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Mario Lanza Birth name: Alfred Arnold Cocozza Nickname: The Tiger The Service Caruso (while he was in the US Army) Freddy Mario Lanza's life, sadly, has all the markings of an epic Shakespearean tragedy. The story is incredible: wild, incendiary Philadelphia kid who can sing better than Caruso, sets out to become the greatest dramatic opera singer who ever lived, is detoured by Louis B.Mayer and vixen Hollywood, remade into fiercely handsome box office champ with 50 inch chest, national radio show, 1951 TIME Magazine cover idol, and king of the pop record world. He is besieged on cross-country singing tours and appearances years before Elvis and the Beatles, a 'superstar' before the word was invented. First singer to ever earn Gold Records with million sellers in both classical and popular categories. His MGM masterpiece, 'The Great Caruso' was one of the top grossing film of 1951. The voice is so incredible, so powerful, so golden, so dazzling that an awestruck Maestro Toscanini called it, simply and correctly, the "voice of the century". Among the multitudes of stunned admirers worldwide included the likes of: Koussevitsky, Sinatra, Presley, Schipa, Tebaldi, Tucker, Kirsten, Albanese, and countless others. Lanza's voice has been called the 'Northern Lights' in a throat, passed through a heart of peerless sensivity and passion: and vulnerability. Fired by MGM during production of 'The Student Prince' in 1952 after the German director Curtis Bernhardt assailed him over the 'excess' passion of one song in his recording of the soundtrack. Lanza never fully recovered from the emotional catastrophe of losing his MGM contract, and declined slowly in a pattern of near-alcoholism, food binging, huge weight gains and losses, and professional tempestuousness. Quits Hollywood to move to ancestral Italy to rebuild his life and career. Dies of a heart attack only seven years after 'The Student Prince' nightmare at only 38, leaving behind four children and his shattered wife, who dies five months later of a drug overdose after returning to Hollywood. His seven films and scores of astonishing recordings continue as a surging muli-million dollar industry, 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, said of his voice: 'Magnificent.' Simply put, there will never be another Mario Lanza. IMDb mini-biography by Jeff Rense |
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