Recent Obituaries, Classic Films Only

[CBHagman]

128. Director Franco Zeffirelli, 96

Oh, where to begin?

https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-franco-zeffirelli-snap-20190615-story.html

Zeffirelli is most widely known for his films, including the 1968 critical and box office hit “Romeo and Juliet” and a 1990 “Hamlet” with Mel Gibson, among other Shakespeare adaptations. His non-Bard movies included a remake of the classic “The Champ” (1979), with Jon Voight; “Tea with Mussolini” (1999) set in his beloved Florence; and his last feature film, “Callas Forever” (2002), which paid homage to his tempestuous friend, opera singer Maria Callas.

Some of his films drew mixed reviews at best, but his opera productions — with massive, opulent sets and onstage casts sometimes numbering in the hundreds, not to mention including animals — are almost invariably audience favorites in the opera houses that can afford them worldwide. At America’s premier opera venue, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Zeffirelli’s version of Puccini’s “La Boheme” is the most-often presented production in the company’s history.

In 1996 Los Angeles Opera presented his popular production of Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci,” featuring crowd scenes that included acrobats, jugglers, fire eaters and a live donkey.

Critics complained that his stage productions were excessive, but for Zeffirelli, excess was just a starting point.

“They must always tell me, ‘Stop, is enough, is excessive,’” he told the London Observer in 2003. “But I prefer to go berserk. I will never stop!”


https://variety.com/2019/film/news/franco-zeffirelli-remembered-1203246938/

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/jun/18/actors-pay-tribute-to-franco-zeffirelli