Opera Singer. A lyric tenor who sang 2,928 Metropolitan Opera performances of 111 roles in 69 different operas over 57 seasons, he was acknowledged as opera's premiere comprimario for two generations. Born Calogero Antonio Carusoto (later Americanized to Caruso) to Sicilian immigrant parents, he studied music at Loyola University of New Orleans and made his 1947 professional debut with the New Orleans Opera as a Messenger in Verdi's "Il Trovatore". Anthony graduated from Loyola in 1951 and the next year participated in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air where he was awarded top prize but was told by general manager Rudolf Bing to get a new name as 'Caruso' would be impossible to live up to. (According to legend, longtime Metropolitan radio announcer Milton Cross actually chose 'Charles Anthony' by simply shortening and further Americanizing his birth name, a change said to have greatly displeased his grandfather). After further study in Italy he made a hit with his March 6, 1954, company debut as the Simpleton from Modest Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov" but was to see the New York critics speculate that if he was 'too good' in character roles he would end up a comprimario (literally, "with the principal") for life. In the event that is what happened as he became one of the often little noticed artists who perform almost every night in a multiplicity of roles and languages; while quite capible of singing the leads as he was twice each Ferrando of Mozart's "Cosi fan tutti" and Ernesto from Donizetti's "Don Pasquale" and once in 1959 Rodolfo in Puccini's "La Boheme", it was in the smaller parts that he was to make his name. Mr. Anthony assumed five different characters in "Boris Godunov" and three in Puccini's "Turandot" and was the Innkeeper from Richard Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier" 159 times, Ruiz of "Il Trovatore" on 141 occasions, Gastone in Verdi's "La Traviata" 136 times, and for 135 performances Scarpia's evil henchman Spoletta in Puccini's "Tosca". On January 7, 1955, he was the Judge in Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera" for Marian Anderson's historic first appearance at the Metropolitan and was to be in the cast for the house bows of Birgit Nilsson, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Joan Sutherland, Leontyne Price, Franco Corelli, Jon Vickers, Jose Carreras, and others. Though associated with the Metropolitan throughout his life he did occasionally appear in Boston, Dallas, and elsewhere and in his later years was a respected master class teacher. Mr. Anthony was Borsa in a February 17, 1992, performance of Verdi's "Rigoletto" at which he was honored for breaking baritone George Cehanovsky's old record of 2,394 Metropolitan appearances then was Spoletta on March 6, 2004, when he was commended for 50 years at the venerable house. He gave his final performance on January 28, 2010, as the Emperor Altoum of "Turandot" then retired to South Florida where he died of renal failure following a protracted illness. At his demise he could be heard on a few studio opera recordings, several "Live from the Met" DVDs, and countless archived radio broadcasts. Of his place as a comprimario he said: "Not everyone can be a Jussi Bjorling or a Maria Callas. God gives each of us a glass but doesn't necessarily fill yours and mine with the same amount of talent".