Claude Heater

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The young Claude Heater on Broadway
Claude Heater (left) with Charlton Heston at a screening of Ben Hur (2003)

Claude Lewis Heater (born October 25, 1927 in Oakland , California - † May 28, 2020 in San Francisco , California) was an American opera singer and actor .

life and career

After completing his military service, Claude Heater initially worked as an usher in Los Angeles , while at the same time taking singing lessons. He gained his first experience as a baritone on Broadway from 1950 , including the 1952 world premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti . He also made appearances on radio and television. From 1952 he focused on a career as an opera singer and took singing lessons in Italy, followed by a successful career in Europe. He performed at the Vienna State Opera from 1959 to 1961 and returned to the USA at the San Francisco Opera .

Heater was also known for his portrayal of Jesus Christ in the classic film Ben Hur by William Wyler from 1959. The casting of the role had previously proven difficult until a production manager of Ben Hur Heater happened to see a performance and his voice and found his looks so impressive that he introduced him to director Wyler. In the film credits , however, Heater was not mentioned for his appearance as Jesus.

In the early 1960s he retrained in a tenor , for which he took lessons from Mario Del Monaco and Max Lorenz . At the Bavarian State Opera he made a successful tenor debut in the opera König Hirsch in 1964 , where he remained a member until 1968. He had a successful career with various European opera houses, where he was best known for hero roles in Wagner operas. At the Bayreuth Festival in 1966 he sang Siegmund in Die Walküre and Melot in Tristan . Wieland Wagner had further plans for a collaboration with Heater, but died a little later.

His other guest appearances and concerts have taken Heater not only to Europe and the USA but also to South America and Africa. In later years he ran his own opera company in his hometown of Oakland; On his 90th birthday in 2017, he was giving singing lessons. In 2018 he founded a foundation to support young singers in their development. He died of heart disease in May 2020 at the age of 92.

Web links

Commons : Claude Heater  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Richard Dyer : Catching up with Claude Heater: Original Trio Member in Trouble in Tahiti . ( blo.org [accessed June 19, 2018]).
  2. ↑ Bayreuth Festival »Deutsch» Programs »Performance Database» Person. Retrieved June 19, 2018 .
  3. ^ Obituary for Claude Heater at Legacy.com
  4. ↑ Claude Heater, Opera Singer Who Played Jesus in 'Ben-Hur,' Dies at 92. Retrieved June 6, 2020 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Heater, Claude
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heater, Claude Lewis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera singer and actor
DATE OF BIRTH October 25, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Oakland , California
DATE OF DEATH May 28, 2020
Place of death San Francisco , California , USA