Gianfranco Corsi (born February 12, 1923), better known as Franco Zeffirelli was born in Florence and studied architecture. In the 1940s and the 1950s he worked as the assistant to important directors like Antonioni, De Sica, Rossellini and Visconti: the latter also required him to work as a scenographer on his legendary sets from 1946 to 1953.

Zeffirelli had great success in different fields (theatre, cinema, opera, television).
His productions are characterized by a secure control over the stage movement and attention invested in the outward appearance (scenes, costumes, lights etc.).

Mr. Zeffirelli chose to implement a sense of spectacularity in his work, even when he has to confront modern stories. This was the case with "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" By E. Albee (1953), with "After the Fall" by A. Miller (1964) and with "La Lupa" by Verga (1965, with the actress Anna Magnani).

Zeffirelli's productions were always distiguished by being well thought out, and carried out on an extensive scale, and he therefore gravitated toward the world of lyrical performances, particularly Italian opera.

Those Operas included:La Traviata, Don Giovanni, Otello, Tosca, Turandot, La Bohème, Carmen, Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Swan Lake, Il Trovatore, and Aida.

UK HONOUR FOR DIRECTOR ZEFFIRELLI

Film-maker Franco Zeffirelli will be the first Italian citizen to receive an honorary knighthood on Wednesday.

BBC News
Wednesday, 24 November, 2004

The director, whose films include the Oscar-winning "Romeo and Juliet", will be honoured at Rome's British Embassy.

Zeffirelli, 81, will receive the KBE for his "valuable services to British performing arts".

A noted anglophile, Zeffirelli's 1999 film "Tea With Mussolini" was inspired by his childhood in Florence in the company of British expatriots. The honorary knighthood sees Zeffirelli join a host of legendary names from the arts world, including Andre Previn, Yehudi Menuhin, Steven Spielberg and Bob Hope.

One of the world's most respected directors of stage and screen, Zeffirelli rose to prominence in the 1960s with his feature film debut "Taming of the Shrew", starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor as the warring lovers.

Academy awards

His 1968 film "Romeo and Juliet" received best film and best director Oscar nominations, and won a further two Academy Awards for costume design and cinematography.

Zeffirelli's other films include 1979 tearjerker "The Champ", starring Jon Voight and Faye Dunaway, and "Hamlet"(1990) starring Mel Gibson, Alan Bates and Glenn Close.

Last year, he directed Joan Plowright and Liza Tarbuck in the West End play "Absolutely!".

[RAA: Absolutely! (Perhaps) is a new translation by Martin Sherman of one of mischievous Italian playwright Luigi Pirandello's most bewildering works - Cosi e (Si vi pare!) Previously known as Right You Are! (If You Think So), the Nobel laureate's sardonic tale retains the power to bamboozle and confound almost a century after it was written.]

His most recent film, "Forever Callas", starring Fanny Ardant as the opera diva, was released in the UK this month.

A close friend of opera star Callas, Zeffirelli directed her in the classic production of "Tosca" at London's Royal Opera House, which ran for 40 years.

[RAA: When Tosca first opened, in 1964, crowds queued for five days after more than 120,000 people applied for 12,000 seats. This past summer, Callas got 27 curtain calls and a 40-minute ovation on opening night.]

The director is also an ally of the Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and has represented Berlusconi's party Forza Italia in the Italian senate since 1996.

Callas Forever, (2002)
Tea With Mussolini (1999)
Jane Eyre(1996)
Il Tabarro (Puccini) (1994)
I Pagliacci (Leoncavallo) (1994)
Storia di una Capinera also known as Sparrow (1993)
Hamlet, (1990)
Othello (1986) BAFTA winner, foreign language film;
La Tosca (1985)
La Bohème  (1982)
La Traviata (1982 ) --Academy Award nominee, BAFTA winner, art direction
Endless Love (1981)
The Champ  (1979)
Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
Fratello sole, sorella luna also known as Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1973)
Giulietta e Romeo
The Taming of the Shrew (1967)
La Boheme (1965)
Falstaff (1964)

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Zeffirelli's triumphant return  (Absolutely!)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
entertainment/3046103.stm

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Swansong for opera's 40-year run (Tosca)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
entertainment/3877967.stm

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Zeffirelli makes West End return (Absolutely!)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
entertainment/3044219.stm