Peter Grimes or ambiguous the various characters are. Pears was certainly the intended Peter Grimes, and it is likely that Britten wrote the role of Ellen Orford for Joan Cross. The work has been called "a powerful allegory of homosexual oppression", and one of "the true operatic masterpieces of the 20th century", but the composer's own contemporary (1948) summation of the work was simpler: a subject very close to my heart — the struggle of the individual against the masses. The more vicious the society, the more vicious the individual. Though as the writing of the libretto progressed, certain versions showed Grimes'
Jack Grimes (actor) a week. In 1944, Grimes moved to California to work for Universal. His credits include "Fairytale Murder", "Lady on a Train", and "Week-End at the Waldorf". In the early 1950s, he switched to television. His credits include "Alcoa Presents", "Love of Life", "The Aldrich Family", "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet", "Maude", "On the Rocks", and "All in the Family". In 1962, Grimes and Peter Fernandez worked together on a series of records for MGM. Five years later, Fernandez hired him to do the voices of Sparky and Chim Chim on "Speed Racer". Grimes died in Queens, New York in 2009 at