Robert Rounseville (1914-1974) was an American tenor, who appeared in opera, operetta, and Broadway musicals. He also appeared several times on television, as well as in two films. He is perhaps best known to opera buffs for starring in the role of Hoffmann in Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger's film of Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann (1951), the first color film of an opera to use genuinely cinematic techniques (as opposed to filming a performance on stage). That same year, he was also the first Tom Rakewell, in the world premiere of Igor Stravinsky's opera The Rake's Progress, onstage at La Fenice. He was fortunate to have as his co-stars Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Jennie Tourel. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.