Opera Singer. One of his generation's premiere bassos, he is remembered for his 528 Metropolitan Opera performances and as Rossano Brazzi's singing voice in the 1958 movie adaptation of "South Pacific". Raised in Chicago, he studied at DePaul University with famed soprano Rosa Raisa (Puccini's first Turandot) and made his professional debut on Broadway as Tarquinius in a 1948 production of Benjamin Britten's "The Rape of Lucretia". After further training in Milan he made his 1950 operatic bow at that city's Teatro Nuevo in Vencenco Bellini's "La Sonnambula"; first heard at La Scala Milano in a 1953 performance of Alfredo Catalani's "La Wally", he bowed at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1955 as Alvise from Ponchielli's "La Gioconda". During his 21 seasons there his 38 roles included the tragic King Philip II from Giuseppe Verdi's "Don Carlo", the title lead of Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro", Verdi's hired killer Sparafucile in "Rigoletto", the Commendatore in Mozart's "Don Giovanni", Don Basilio of Rossini's "The Barber of Seville", Prince Gremin of Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin", Ramfis in Verdi's "Aida", Hans Sachs in Wagner's "Die Meistersinger", and The Doctor for the 1958 world premiere of Samuel Barber's "Vanessa". Over his career Tozzi was praised in the principal venues on both sides of the Atlantic, sang the role of Csar Boris in a 1957 NBC Opera Theater presentation of Modest Musorgsky's "Boris Godunov", was a frequent guest on Ed Sullivan's Sunday night variety show on CBS, and appeared in a number of Broadway musicals, starring as Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof" and as Emile DeBeque in numerous revivals of "South Pacific". Indeed, he assumed occasional non-singing roles on television, his credits including "The Odd Couple" and "Kojak". Tozzi garnered three Grammy Awards, for "The Marriage of Figaro" in 1960, for "Turandot" in 1961, and for "Aida" in 1963; in 1980 he received a Tony Award nomination for a revival of "The Most Happy Fella". Following his retirement from the stage he taught at Brigham Young University and the Juilliard School prior to holding a professorship at Indiana University from 1991 until 2006. At his death much of his large recorded legacy remained in print. In summing up his philosophy he often said "Life is a learning experience from the cradle to the grave".