Franco Zeffirelli, the stylish and sometimes controversial theater, opera and film director, has died. He was 96. Zeffirelli, who was Oscar-nominated for his 1968 version of 'Romeo and Juliet,' died at his home in Rome at noon on Saturday, his son Luciano told the Associated Press. “He had
Franco Zeffirelli, the stylish and sometimes controversial theater, opera and film director, has died. He was 96.
Zeffirelli’s film output was less consistent, from the spirited and sensual “Romeo and Juliet” and playful “Taming of the Shrew” to the rather misshapen “Endless Love” and the unreleasable “Young Toscanini.” He continued to work in many of Italy’s top opera houses over the next few years and traveled abroad to stage the 1956 Holland Festival production of “Falstaff.” In 1958 he staged the landmark Dallas Civic Opera production of “La Traviata” with Maria Callas in which the story was all told in flashback.
Zeffirelli made his Broadway debut with a failed 1963 production of “The Lady of the Camellias” starring Susan Strasberg, but his “Aida” at La Scala with Leontyne Price and Carlo Bergonzi was praised and derided for its Cecil B. DeMille-like production. His “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” on the Italian stage was unanimously acclaimed, and his Old Vic “Hamlet” was also an unqualified triumph. His 1977 “Filumena” with Joan Plowright was also well received.
After a near-fatal car accident in 1969, Zeffirelli became a devout Catholic, a staunch defender of the Vatican and a follower of the charismatic Padre Pio. He was inspired to make a 1973 biography of Saint Francis of Assisi called “Brother Sun, Sister Moon,” which later developed a cult following, and the five-part, eight-hour miniseries “Jesus of Nazareth” , which has since become something of a perennial, especially in Italy.
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