Mario Lanza(1921-1959)
- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Mario Lanza's life, sadly, has all the markings of an epic
Shakespearean tragedy. The story is truly incredible: a wild,
incendiary Philadelphia kid who can sing better than
Enrico Caruso sets out to become
the greatest dramatic opera singer who ever lived, is detoured by MGM
honcho Louis B. Mayer and vixen
Hollywood, is remade into a fiercely handsome box-office champ with a
50-inch chest, his own national radio show, 1951 TIME Magazine cover
idol, and king of the pop record world. He was besieged on
cross-country concert tours and appearances years before
Elvis Presley and
The Beatles, was a true "superstar" before
the word was invented and the first singer to ever earn gold records,
with million sellers in both classical and popular categories.
His MGM masterpiece,
The Great Caruso (1951), was the
top-grossing film in the world in 1951. The Lanza voice was so
incredible, so powerful, so golden, so dazzling that an awestruck
Arturo Toscanini called it, simply and
correctly, the "voice of the century". Among the multitudes of stunned
admirers worldwide included the likes of
Serge Koussevitzky,
Frank Sinatra, Presley,
Tito Schipa,
Renata Tebaldi,
Sophie Tucker, Kirsten, Albanese
and countless others. Lanza's voice has been called the "Northern
Lights in a Throat' and passed through a heart of peerless sensitivity
and passion . . . and vulnerability.
Fired by MGM during production of
The Student Prince (1954) in
1952 after director Curtis Bernhardt
assailed him over the "excess" passion of one song in his stunning
recording of the soundtrack, his career began a downturn that would
never be reversed. Lanza never fully recovered from the emotional
catastrophe of "The Student Prince" fiasco and losing his MGM contract,
and declined slowly in a pattern of near-alcoholism, food-binging, huge
weight gains and losses and professional tempestuousness. Fed up with
not being able to get film roles--other than
Serenade (1956) for Warners in 1956--and
a savage press, Lanza quit Hollywood and moved his family to his
ancestral Italy to rebuild his life and career. He made two mediocre
European-produced films, enjoyed generally successful concert
performances and died, apparently of a heart attack, on October 7,
1959, only seven years after "The Student Prince" nightmare at the
terribly young age of 38, leaving behind four children and his
shattered wife, who died five months later of a drug overdose after
returning to Hollywood.
Lanza's seven films and scores of astonishing recordings continue to
stun and inspire singers and the public 40 years after his death. He is
celebrated and honored with film festivals, a steady flow of new CDs,
and constant worldwide musical tributes--most notably by
Domingo-Carreras-Pavarotti and a multitude of lesser vocal lights.
People Magazine, in 1998, summed up the Lanza voice as "magnificent".
Simply put, there will never be another Mario Lanza.
Shakespearean tragedy. The story is truly incredible: a wild,
incendiary Philadelphia kid who can sing better than
Enrico Caruso sets out to become
the greatest dramatic opera singer who ever lived, is detoured by MGM
honcho Louis B. Mayer and vixen
Hollywood, is remade into a fiercely handsome box-office champ with a
50-inch chest, his own national radio show, 1951 TIME Magazine cover
idol, and king of the pop record world. He was besieged on
cross-country concert tours and appearances years before
Elvis Presley and
The Beatles, was a true "superstar" before
the word was invented and the first singer to ever earn gold records,
with million sellers in both classical and popular categories.
His MGM masterpiece,
The Great Caruso (1951), was the
top-grossing film in the world in 1951. The Lanza voice was so
incredible, so powerful, so golden, so dazzling that an awestruck
Arturo Toscanini called it, simply and
correctly, the "voice of the century". Among the multitudes of stunned
admirers worldwide included the likes of
Serge Koussevitzky,
Frank Sinatra, Presley,
Tito Schipa,
Renata Tebaldi,
Sophie Tucker, Kirsten, Albanese
and countless others. Lanza's voice has been called the "Northern
Lights in a Throat' and passed through a heart of peerless sensitivity
and passion . . . and vulnerability.
Fired by MGM during production of
The Student Prince (1954) in
1952 after director Curtis Bernhardt
assailed him over the "excess" passion of one song in his stunning
recording of the soundtrack, his career began a downturn that would
never be reversed. Lanza never fully recovered from the emotional
catastrophe of "The Student Prince" fiasco and losing his MGM contract,
and declined slowly in a pattern of near-alcoholism, food-binging, huge
weight gains and losses and professional tempestuousness. Fed up with
not being able to get film roles--other than
Serenade (1956) for Warners in 1956--and
a savage press, Lanza quit Hollywood and moved his family to his
ancestral Italy to rebuild his life and career. He made two mediocre
European-produced films, enjoyed generally successful concert
performances and died, apparently of a heart attack, on October 7,
1959, only seven years after "The Student Prince" nightmare at the
terribly young age of 38, leaving behind four children and his
shattered wife, who died five months later of a drug overdose after
returning to Hollywood.
Lanza's seven films and scores of astonishing recordings continue to
stun and inspire singers and the public 40 years after his death. He is
celebrated and honored with film festivals, a steady flow of new CDs,
and constant worldwide musical tributes--most notably by
Domingo-Carreras-Pavarotti and a multitude of lesser vocal lights.
People Magazine, in 1998, summed up the Lanza voice as "magnificent".
Simply put, there will never be another Mario Lanza.