THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Gilding Clarke as Mephistopheles in Faust

Gilding Clarke (1919-20)

[Born 1873, died London 17 Jan 1934]

Edwin Gilding Clarke made his London Stage debut as Buteux in Lecocq's The Daughter of Madame Angot (Drury Lane, July-August 1919).He then spent a bit more than a year in the D'Oyly Carte Repertory Opera Company chorus (August 1919-September 1920), appearing briefly in the small part of the Associate in Trial by Jury in August 1920.Clarke returned to grand opera--appearing at Covent Garden with the Carl Rosa Company later that year.His last appearance in London with the Carl Rosa Company was in 1924.

He returned to the London Stage in February 1931 as an extra in Kong (a play with music, Cambridge), but was back in opera by the end of the year at the Old Vic.At a rehearsal of Orpheus with the Vic-Wells Opera Company in January 1934, Clarke collapsed.A heavy set man of 18 stone (approximately 252 pounds), Clarke stumbled and fell to the floor upon receiving a friendly (though unexpected) slap on the back from the accompanist. Unconscious, he was taken to a hospital where he died that evening.

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