Leo Sheffield - Life and Career - Early Years

Early Years

Sheffield was born Leo Wilson in Malton, Yorkshire. Two of his brothers, Thorpe and Wilson Sheffield, appeared with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in the 1890s.

Sheffield joined D'Oyly Carte in 1906, appearing at the Savoy Theatre under the direction of W. S. Gilbert in the first repertory season of Savoy Operas. During this season, he played the roles of Second Yeoman and then Lieutenant of the Tower in The Yeomen of the Guard, and Annibale and later Luiz in The Gondoliers. From 1907 to 1909, he toured with D'Oyly Carte, playing the Counsel for the Plaintiff in Trial by Jury, Boatswain in H.M.S. Pinafore, Samuel in The Pirates of Penzance, Archibald Grosvenor in Patience, Strephon in Iolanthe, Arac in Princess Ida, Pish-Tush in The Mikado, Sergeant Meryll in Yeomen, and Luiz. In the second repertory season at the Savoy, from April 1908 to March 1909, he played Pish-Tush, the Boatswain, Private Willis in Iolanthe, Samuel, Luiz and the Lieutenant, and Owen Rhys in A Welsh Sunset a short sentimental piece which was given as a curtain raiser.

Sheffield then left the D'Oyly Carte company but returned to the Savoy Theatre later in 1909, under the management of C. H. Workman, creating the role of Sir Phyllon in Gilbert and Edward German's Fallen Fairies. Gilbert praised him as a "fine baritone" and an "excellent actor". He then toured for five years, beginning with another of Workman's Savoy operas, The Mountaineers, and in musicals, including The Chocolate Soldier, The Girl in the Taxi, and The Girl Who Didn't. He appeared in London only once during this period, as Feste in Twelfth Night, in 1913.

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