4 minute read
Literary Lives 12
from 07092021 WEEKEND
by tribune242
LANZA starred in two successful films with actress and soprano Kathryn Grayson
THE SONG ‘Be My Love’ made Lanza an instant music star
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fame. At MGM he worked closely with the conductor and composer Johnny Green. Twenty years later Green recalled that Lanza was very insecure about the way he had become successful – before establishing himself on the operatic stage. ... He had the voice of the next Caruso – an unusual, very unusual quality ... a tenor with a baritone colour in the middle and lower registers ... A great musicality.”
- Johnny Green Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
In 1951, Lanza portrayed The Great Caruso – MGM’s biggest success of the year. Almost simultaneously he was subjected to intense criticism by some music critics who had praised his earlier performances. However, Enrico Caruso Jr, the son of the great tenor, stepped in and praised Lanza, saying that he had been born with one of the dozen or so great tenor voices of the century, and an infallible musical instinct.
The following year, 1952, was a tough year for Lanza. He recorded all the songs for The Student Prince (1954), but was dismissed by MGM who stated that his weight problem made it impossible for him to fit into the Prince’s costumes. This was an unlikely excuse. Lanza was not overweight at the beginning of the film’s production. But he was temperamental. A far more likely reason is that he had a disagreement with the film’s director, Curtis Bernhardt, over Lanza’s interpretation of one of the film’s songs, and he simply walked off the set. MGM sided with the director and the film was eventually made with the English actor Edmund Purdom, who acted to Lanza’s recorded singing voice.
Depressed by his dismissal which seriously undermined the young singer’s confidence, Lanza sought refuge in alcoholic binges and became an almost total recluse for the next year. Bad investment decisions by his former manager, and his lavish spending habits, left him close to bankruptcy and owing $250,000 in back taxes. He didn’t work in films again until 1955 in Serenade (1956) which was released by Warner Bros. Despite its strong musical score, including arias from Der Rosenkavalier, Fedora, L‘arlesiana, and Otello – which he sang with soprano Licia Albanese – the film was not as successful as his first films.
“I had heard all sorts of stories about Mario Lanza. That his voice was too small for the stage, that he couldn’t learn a score, that he couldn’t sustain a full opera; in fact that he couldn’t even sing a full aria, that his recordings were made by splicing together various portions of an aria. None of it is true! He had the most beautiful; lirico spinto voice. It was a gorgeous, beautiful, powerful voice. I should know because I sang with so many tenors. He had everything ... the voice, the temperament, perfect diction ...”
- Licia Albanese
Lanza moved to Rome, Italy in May 1957, where he worked on the film Seven Hills of Rome. In November he gave a series of concerts starting with the Royal Variety Show at the London Palladium in front of Queen Elizabeth II. In the first half of 1958 he gave a total of 22 concerts in the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany. Despite some annoying cancellations because of bad health, he continued to be in demand for concerts and some films, including For the First Time. He made a number of recordings for the Rome Opera House whose artistic director, Riccardo Vitale, offered Lanza his choice of operatic roles. He received the same offer from the San Carlo in Naples.
However, Lanza’s health continued to decline, with high blood pressure and phlebitis. Overeating, crash dieting, and binge drinking compounded his problems.
In April 1959, he was rushed to hospital with heart problems and pneumonia. In September he was admitted to the Valle Giulia clinic in Rome to undergo a controversial weight loss programme which required that its patients be kept immobile and sedated for prolonged periods. The following month, on October 7, Mario Lanza died of an apparent pulmonary embolism. He was only 38 years old. No autopsy was performed. His wife, Betty Lanza, flew back to Hollywood completely devastated. She died five months later of a drug overdose.
Tragedy continued to strike Lanza’s family. In 1998, his daughter Coleen was hit by a car as she crossed the street. She spent two weeks in hospital in a coma from which she never recovered. His son Damien died on August 16, 2008, in California at the age of 55. Lanza’s surviving daughter, Ellisa Lanza Bregman, helps administer the family estate and has spoken openly of the family’s tragedies.
Both tenors José Carrera and Plácido Domingo have paid tribute to Mario Lanza and have admitted that he inspired their love of opera and their determination to succeed as singers. His film The Great Caruso influenced numerous other opera stars including Joseph Calleja, Luciano Pavarotti and Vyacheslav Polozov.
Opera historian Clyde McCants has stated that despite his short career, the opera singer who made the greatest impact on the world was Mario Lanza.
I doubt if the world will ever see such a meteoric rise to fame and such a catastrophic and immediate end to a brilliant and short career. But for his weaknesses, he could have been at home in any opera house in the world.
