Martyn Green

Martyn Green was an English singer and actor best known for the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas. Born in London, he served in the army during World War I, studied singing, and worked in musical theater before joining the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1922. At first he sang in the chorus and took smaller parts, then in 1934 he became D'Oyly Carte's principal comedian, playing patter roles such as Sir Joseph in H.M.S. Pinafore, the Major-General in The Pirates of Penzance, the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe and Ko-Ko in The Mikado. He played Ko-Ko in the film The Mikado (1939). After leaving the company in 1951 he settled in New York, where he appeared on Broadway, television and in films including The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (1953), A Lovely Way to Die (1968) and The Iceman Cometh (1973). He also directed, recorded and wrote two books, and he died in 1975.