Born in West Helena in 1920, William Caesar Warfield had a long singing career on stage and screen and though he left the state at a young age he described himself as “an Arkansas boy from tip to toe.” After serving in World War II, Warfield, who spoke four languages, began his career as the lead in a touring production of Call Me Mister.
After his New York stage debut in 1950, he did an extended Australian tour before landing a role in Porgy and Bess, where he met soprano Leontyne Price; their twenty-year marriage ended in 1972. His overseas performances included a German-language tour of Show Boat, though audiences requested that he sing “Old Man River” in English.
In 1984 he won a Grammy for his narration of Aaron Copland’s A Lincoln Portrait. Warfield appeared in several movies and television shows, but also performed in a number of operas, though he never received a major role, writing later that “Opera wasn’t ready for me or any Black male.” He died in 2002.
To learn more, visit encyclopediaofarkansas.net.
You can read the entire Encyclopedia entry at Warfield, William Caesar - Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
