Franco Zeffirelli Dies Aged 96

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fountainhall

Franco Zeffirelli Dies Aged 96

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One of the great old-school European theatrical designers and directors who ventured successfully into movie and opera direction has died. An orphan, from the age of six Franco Zeffirelli was looked after by a group of expatriate English and American women in Tuscany. His 1999 movie "Tea with Mussolini" starring Cher, Lily Tomlin and three of the great Dames of English theatre, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Joan Plowright (the widow of Laurence Olivier), about a young boy in wartime Italy is semi-autobiographical.

Zeffirelli started his career as an assistant to another great Italian director, Luchino Visconti ("The Leopard", "Death in Venice", "The Damned" etc.). In the 1950s and 60s much of his work was in opera. He directed the great Maria Callas in several productions and gave Dame Joan Sutherland her big break in a production at London's Royal Opera House. His 1968 film version of "Romeo and Juliet" with its haunting theme by Nino Rota was universally praised. A production of "Much Ado about Nothing" for London's National Theatre which he set in turn of the century Sicily so impressed Elizabeth Taylor and her husband Richard Burton that they asked to work with him. They helped finance "The Taming of the Shrew" which he directed and in which both appeared.

Zeffirelli was gay and finally came out in the mid-1990s. He adopted two adult men who had worked with him for years managing his business affairs.

Tea With Mussolini Trailer


https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/ ... es-aged-96
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