Muriel Rahn

---

title: "Muriel Rahn" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1911-births", "1961-deaths", "university-of-nebraska–lincoln-alumni", "deaths-from-lung-cancer-in-new-york-(state)", "musicians-from-boston", "20th-century-african-american-actresses", "20th-century-american-actresses", "actresses-from-boston", "20th-century-african-american-women-singers", "20th-century-american-women-singers", "20th-century-american-singers"] description: "American vocalist and actress" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muriel_Rahn" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American vocalist and actress ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Muriel Rahn
image	Murielrahn-barrier1.jpg
caption	Muriel Rahn as Cora in The Barrier. Photograph by Carl Van Vechten.
birth_name	Muriel Ellen Rahn
birth_date
birth_place	Boston, Massachusetts, United States
death_date
death_place	New York City, United States
occupation	singer, actor, musical director
spouse	Charles Rountree (divorced)
Dick Campbell (c. 1932–1961)
yearsactive	1929–1961
::

| name = Muriel Rahn | image = Murielrahn-barrier1.jpg | caption = Muriel Rahn as Cora in The Barrier. Photograph by Carl Van Vechten. | imagesize = | birth_name = Muriel Ellen Rahn | birth_date = | birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, United States | death_date = | death_place = New York City, United States | occupation = singer, actor, musical director | spouse = Charles Rountree (divorced) Dick Campbell (c. 1932–1961) | yearsactive = 1929–1961 | awards = Muriel Ellen Rahn (1911–1961) was an American vocalist and actress. She co-founded the Rose McClendon Players with her husband, Dick Campbell and was one of the leading black concert singers of the mid-20th century. She is perhaps best known for her starring role in the original Broadway production of Carmen Jones. Rahn also served as musical director of the German State Theater in Frankfurt.

Biography

Muriel Ellen Rahn was born in Boston in 1911, the daughter of Willie and Elizabeth "Bessie" Rahn (née Smith). After her father died, she moved with her mother to New York City, where Bessie met and married Cornelius M. Battey, who became director of photography of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Muriel finished her high school at Tuskegee, then attended Atlanta University before earning a degree from the Music Conservatory of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She was also educated at Columbia University and studied voice at Juilliard School of Music.

In 1929, she launched her professional career in New York City. One of her earlier appearances on Broadway was in the musical Come of Age, written and staged by Clamence Dane with music by Richard Addinsell.

In 1950, Rahn made one of her later appearances on Broadway. Opposite operatic legend Lawrence Tibbett, she played the role of Cora Lewis in the musical The Barrier, based on the play Mulatto by Langston Hughes.

Later stage credits included the off-Broadway production of Sara Reavin's melodrama The Ivory Branch with Diana Barrymore. In 1959, Rahn became the first black musical director of the Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt, Germany.

Rahn died on August 8, 1961, at Sydenham Hospital in New York City from lung cancer.

Selected credits

Theatre

::data[format=table]

Year	Production	Role	Theatre(s)	Notes
1956	The Ivory Branch.		Provincetown Playhouse
1950	The Barrier	Cora Lewis	Broadhurst Theatre
1943	Carmen Jones	Carmen	Broadway Theatre	Alternated lead role with Muriel Smith
1942	title=The Pirate	url=http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=1245	access-date=July 11, 2011	publisher=Internet Broadway Database
1939	title=Swingin' The Dream	url=http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=13212	access-date=July 11, 2011	publisher=Internet Broadway Database
1934	Come of Age	An Entertainer	Maxine Elliott's Theatre
::

Television

::data[format=table]

Year	Series	Role	Notes
1958	The Arlene Francis Show	Herself
1957	Hallmark Hall of Fame	Zipporah	A production of The Green Pastures
1952	date=February 21, 1952	editor-last=Johnson	editor-first=John H.
1951	The Ed Sullivan Show	Herself
::

Motion Pictures

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Distributor	Notes
1934	King for a Day (short)	Herself
::

References

References

1. Wilson, Melinda D.. (October 14, 2004). "Dick Campbell". Routledge.
2. {{Cite magazine. (August 24, 1961). Johnson Publishing Company
3. "Muriel Rahn (1911–1961)".
4. (1991). "Muriel Rahn (1911–1961)". Gale Research.
5. "Come of Age". Internet Broadway Database.
6. "The Barrier". Internet Broadway Database.
7. Calta, Louis. (May 24, 1956). "Sara Reavin play to open tonight; 'Ivory Branch,' with Muriel Rahn and Diana Barrymore, to bow at Provincetown, Ewell set in 'Candide,' Granger may do 'Playboy'". The New York Times.
8. (November 5, 1959). "Muriel Rahn gets music post in Germany". Johnson Publishing Company.
9. "The Pirate". Internet Broadway Database.
10. "Swingin' The Dream". Internet Broadway Database.
11. (February 21, 1952). "Week's Radio-TV Preview". Johnson Publishing Company.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::