Ann Drummond-Grant

Who was Ann Drummond-Grant?

Ann Drummond-Grant was a British singer and actress, best known for her performances in contralto roles of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.

Drummond-Grant began her career as a soprano. She joined D'Oyly Carte in 1933, but was considered by the company's management as too tall to be an ideal performer of the Savoy Operas' young soprano heroines, and left the company in 1938. During World War II she toured in a variety of theatrical shows. She married the D'Oyly Carte musical director, Isidore Godfrey, in 1940, and returned to the company in 1950 as a contralto, playing Gilbert's formidable older women, until shortly before her death at the age of 54.