Opera Singer. A basso, he performed in principal venues on both sides of the Atlantic for close to half a century. Born Francis Ventriglia to a farming family, he joined the US Marine Corps after high school and served with the First Marine Air Wing in the South Pacific during World War II. Following the conflict Ventriglia was working at a gas station when a chance encounter got him an audition with the American Theatre Wing; after training there while simultaneously working for Sikorsky Aircraft, he moved to Italy in 1954 for study with legendary soprano Toti Dal Monte then in 1956 made his professional bow at Palermo in Wagner's "Die Meistersinger". Over the next decades he appeared at the Rome Opera, Naples' Teatro San Carlo, Covent Garden, London, the Edinburgh and Wexford Festivals, the Vienna State Opera, the Dallas Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and elsewhere, his roles including several of Verdi's creations including both the King and Ramfis from "Aida", Dr. Grenvil in "La Traviata", Ferrando from "Il Trovatore", the evil Grand Inquisitor in "Don Carlos", and the hired killer Sparafucile of "Rigoletto", Colline in Puccini's "La Boheme", Timur from the same composer's "Turandot", Oroveso from Vincenzo Bellini's "Norma", the Priest Raimondo in Donizetti's "Lucia Di Lammermoor", and Don Basilio of Rossini's "The Barber of Saville". Ventriglia sang for Pope Paul VI at the closing of the Ecumenical Council, was Colline and Sparafucile in productions showcasing a young Luciano Pavarotti, gave acclaimed performances as Abimelech from Saint-Saens' "Samson et Dalila" at La Scala Milano, and had a busy recital career that took him to Carnegie Hall and other prestigious theaters. Returning to his native Connecticut in 1978, he continued his concert career until he was almost 80; at his death he could be heard on a number of complete opera recordings.