Claude Heater(1927-2020)

From barber to singer to portraying Jesus Christ onscreen, Claude Heater has had an interesting career. While a student at Richmond Union High in Oakland, California, Heater saw a performance of "Faust" in San Francisco which sparked his interest in opera. However, the young baritone wasn't sure he had the voice for opera. After high school, he joined the Marines, where one of his duties was cutting hair for his fellow servicemen at a boot camp in California. After his discharge from the Marines, Heater studied singing for two years, then joined the Mormon Church missionaries' choir as a soloist. But his desire to sing opera led him to New York, where he continued his studies with the American Theater Wing. In 1952, he appeared on Arthur Godfrey's "Talent Scouts," winning the top prize. That same year, he took advantage of the GI Bill of Rights to study in Milan. Aboard the ship, he met a girl from Texas, Maria Dolores Mooers, who was going to Europe to marry her fiancé in France. That marriage never took place, as she and Claude hit it off. While the two were sightseeing in Italy, they saw some travel posters, including one for a tour of Egypt. On New Year's Eve of 1952, the pair were married in Cairo. While in Milan, Heater got plenty of opportunities, singing with opera companies in Germany and Switzerland, as well as in West Berlin. The Austrian conductor, Herbert von Karajan, heard Heater sing in Berlin and invited the American to perform as a guest during performances in Vienna. In 1958, MGM production manager Henry Hennigson went to one of Heater's concerts in Rome. Hennigson told Director William Wyler and Producer Sam Zimbalist about Heater, and in short order, Heater was given a screen test, then cast as Jesus Christ in the blockbuster epic "Ben-Hur." Unfortunately, while in Italy, Heater was robbed twice. First, in Milan, thieves broke into his parked car and made off with over $3000 of his personal belongings. Then, when Heater arrived in Rome, he discovered that his wife's furs had been stolen from a friend's house, where he had stored them for safekeeping. After "Ben-Hur" was completed, Heater sang in 46 performances at the Vienna State Opera in 1959-1961, including five in lead roles. He met his second wife Elfriede Biskopek in Munich where she was a nurse when visiting the hospital for an throat infection. They were together for 7 years before marrying in 1970 and until Elfriede's death in 1994. He returned to the United States to appear opposite Joan Sutherland in a performance of "Lucia di Lammermoor" in San Francisco. Heater restudied and switched from baritone to tenor. Among his other performances were the lead in "Othello" in Boston, and a duet from "Tristan and Isolde" with soprano Clara Barlow, in Italy. Heater embarked on a new project in 1988, when he was named the artistic director of the Oakland Opera. However, the position only lasted a few years, when the organization suspended operations due to lack of funds. In 1992, Heater ran for Congress as a Republican in Oakland's 6th Congressional District. His platform included cutting the size of government by 30% over five years and passing a balanced budget amendment. He was defeated in the primaries, then ran as a write-in candidate, but was again unsuccessful.