Born in
Jamestown, New York, Gurney was the son of F.W. Gurney; the founder and industrialist of the Gurney Elevator Company. He graduated from
Oberlin College's
Conservatory of Music in 1924 and then earned an M.A. from the
Harvard Business School before pursuing music studies in Paris with Jean Mauran in the 1920s. At Oberlin he performed in the Oberlin College Quartet, and at
Harvard University he was a member of the
Harvard Glee Club (HGC). Gurney first performed in the United States with the touring
American Opera Company in productions of Puccini's
Madama Butterfly and Gounod's
Faust in 1928. In 1930 he starred in the musical revue
Aladdin and
Gilbert and Sullivan's
H.M.S. Pinafore at the
Roxy Theatre. He made his
Broadway debut as a member of the ensemble in the
Ziegfeld Follies of 1931. That same year he became a member of the
National Music League. At the Met he portrayed the roles of Pietro and Giotto in the United States premiere of
Richard Hageman's
Caponsacchi on February 4, 1937; and in 1937 he created the role of Colonel Morgan in the world premiere of Damrosch's
The Man Without a Country. Directed by
John Houseman and conducted by
Fritz Reiner, it was the first opera presented by the American Lyric Theatre. In 1940 he was the soloist in Bach's
Mass in B minor with the
Oratorio Society of New York and conductor
Albert Stoessel at
Carnegie Hall. In 1942 he was committed to the
Teatro Colón in Argentina and the
Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro performing many of the roles he sang at the Met. In 1944 he performed the title role in Mendelssohn's
Elijah at
The Town Hall. By 1940, Gurney was living in
Douglaston,
Queens – and he soon thereafter purchased a property in nearby
Flower Hill, New York. Gurney portrayed Captain Dick Warrington in Herbert's
Naughty Marietta at the Grand Rapids Municipal Opera in 1944 with Marita Farell portraying the title role. That same year he performed the role of the
Sheriff of Nottingham in De Koven's
Robin Hood with the Civic Light Opera Association of Detroit. He starred in Herbert's
The Fortune Teller and Rudolf Friml's
The Three Musketeers with
Patricia Bowman at
The Municipal Opera Association of St. Louis in the summer of 1945. That same year Gurney performed the title role in Verdi's
Rigoletto with the Charles Wagner Opera Company which began its national tour in November 1945 at the
Birmingham Municipal Auditorium. In 1946 Gurney toured with
Fortune Gallo's
San Carlo Opera Company; performing in
Rigoletto,
Aida,
La bohème, and
Faust. He portrayed Devilshoof in Balfe's
The Bohemian Girl in 1946 and the De Koven's Sheriff of Nottingham in 1947 with the Memphis Open Air Theatre.
Later life and death Gurney retired from the stage in 1947 and then moved to California where he resided first in
Riverside and then
Corona del Mar, Newport Beach. In the latter part of his life he worked as a furniture designer and builder, and as a portrait artist. On several occasions Gurney sang "
The Star-Spangled Banner" for the opening of major racing events in his son's career. Gurney died at the age of 95 on August 6, 1997, in
Newport Beach, California. ==References==