Mr. Tozzi made his professional debut in 1948 in the Broadway production of Britten's The Rape of Lucretia as Tarquinius. Three decades later he played Tony, the big-hearted vintner, in a Jack O'Brien-directed revival Frank Loesser's quasi-operatic musical The Most Happy Fella.

He also had a history with the role of Emile de Becque in South Pacific, another vocally demanding musical part that is traditionally filled by actors with an opera background.

On the operatic stage, he created the role of The Doctor in Barber's Vanessa for its world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in 1958.


In the early 1960s, he won three Grammy Awards in quick succession. Mr. Tozzi was also a professor at Juilliard, Brigham Young University and Indiana University. In 2006 he retired as Distinguished Professor of Voice at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music.

Source: Playbill.com