Franco Zeffirelli - Biography, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Filmography (Read)
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Franco Zeffirelli - Biography, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Filmography
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Franco Zeffirelli - biography, date of birth, place of birth, filmography, clips, Designer, Director, Writer, Actor.
Born February 12, 1923, Florence - Italian artist, theater, opera and film director, producer, screenwriter.
In 1941, he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and, on the advice of his father, entered the University of Florence to study fine arts and architecture.
During World War II, he was a partisan before meeting the British soldiers of the 1st Guards Regiment, becoming their translator. In the post-war years, he returned to the University of Florence to continue his studies, but when he saw the film "Henry V", he turned his attention to the theater.
Worked as stage designer at the theater in Florence. In 1946 he moved to Rome and became a theater artist and actor. In 1947, the director Luchino Visconti, who had a great influence on Zeffirelli's work, invited him to participate in the filming of the film "The Earth Shakes" as his assistant. “I owe a lot to Visconti,” Zefirelli said, “this is my teacher, under his leadership I took the first steps. Much has been said about him as a great artist, but he is also a great teacher. All major modern Italian directors are somehow obliged to Visconti ... ". Then Zeffirelli worked with directors such as Vittorio de Sica and Roberto Rossellini.
In 1953, at the Teatro alla Scala, he staged a highly successful production of Gioacchino Rossini's Cinderella. In the 1960s, he was engaged in theater productions in London and New York. He wrote the libretto for the opera Antony and Cleopatra by Samuel Barber and, as a director, in 1966 staged its premiere, timed to coincide with the opening of the new building of the Metropolitan Opera.
After that, Zeffirelli devoted himself entirely to cinema: one after the other, he shot two films based on Shakespeare's plays: The Taming of the Shrew with the stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (1967) and Romeo and Juliet with debutants Olivia Hussey and Leonarding ... After successful film adaptations of Shakespeare's plays, he turned to religious themes with the film Brother Sun, Sister Moon, dedicated to the life of Francis of Assisi, and then the mini-series Jesus of Nazareth. The latter was a great box office success and was frequently shown on television in the following years. Switching to a modern theme, he directed the films Champion (1979) and Endless Love, which were heavily criticized.
In the 1980s, Zeffirelli worked on film adaptations of classical operas: one after another came out on the screens "Pagliacci", "Rural Honor", "La Traviata" and "Othello", which featured such singers as Placido Domingo, Teresa Stratas, Elena Obraztsova, Juan Pons and Katya Ricciarelli.
In 1990, Zeffirelli again turned to Shakespeare, filming Hamlet with Mel Gibson in the title role. His adaptation of the novel by Charlotte Bronte "Jane Eyre" received critical acclaim.
Zeffirelli often took on the leading roles of young aspiring actors, but not all of them were able to continue their careers: Leonard Whiting (Romeo, "Romeo and Juliet"), Graham Faulkner (Francis, "Brother Sun, Sister Moon"), and Martin Hewitt ("Infinite Love") left the movie business, unable to get similar level leading roles from other directors. At the same time, actresses Olivia Hussey (Juliet, Romeo and Juliet) and Brooke Shields (Infinite Love) have successfully continued their careers.
