{"id":2404,"date":"2019-06-17T16:46:48","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T20:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/mediaservices\/?p=2404"},"modified":"2019-06-17T16:46:48","modified_gmt":"2019-06-17T20:46:48","slug":"remembering-franco-zeffirelli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/mediaservices\/2019\/06\/17\/remembering-franco-zeffirelli\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Franco Zeffirelli"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t\n

Franco Zeffirelli, the famed director behind many a\nShakespeare adaptation, died in Rome this weekend at the age of 96. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His earliest days seemed to predestine him for the drama he would become celebrated for. Born out of wedlock in Florence, Italy, his mother made up his surname based on a mistranslation of a Mozart aria. During WWII, he fought with Italian partisans against Mussolini\u2019s fascist regime before becoming an interpreter for the British army. After the war, he studied at the University of Florence, where he got his first taste of the wonder of stage and opera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Alexey Yushenkov – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=65018562<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

He began his opera career in the 1950s, first working as\na production assistant, then set designer, and later directing productions in\nItaly and the United States.  He gradually\ntransitioned into theatre, and he directed Shakespeare productions in London\nthroughout the 1960s. He became known for his lavish sets and lush costuming,\nand he carried these hallmarks with him when he began directing films. His\nfirst film, The Taming of the Shrew <\/em>(1967),\nstarred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The film was a moderately\nsuccessful, but his big break came the next year with Romeo and Juliet<\/em>. This sumptuous film is still considered one of\nthe best adaptations of Shakespeare\u2019s tragedy, and thousands of American\nstudents watch it every year in classrooms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After these two early successes, Zeffirelli took a break\nfrom Shakespeare and focused on making more religious films, such as Brother Sun, Sister Moon <\/em>(1972), and Jesus of Nazareth<\/em> (1977), which earned\nmixed reviews from critics and audiences. After a decade adapting operas for\nthe big screen, he experienced a sort of career renaissance after the release\nof Hamlet (<\/em>1990), starring Mel\nGibson, and Jane Eyre<\/em> (1996). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with many men in Hollywood, Zeffirelli was not without\ncontroversy. He was a demanding, difficult director\u2014some would say abusive, and\nallegations of sexual harassment followed him from Romeo and Juliet <\/em>onwards. Bruce Robinson, who played Benvolio in\nthat film, later became a screenwriter and based the character of Uncle Monty\nfrom Withnail & I<\/em>, on the Italian\ndirector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zeffirelli will be remembered in Hollywood as beyond as a director who retold our best known stories in sumptuous, lush fantasy worlds. You can find the following of his works in our collection:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Romeo and Juliet (DVD 5806)<\/li>
  • La Boheme (DVD 7103)<\/li>
  • The Taming of the Shrew (DVD 9159)<\/li>
  • Hamlet (DVD 5914)<\/li>
  • La Traviata (DVD 2327)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    In addition to these DVDs, you can view many of his stage productions through The Metropolitan Opera streaming service, available with your AU credentials. <\/p>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Franco Zeffirelli, the famed director behind many a Shakespeare adaptation, died in Rome this weekend at the age of 96. His earliest days seemed to predestine him for the drama he would become celebrated for. Born out of wedlock in Florence, Italy, his mother made up his surname based on a mistranslation of a Mozart […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-obituaries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/mediaservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/mediaservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/mediaservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/mediaservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/mediaservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/mediaservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/mediaservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/mediaservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.american.edu\/mediaservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}