Claramae Turner  Claramae Turner (née Haas; October 28, 1920 – May 18, 2013) was an American operatic contralto, perhaps best known for her appearance in the film "Carousel" (1956), adapted from the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical of the same name. Born in the high desert, outside Dinuba, California, she began her career at the Bush Street Music Hall in San Francisco, where she sang the contralto leads in Gilbert and Sullivan operas; at the same time she joined the chorus of San Francisco Opera. She made her San Francisco Opera principal debut as The Voice in "Les contes d'Hoffmann" in 1945, and sang with the Metropolitan Opera from 1946 to 1950, appearing in "Faust" (as Marthe, opposite Raoul Jobin), "Boris Godunov" (as the Hôtesse, with Ezio Pinza), "Aïda" (as Amneris), "Hänsel und Gretel" (as Gertrud), "Roméo et Juliette" (as Gertrude, with Jussi Björling and Bidu Sayão), "Le nozze di Figaro" (as Marcellina), "Siegfried" (as Erda, with Lauritz Melchior and Astrid Varnay), "Cavalleria rusticana" (as Lucia), "Il barbiere di Siviglia" (as Berta, opposite Giuseppe Valdengo and Lily Pons), "Peter Grimes" (as Auntie), and "Gianni Schicchi" (as Zita). Turner then sang with the New York City Opera from 1953 to 1969, in "The Medium", "Hänsel und Gretel" (now as The Witch), "Œdipus rex" (as Jocasta, with Richard Cassilly, conducted by Leopold Stokowski), "Suor Angelica" (as the Zia Principessa, conducted by Julius Rudel), "Carmen", "Louise" (as the Mère), "The Ballad of Baby Doe" (as Augusta, with Beverly Sills), "Dialogues des Carmélites" (as Madame de Croissy), "Bomarzo" (as Diana Orsini, opposite Salvador Novoa, directed by Tito Capobianco), "Iolanthe" (as the Queen of the Fairies), Lady Jane in "Patience" and "The Mikado" (as Katisha), among others.