ABSTRACT
Australian soprano, born in Dean’s Marsh, Victoria. She studied in Melbourne and Paris, and made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Brünnhilde in Walküre on 18 Dec 1935; she stayed with the Metropolitan until 1941. In that year she contracted poliomyelitis in Mexico, and was unable to walk. Despite this disadvantage, Lawrence returned to the stage in the following year, singing while seated. Her last stage role came in 1943, but she was heard thereafter on radio. She retired from performing in 1952, and thereafter taught voice at Tulane University (1957-1960), Southern Illinois University (where she founded the Marjorie Lawrence Opera Theater, a training company still operating; 19601973), and finally the University of Arkansas (1974-her death). In 1977, she was made a Commander of the British Empire. She died in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her papers are held by the National Library of Australia (website: https://www.nla.gov.au/ms/findaids/7225.html).
