An opera singer? Mmm… how curious. Chris Dickerson was an opera singer. Is there some connection between bodybuilding and opera???
And as for Mae West’s act, wonder if he was one of these guys:
Just guessing here, but the opera connection seems tied in with the strong Italian identity in the case of Forest. Looks like he grew up speaking Italian along with English because he was fluent in Italian when he went there to make the movies. Everyday Italians have a connection to opera in a way that Americans do not. Very different dynamic from a little Black boy growing up in Alabama getting absorbed with opera.