Jeffrey Ralph Skitch (born in 1927) is a retired teacher, actor and operatic baritone best known for his performances and recordings with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1952 to 1965.
Born in Australia, Skitch moved with his mother to England when he was two years old. Skitch served in the RAF during World War II and began acting by 1949. After his career with D'Oyly Carte, he turned to teaching, and from 1981 to 1992 he was the Principal of Elmhurst Ballet School.[1]
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Skitch was born in Millicent, South Australia, the son of Ralph Aubrey Skitch (1896–1959), a land agent, and Magda Katie Helena Herman (1897–1959), who met in London during the First World War. The couple married in Australia in about 1920. In 1929, Skitch and his older brother Robert Ernest (1923–1999) travelled with their mother on a visit to London and did not return to Australia. His parents divorced, and his father remained in Australia, later remarrying. Skitch was educated in England. After National Service with the Royal Air Force, he trained as an actor and singer at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and The Old Vic Theatre School.[2]
Skitch first performed professionally in London in 1949, in She Stoops to Conquer, as an extra at the Arts Theatre. That autumn, he served at the Arts Theatre as an assistant stage manager and actor for the play The Romantic Young Lady. He appeared in Idomeneo with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in l951.
In 1952 he joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company for the 1952-53 season. His first roles with the company were Luiz in The Gondoliers and the small role of Second Yeoman in The Yeomen of the Guard. When Alan Styler temporarily left D'Oyly Carte, Skitch assumed the larger role of Giuseppe in The Gondoliers and added to his repertory the roles of Archibald Grosvenor in Patience, Strephon in Iolanthe and Pish-Tush in The Mikado. The next season, Skitch added the role of Captain Corcoran in HMS Pinafore and also briefly appeared as Samuel in The Pirates of Penzance, during which period he dropped the role of Strephon and switched to Luiz in The Gondoliers. In 1954, he took over the role of Florian in Princess Ida and, in addition to his other roles, occasionally played Strephon. Except for a break from the company in the second half of 1957, Skitch played some or all of these roles through 1965, also sometimes playing the Counsel for the Plaintiff or the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury. The company toured extensively in Britain and also toured the U.S. during these years.[3]
Skitch recorded several roles with D'Oyly Carte on the Decca label, including Doctor Daly in The Sorcerer (1953), Florian in Princess Ida (1955, 1965), Captain Corcoran in H.M.S. Pinafore (1960) and Luiz in The Gondoliers (1961).[3] He also participated in several radio broadcasts with the company during his tenure.[4] In 1975, during the company's centennial season, Skitch was invited to participate in the final performance of Trial by Jury, in which the regular D'Oyly Carte chorus was augmented by fourteen former stars of the company.[5]
While touring with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in Los Angeles, Skitch met an American singer, Stella Maria Hawley, and the two married in the Actors' Church in New York City. They have two sons, a schoolmaster and a hotel manager.[2]
After leaving the company, Skitch obtained a BSc in Biological Science from London University and subsequently became a teacher, working at Oakham School in Rutland before moving on to Malvern College as head of the Biology Department.[3] In 1981 he became the Principal of Elmhurst Ballet School.[1] On his retirement in 1992 Skitch moved to Lymington in Hampshire where he and his wife now live and sail their yacht Pinafore.