Claudia Carlstedt

Claudia Therese Carlstedt Wheeler Kistler (March 9, 1878 – May 30, 1953) was an American actress and singer whose Broadway career spanned from 1895 to 1934. Born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and raised in Chicago, she was the daughter of Axel B. Carlstedt, a Swedish-born music educator described in 1898 as the director of conservatories in Boston and Chicago — a characterization that was disputed at the time — and Anna Bird Carlstedt. A contralto by voice type, Carlstedt worked primarily in comic opera throughout her career and became widely recognized by the nickname "The Girl in the Red Tights," a moniker she acquired following her first prominent stage role.

Her theatrical credits spanned several decades and included Reginald de Koven's The Mandarin, Victor Herbert's The Wizard of the Nile during the 1895–1896 season, and The Idol's Eye during the 1897–1898 season. She also appeared in Come Over Here in London in 1913, Experience in 1919, and Max Reinhardt's The Miracle in 1924. Her Broadway credits included the musical The Wizard of Oz and the play Big Hearted Herbert in 1934. During World War I, Carlstedt traveled to England, where she performed at recruitment events to support the war effort.

Carlstedt married three times. Her first marriage ended in divorce in 1898, the same year she wed her second husband, wealthy businessman Albert Gallatin Wheeler Jr. The couple separated in 1910, and their subsequent divorce proceedings drew extensive coverage from newspapers across the country throughout the 1910s. In 1914, Carlstedt offered a pointed characterization of the marriage: "Being a wife to a man like Mr. Wheeler, Jr., is like acting one of the small parts that are nothing but 'feeders' to the star. You say stupid, meaningless lines just to enable him to make brilliant replies." In 1922, she had Wheeler arrested after he reappeared following several years in hiding. Following the end of that marriage, Carlstedt was involved with an Egyptian prince but declined to convert to Islam in order to marry him. Her third marriage, to Frederick Lefevre Kistler, took place in the 1930s. Carlstedt died at her home on Long Island on May 30, 1953.