He indulged himself by turning his California ranch Neverland into a funfair, complete with zoo, over which he presided, dressed in his toy-soldier gear.
Hisbiggest break had come, in 1972, when he hit nine high Cs in Donizetti's “La Fille du Régiment”; he was dressed then like a fat toysoldier, patently unable to act, but the crowdadored him.