscreen career was brief and lackluster.

Death 1945

Having been blind for a year and a half and confined to bed for a year, Fiske O'Hara dies on August 2, 1945. The funeral services were conducted at the Elks Lodge No. 99, his remains cremated before being sent to Valhalla, NY for interment.[3]

References

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  1. ↑ Profile, findagrave.com; accessed July 26, 2015.
  2. 1 2 Briscoe, Johnson (1909). The Actors' Birthday Book. Moffat, Yard & Co. p. 78.
  3. ↑ "Fiske O'Hara, Lyric Tenor, Dies on Coast". Tucson Daily Citizen. August 3, 1945.
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