Mario Lanza Biography, Photos and Posters

Mario Lanza

Biography

Born: January 31, 1921
City and Country of Origin: Philadelphia, PA
Music Training: Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood; studied voice with Enrico Rosati
Movies: That Midnight Kiss, and The Toast of New Orleans, The Great Caruso, Because You're Mine, The Student Prince, Serenade, Seven Hills of Rome, For the First Time
Top Recordings: "Be My Love," "The Loveliest Night of the Year," "Because You're Mine," "The Drinking Song"
Mario Lanza Biography: Born, Alfredo Arnold Cocozza, he is best remembered as Hollywood's greatest opera star. Although classically trained for a career in opera, young Mario was lured away from his chosen profession by the glitz and glamor of the Hollywood movie industry. He was dubbed by, no less an authority than maestro, Arturo Toscannini "the greatest voice of the 20th century." Even today great tenors like Pavorotti, Domingo and Carrera attribute Lanza's movies as the greatest influence on their singing careers.

He was exposed to opera at an early age by his Italian immigrant parents in Philadelphia. By the time he turned 16 his singing talents were quite apparent and he began performing in local operatic productions in the Philadelphis area. His talent caught the attention of conductor Serge Koussevitzky, who provided young Cocozza with a full student scholarship to the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood in Massachusetts.

He made his operatic debut as Fenton in Otto Nicolai's Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor in Tanglewood on August 7, 1942, after studying with conductors Boris Goldovsky and Leonard Bernstein. It is at this time that young Alfredo adopted the masculine version of his mother's name Mario Lanza. His Tanglewood performance earned him critical acclaim with Noel Straus of The New York Times hailing the 21-year-old tenor as having "few equals among tenors of the day in terms of quality, warmth, and power."

During World War II his singing career was interrupted when he was assigned to Special Services in the U.S. Army Air Corps. Here he appeared in wartime shows On the Beam and Winged Victory while in the Air Corps.

He resumed his singing career in 1945 on the CBS radio show Great Moments in Music, making a total of 6 appearances. He then resumed his studies with noted teacher Enrico Rosati for fifteen months. After that he embarked on an 86 concert tour of the United States, Canada and Mexico.

In 1948, Lanza would make his only live performances in an opera, appearing as Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly for the New Orleans Opera Association. Although his reviews were very positive, Lanza had already become heavily involved with the Hollywood movie scene. A Hollywood Bowl concert in 1947 had brought Lanza to the attention of Hollywood movie mogul Louis B. Mayer, who signed Lanza to a 7 year film contract.

Lanza's first 2 films That Midnight Kiss and The Toast of New Orleans, were very successful. His next effort was the portrayal of one of opera's greatest tenors Enrico Caruso in The Great Caruso proved to be an astounding success. However, it exposed his singing to great criticism from some music critics by even some who had praised his earlier work.

Perhaps Lanza's greatest asset as a singer and performer in general was his ability to project his intense feelings into every song and every performance. He also approached life with the same unbridled passion which would prove to be his downfall. When he first arrived in Hollywood Lanza, who was naturally stocky, was provided a personal fitness trainer. This enabled him to lose weight and get into better physical condition for his movie scenes. However, Lanza hung to the theory that to be a great opera singer required ballast, so he would prerecord his vocals for his films and then diet to lose the weight for his screen appearance.

His great passion for life led to his great appetite for food, alcohol and women. Although married, Lanza was well known for his romantic escapades in particular with his leading ladies. He also developed a dependence on pharmaceuticals which he used both to help him lose weight and to sleep.

In 1952 he was dismissed by MGM after he had prerecorded the music for The Student Prince. The event usually attributed to his weight was in fact caused by a dispute with director Curtis Bernhardt's criticism of Lanza's singing which enraged the performer. Lanza was replaced by actor Edmund Purdom who mimed Lanza's words. In a bit of irony MGM wound up replacing Bernhardt with Richard Thorpe, the man Lanza had pleaded with the studio to hire in the first place.

These events sent Lanza in to a great depression, making him a recluse for more than a year. During this time he would seek refuge from his torment with alcoholic binges. He also was near bankruptcy due to poor investment decisions made by his former manager, and owed the IRS nearly $250,000 in back taxes.

Lanza would return to the screen, in 1955, in Serenade, inspite of its strong musical content it was not as successful as his earlier movies. After this he relocated to Rome, Italy in 1957 where he starred in the Italian movie Seven Hills of Rome and performed several concerts in Britain, Ireland and Europe. Although still a young man, his health was failing at least in part due to his use of alcohol, pharmaceuticals and yo-yo dieting. However, he still received offers to make operatic concert appearances, while he still held out hope of someday returning to the operatic stage.

Just when his dream of resuming his opera career appeared ready to be fulfilled, when he was offered the role of Canio in Pagliacci in the theater's 1960/61 season, by Artistic Director of the Rome Opera, Riccardo Vitale and receiving offers from the management of the La Scala and San Carlo opera houses, his failing health including phlebitis and acute high blood pressure led to his suffering a minor heart attack followed by double pneumonia in August of 1959. He died in Rome in October at the age of 38 from pulmonary embolism after undergoing a controversial weight loss program.
Died: October 7, 1959

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