Francois Clemmons

François Scarborough Clemmons is an American singer, actor, and professor who was born in 1945 in Birmingham. He began his musical training in Ohio and won the Metropolitan Opera Studio auditions in 1968, subsequently performing more than 70 professional roles with companies such as the New York City Opera. Clemmons is internationally recognized for his 25-year role as “Officer Clemmons” on the children's television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968–1993). In 1976, he received a Grammy Award for a recording of the opera Porgy and Bess, in which he performed the role of “Sportin' Life”. He founded the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble in the late 1980s and served as the artist in residence at Middlebury College until 2013.