Claude Heater

Claude Heater (October 25, 1927 – May 28, 2020) was an American opera singer and Broadway performer born in Oakland, California. Raised in a family belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he served as a missionary for the church in the Eastern United States at the age of nineteen before pursuing a career in performance.

Heater began his professional career in New York City around 1950, working as a baritone. His Broadway credits include the 1951 production of Top Banana. In 1952, he shifted his focus to opera and traveled to Italy to continue his training as a baritone. That decision led to a tour of Spain with an Italian opera company and subsequent engagements with opera houses across Europe. His baritone career spanned three years at the Vienna State Opera and the San Francisco Opera, covering the period from 1953 to 1961.

During his time in Basel, Switzerland, beginning in 1956, Heater performed alongside Montserrat Caballé in productions including Tosca, Pagliacci, Tiefland, Un ballo in maschera, La bohème, and Lohengrin. He later moved to Berlin, where he alternated with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in Un ballo in maschera and Don Carlos, and shared roles with Hermann Prey in other productions. His operatic debut was in the role of Escamillo in Carmen.

Heater subsequently retrained as a tenor and from 1963 onward performed in the dramatic and Wagnerian tenor repertoire at major international theaters. He also appeared on film, most notably portraying Jesus Christ in the 1959 epic Ben-Hur, a role for which he received no screen credit and which was filmed primarily from behind. His final film appearance was as Tristan in a 1970 production of Tristan und Isolde. After retiring from the stage in the 1970s, he dedicated his time to developing dramatic voices in other singers. Heater died on May 28, 2020, in San Francisco, California, at the age of 92, from cardiovascular disease.