Early career

Passmore was born in London, the son of Louisa Emma née Bullock (1829–1902) and Alfred Passmore (1825–1889), a coffee house keeper.^[1] He became a choirboy at All Saints Church in Notting Hill. On Christmas morning 1881 he sang in Messiah, and the following day he made his first professional stage appearance at the age of fourteen at Sunderland as a page in the pantomime Cinderella.^[2] He then served as an apprentice to the piano makers Cramer & Co, but at the end of the apprenticeship he took a job as a pianist with travelling concert parties and performed in farcical comedies.^[3]

In 1889 in Wigan, Lancashire, he married Kathleen Naomi P. Nanton (1869–1901) and with her had four children: Naomi Kathleen Eugenie Passmore (1889–1889); Josephine Doris Passmore (born 1892); Mirette Louisa Passmore (1894–1970) (named after the opera Mirette he was appearing in at the time of her birth); and Walter Frederick Passmore (1896–1974).^[4] The following year, Passmore made his London debut in a revival of Dion Boucicault's drama The Flying Scud at the Standard Theatre, Bishopsgate.^[3]

Rudolph, The Grand Duke

Mr Wells, The Sorcerer

Sir Joseph, H.M.S. Pinafore

Passmore joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1893, where he created the small part of Greg in the unsuccessful Jane Annie at the Savoy Theatre (libretto by J. M. Barrie and Arthur Conan Doyle; music by Ernest Ford). Next, in Gilbert and Sullivan's Utopia, Limited (1893–94), he created the role of Tarara, the public exploder.^[5] He then created his first starring role, Bobinet in André Messager's Mirette (1894). He also performed in Utopia in the role of King Paramount on tour that year.^[6] He next created the role of Peter Adolphus Grigg in Sullivan and Burnand's The Chieftain (1894–1895). After this, he toured as Bobinet and Grigg.^[3]

Principal comedian of the D'Oyly Carte

Passmore returned to the Savoy in 1895, where he continued as D'Oyly Carte's principal comedian, playing Ko-Ko in revivals of The Mikado (1895–97).^[7] In between these revivals, he created the role of Grand Duke Rudolph in Gilbert and Sullivan's last opera, The Grand Duke (1896).^[8] In 1897, in His Majesty, he created the part of Boodel, earning good notices. He next played Jack Point in the first revival of The Yeomen of the Guard (1897).^[8] This was followed by the roles of General Boom in The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (1897–98)^{[n 1]} and the Grand Inquisitor, Don Alhambra, in revivals of The Gondoliers (1898). In 1898, he created the role of The Devil in the original production of The Beauty Stone.^[3]

Passmore continued to play at the Savoy as the Usher in Trial by Jury, John Wellington Wells in The Sorcerer (1898) and King Ouf I in The Lucky Star (1899).^[3] After seeing Passmore's performance in The Lucky Star, Sullivan noted in his diary, "The fun of the whole piece lies in Passmore. Take him out and nothing's left. He worked splendidly and carried the opera through. I wish though he could drop his 'cockney' accent and manners at times."^[10] Passmore next played Sir Joseph in a revival of H.M.S. Pinafore (1899). While rehearsing the role, Passmore suggested to W. S. Gilbert that he might walk around with his nose in the air "as though raising it above an unpleasant smell". Gilbert quipped, "Unpleasant smell? Well, you're the best judge of that, Passmore."^[11]

Passmore then created the role of Hassan in The Rose of Persia (1899–1900) and played the Sergeant of Police in the second revival of The Pirates of Penzance (1900) and in the first revival of Patience (1900–01), he was Bunthorne. ^[12] He created the role of Professor Bunn in The Emerald Isle (1901), was Ping-Pong in The Willow Pattern (1901), and played the Lord Chancellor in the first revival of Iolanthe (1901–02). He created the role of Walter Wilkins in Merrie England (1902, and on tour) and played Puck in A Princess of Kensington (1903, and on tour).^[3] Passmore's theatrical performances were famous for their visual humour. George Baker remembered Passmore's Sergeant of Police as being "obstreperously funny".^[10]

Later years

Passmore stayed in London when the D'Oyly Carte company went on tour in 1903. There he began a career in musical comedies, plays and pantomimes in London's West End and on tour that lasted for thirty years.^[13] He first appeared at the Adelphi Theatre, where he played Jim Cheese in the hit musical The Earl and the Girl (1903) and the Emperor in Little Hans Andersen (1903),^[13] then to the Lyric Theatre as Jerry Snipe in The Talk of the Town (1905) and as Private Charlie Taylor in The Blue Moon (1905).^[13] His pantomimes at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane included Cinderella (1905, as the Baroness), Sinbad (1906, in the title role), and Babes in the Wood (1907, as Reggie, the boy babe).^[13] At the Apollo Theatre, he appeared in The Dairymaids (1906) and The Three Kisses (1907), and at the Queen's Theatre he played Baptiste Boubillon in The Belle of Brittany (1908).^[13]

In 1909–10 Passmore toured as John Smith/Simplicitatis in The Arcadians and as Wilkins in Merrie England.^[13] In 1910 he played Frank, the prison governor, in Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus in Thomas Beecham's first opera season at His Majesty's Theatre. The production – one of the few works in the season not to lose money – "depended for its popularity in part upon Walter Passmore, the celebrated D'Oyly Carte droll".^{[14][n 2]} He appeared as Nikola in Baron Trenck at the Strand Theatre (1911).^[13] At the Woolwich Hippodrome in July 1914 he played Private Adam Blinder in The Soldiers' Mess, of which he was also the composer.^[13]

Passmore continued to appear in the West End and on tour throughout the 1920s. In 1922 he toured in Titbits, which was billed as "a somewhat different revue", of which he was co-author.^[13][15] During the First World War Passmore appeared in a variety of comedy parts in the West End and on tour,^[13] and at the Gaiety Theatre in April 1924 he played Jericho Mardyke in Our Nell. Later in that year he went on tour playing Cahoot in Madame Pompadour.^[13] A late Gilbert and Sullivan performance was in Trial by Jury at a benefit matinée for Courtice Pounds in 1927, when Passmore was joined by stars including Leslie Henson and Derek Oldham. During 1928, with his daughter Nancie in the cast, he appeared on tour as Albert Chuff in Princess Charming. A reviewer commented, "Few comedians have a more sonorous voice, few dance so well, and few have a larger experience".^[16]

Agnes Fraser and Passmore in 1903

In 1929 Passmore toured as Count Theodore Volny in "The Damask Rose" a Ruritanian romance with music adapted from Chopin. The production was brought into the West End in March 1930, when one reviewer wrote "Walter Passmore and Amy Augarde played into each others' hands with an easy competence that was a delight to watch".^[17] This was his last West End production, and he retired in 1933.^[18]

Following the death of his first wife in 1901 Passmore married another D'Oyly Carte artist, Agnes Fraser, in 1902 at Wandsworth, London,^[19] who frequently appeared with him on stage. They had four children: Henry Fraser Passmore (1905–1987, a general manager of Hammer films 1935–37); John Fraser Passmore (1908–1973); Nancie A. Passmore (1910–1990), who married the tenor Joseph Hislop; and Isobel Mary Fraser Passmore (1913–1992).^[20] In 1939 he was living with his wife and unmarried stockbroker son John in a modest retirement at Heath Mews at The Mount in Hampstead, London.^[21]

Passmore died at Golders Green, London, at the age of 79.^[3]