Robert Merrill

For 30 years, Robert Merrill, who has died aged 87, was a leading baritone at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, appearing with the company 787 times in 20 roles from his debut in 1945 (as Germont in La Traviata), to 1975. For such an accomplished artist, he strayed seldom from his base, content to ply his wares at a house that loved and respected his work. He had a smooth, even, warm voice which he deployed with intelligence through a large range of repertory, although he was never considered a very imaginative interpreter.

His European debut was delayed until 1961, when he sang Germont at La Fenice in Venice. That was also the role of his only visit to Covent Garden, in 1967. He was applauded as ever for the sound reliability of his singing but, as I recall, his reading of the role left something to be desired.

The baritone was born Moishe Miller in the tenements of Brooklyn. Driven by his mother, who had unfulfilled ambitions to have a professional career as a singer, he grew up in a neighbourhood where singing did not mix with the kids playing stickball. He first worked in a seltzer factory to earn a living while singing in synagogues, touring what was known as the "borscht circuit".

He then gained a foothold in radio before winning the Metropolitan auditions in 1945. That changed the whole direction of his life and career, and his debut caused a sensation. He was the youngest baritone ever to sing the part of Germont in that house, and it catapulted him into operatic stardom. He was to sing the part, at the Met alone, more than a 100 times. Toscanini then sought out the young baritone and chose him for the role in his 1946 concert and recording of La Traviata, on which Merrill's beautiful voice can be heard pristine.

His Escamillo in Carmen, which he first undertook in 1946, he performed some 75 times with the company. He was also noted as Renato in Un Ballo In Maschera, as Rodrigo in Don Carlos, and as Amonasro in Aida. These Verdian roles exploited to the full his gifts of firm, secure tone and a refined line.

Soon he was doing so well that, as he put it, "I was able to buy a house on Long Island, and move myself and my parents in - after we burned all our old Brooklyn furniture." He married the soprano Roberta Peters, a fellow Met artist, in a blaze of publicity, but the marriage lasted only 10 weeks. He was invited to the White House to sing duets with Margaret Truman, the president's daughter, in 1945, with the president turning the pages.

Once well established, he made many appearances on television with popular artists such as Louis Armstrong and Danny Kaye. He commented: "I loved the kind of mass adulation I could get in the popular field. I love showbiz." His one essay in a Hollywood film (Senorita From The West, 1945) was a flop. A late triumph was his New York appearance in Fiddler On The Roof, and a 1968 recording followed.

Merrill was certainly worthy to join the long line of American baritones from Lawrence Tibett and Richard Bonelli in the 1930s (both of whom influenced Merrill when he attended the Met as a student) to Leonard Warren in the 1940s. He, like the others, boasted a large, warm instrument that projected to the furthest corners of first the old Met, then the new house in the Lincoln Centre.

His authority on stage and well-schooled singing compensated for any lack of dramatic excitement. Most of his best roles are preserved on complete recordings - his voice took kindly to the microphone. His 1950 recording, with Jussi Björling, of the famous duet from Bizet's The Pearl Fishers has been one of the all-time bestsellers in the classical market. There are also mementoes of his presence in tapes of American TV's Firestone Hour broadcasts of the 1940s and 50s.

In October 1993, President Clinton awarded him the National Medal of Arts. He married his second wife, Marion Machno - a pianist who often accompanied him - in 1954; she and their son and daughter survive him.

· Robert Merrill (Moishe Miller), baritone, born June 4 1917; died October 23 2004

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