Robert Merrill

About Robert Merrill

Robert Merrill was an American opera baritone who performed 787 times at the Metropolitan Opera over three decades, debuting in 1945 as Germont. He became known for bringing opera to mainstream audiences through television appearances and his iconic performances of the national anthem at Yankee Stadium beginning in 1967. His 1947 recording of "The Whiffenpoof Song" reached number one on the Hit Parade, and he received the National Medal of Arts in 1993.

In this interview

• Discussed his Star-Spangled Banner recording being played over 600,000 times worldwide.
• Recalled singing the national anthem at World Series games for 250 million listeners.
• Described being among the first opera artists to appear on mainstream television shows.
• Talked about recording albums of Broadway musicals alongside his Metropolitan Opera work.

“I was one of the first so-called concert artists to go on a Jack Paar show and do all of the personal appearance shows.”— Robert Merrill, in this interview

Since this interview

Robert Merrill continued performing at the Metropolitan Opera and Yankee Stadium into his later years, appearing in the 2003 film "Anger Management" singing the national anthem. He died on October 23, 2004, at age 87 at his home in New Rochelle, New York.