Franco Zeffirelli when he was born, his father did not recognize him, and he had to find a surname, and so they talked about one “Zefiro”, a light breeze and “Zeffirelli” came out.
The aristocratic mother was Alaide Garosi Cipriani, who showered him with affection and inspired him greatly.
Franco Zeffirelli and cinema
Franco Zeffirelli on his father's side he was originally from Vinci, and some researches have even risked a kinship with Leonardo. Beautiful young man with a refined appearance, after having attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, made his debut as a set designer. Zeffirelli is always characterized for formal elegance, attention to melodrama and stories developed with a very strong emotional impact, figurative and precious taste.
He works and weaves a very long working and personal relationship e profitable with Luchino Visconti. Visconti's assistant director work in The earth trembles and in Sense, which remain in history. Zeffirelli's career took off in a dazzling way, passing behind the video camera. His film productions are almost all international and of great impact. Towards the end of the sixties he achieved success with masterpieces such as The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, and following a serious accident he takes a vow.
Brother sun sister moon by Franco Zeffirelli
He promises San Francesco that if he is saved he will dedicate a film to him and keeps his promise. directs "Brother sun, sister moon", and it's another triumph. Also in the sixties, Zeffirelli directed some theatrical performances that remain memorable. Treatment Hamlet with Albertazzi, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? And La Lupa with Anna Magnani. At La Scala in 1954 he conducted La Cenerentola and L'elisir d'amore, at the Covent Garden in London Lucia di Lammermoor, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci. Still at Covent Garden he designs the costumes for The Traviata.
Then again La bohème, Aida, and La traviata, al La Fenice Theater in Venice, in Trieste Rigoletto and Falstaff. At the Glyndebourne Festival Opera he conducts L'elisir d'amore, in London in 1963 La bohème was staged 410 times until 2014; and at the Metropolitan in New York the Falstaff and again at the Metropolitan he directed Cavalleria rusticana and in 1972 Otello.
Jesus of Nazareth
Year after year Franco Zeffirelli grinds great successes all over the world, both in the theater and in the cinema. In December 1974 he oversaw the worldwide television direction of the opening ceremony of the Holy Year. On 7 December 1976 he directed and sets the stage for a historic edition of Othello which inaugurates the season of La Scala in Milan. The work is being broadcast live on RAI for the first time.
After the success of the film Jesus of Nazareth, realizes, among others, The sample, and The young Toscanini. At the Metropolitan in 1981 he curated La Bohème, and tirelessly in 1993 he returned to the cinema with Story of a blackcap. A convinced Catholic, Zeffirelli expresses in the cinema a personal faith, never proclaimed, but personal, discreet and guarded, albeit revealed. In 1994 he was elected senator of the republic, obtains a record number of votes which he reconfirms with his re-election as senator in 1996.
A tea with Mussolini
Between 1996 and 1999 he directed the films Jane Eyre and Tea with Mussolini, the latter partially autobiographical and highly successful over time. In 1999 he again directed the television direction of the opening ceremony of the Holy Year. Again for the Metropolitan in 2002 he directed Il barbiere di Siviglia.
On November 24, 2004, Queen Elizabeth II appointed him a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. From 21 April to 3 May 2007 his new staging of La traviata by Giuseppe Verdi will be staged for the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome. Capable of taming great divas such as Elisabeth Taylor, Cher, in love with animals, a great supporter of Fiorentina, Zeffirelli leaves us at the age of 96.
