Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli KBE (actually Gianfranco Corsi, born February 12, 1923 in Florence ) is an Italian film, theater and opera director.
Life
Zeffirelli was internationally known for his film directing Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, for which he was nominated for an Oscar in 1969. Great attention aroused beyond his Bible film Jesus of Nazareth in 1977. Together with Gianni Quaranta, he was awarded the 1984 British Academy Film Award in the category Best Art Direction for his work on La Traviata.
In 1946 he came to the theater troupe of Luchino Visconti, Paolo Stoppa and Rina Morelli. As a stage director Zeffirelli worked among others at La Scala, the Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, the Arena di Verona and the Comédie Française.
Zeffirelli has been awarded the 2004 British Empire Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE ). Zeffirelli lives openly homosexual.
Zeffirelli was also active politically; two terms he sat for Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia in the Senate.
- Zeffirelli. Autobiography of Franco Zeffirelli. Piper -Verlag, Munich, 1986, ISBN 3-492-03130-7.