Fred Sullivan (1837–1877) was an English actor and singer. Born into a musical family, he trained as an architectural
draftsman but abandoned the profession for a stage career. In 1871, he first performed the role of Mr. Cox in a revival of his brother
Arthur Sullivan's comic opera
Cox and Box, and later that year created the role of Apollo in the first
Gilbert and Sullivan opera,
Thespis. In 1875, he created his most famous role, the Learned Judge in Gilbert and Sullivan's
Trial by Jury, also playing in the accompanying Offenbach piece,
La Périchole. He earned enthusiastic reviews, and his portrayal of the Judge set the pattern for the subsequent Gilbert and Sullivan comic "
patter" roles. He then toured in
Trial and French
operettas, returning for the London revival of
Trial. Fred Sullivan died at the age of 39, leaving a pregnant widow and seven young children, his brother composing the song "
The Lost Chord" at his bedside. This
sepia photograph of Sullivan was taken by the Canadian photographer Olivier Sarony, probably in the 1870s.
Photograph credit: Olivier Sarony; restored by Adam Cuerden