Walter Woolf King

The son of a whiskey peddler, tall, dark and handsome baritone Walter Woolf King was born in San Francisco on November 2, 1899, and began singing for his supper at quite a young age, primarily in churches. Following high school graduation, he decided to pursue a professional singing career and partnered in a vaudeville musical act with pianist Charles Le Maire. At the age of 19, Walter made his Broadway debut with a lead role in the musical "Floradora." A strong, dapper, often heroic presence in glossy musical comedies and operettas, he billed himself as either Walter Woolf or Walter King at the time and developed a resilient name for himself throughout the decade in such musical fare as "The Last Waltz" (1921), "The Lady in Ermine" (1922), "The Dream Girl" (1924), "Artists and Models" (1925) and "Princess Flavia" (1925). Following a Broadway performance in the play "The Red Robe" (1929)," Walter turned to films and made an inauspicious debut starring with Vivienne Segal in the turgi