Early years Clifford was born
Clifford White in
Burnley, Lancashire. He attended the
Royal Manchester College of Music from 1925 to 1928, winning the Stocks Massey Scholarship and appeared in
The Marriage of Figaro at the college in 1928. By the following year Clifford had adopted his stage name, under which he again appeared as Master Ford in an Oxford Festival production of
Sir John in Love, conducted, as the premiere had been, by
Malcolm Sargent. Clifford's first professional London performance was in
Handel's opera
Giulio Cesare in 1930, in a production arranged and conducted by
Gervase Hughes. In 1933 he played Constable in Vaughan Williams's
Hugh the Drover, conducted by
Sir Thomas Beecham. During the early 1930s he toured with the
Carl Rosa Opera Company, with whom his roles included Tonio in
Pagliacci, Alberich in
Der Ring des Nibelungen, Dr. Miracle in
The Tales of Hoffmann and the title part in
Rigoletto, in which the anonymous critic in
The Observer judged that he sang well but slightly over-acted. For several years in the 1930s Clifford left singing to teach and act in plays and to produce plays and operas at the
Westminster Theatre. In 1937, he returned to opera, joining the Covent Garden company for the annual seasons at the
Royal Opera House as principal
baritone.
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company In September 1939, at the outbreak of the Second World War, the British government ordered all theatres to close indefinitely.
Rupert D'Oyly Carte cancelled the
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company's entire autumn tour and terminated the contracts of all of his performers. When the company started up again at Christmas 1939, Carte's principal comedian,
Martyn Green, had accepted another engagement and was not available. At Richard Watson's suggestion Clifford auditioned for the vacancy and was engaged to play Green's roles in the
Gilbert and Sullivan operas, which were produced in repertory by the company. The
Times critic, who had seen the original cast of
The Mikado, considered Clifford "second to none" as Ko-Ko. From 1939 to 1946, Clifford performed with the D'Oyly Carte company nearly year-round.
Covent Garden and later years After leaving D'Oyly Carte in August 1946, Clifford appeared in a new production of the comic opera
Merrie England, before becoming a founder-member of the new
Royal Opera company at the
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In the inaugural production,
Carmen, in January 1947, he played Dancairo. In the Italian repertory he played Benoit in
La bohème and Ping in
Turandot. In German operas he ranged from Faninal in
Der Rosenkavalier and Beckmesser in
Die Meistersinger to Alberich in
Der Ring des Nibelungen, alongside guest singers including
Kirsten Flagstad,
Hans Hotter and
Set Svanholm. At the first Covent Garden performances of
Peter Grimes he played Ned Keene. In 1950 Clifford recorded the roles of Spalanzani and Frantz in a recording of
The Tales of Hoffmann conducted by Beecham, which later formed the soundtrack of the 1951 film version. In 1952 he appeared in a
BBC television production of
Pagliacci, in the role of Tonio. From 1953–54 Clifford returned to the Royal Manchester College of Music to teach and to help create a school of opera. For the next two years, he taught privately and performed and directed in London. His co-stars included his old friend Richard Watson,
Muriel Brunskill,
Helen Roberts and
Richard Walker. He moved in 1958 to
Dunedin, New Zealand, where he directed a number of theatre and opera companies until 1964, including the Dunedin Repertory Company, Dunedin Opera Company, Shakespeare Company, and
Oamaru Operatic Company. He also taught privately from 1963–65. He also continued to teach and direct. In 1976, he performed the role of King Gama in
Princess Ida for the Dunedin Gilbert and Sullivan Company's 25th anniversary production. and retired in 1981. Clifford died in
Auckland, New Zealand, in 1984 at the age of 79. ==Recordings and films==