Mario Lanza

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Lore & Background

Lanza was known to be "rebellious, tough, and ambitious." During most of his film career, he suffered from addictions to overeating and alcohol, which had a serious effect on his health and his relationships with directors, producers, and occasionally other cast members. Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper wrote that "his smile, which was as big as his voice, was matched with the habits of a tiger cub, impossible to housebreak." After recording the soundtrack for *The Student Prince*, he embarked upon a protracted battle with studio head Dore Schary arising from artistic differences with director Curtis Bernhardt and was eventually fired by MGM. He made three more films before dying of an apparent pulmonary embolism at age 38. At the time of his death in 1959, he was still "the most famous tenor in the world." Author Eleonora Kimmel concluded that Lanza "blazed like a meteor whose light lasts a brief moment in time."

Reader's Guide

Mario Lanza's significance lies in his brief but impactful career as a crossover artist who brought operatic tenor singing to mainstream Hollywood audiences. His million-selling singles "Be My Love" and "The Loveliest Night of the Year" made him a household name, and *The Great Caruso* was the 11th top-grossing film of 1951. Despite his limited operatic stage experience—as an adult, he sang only two performances of an opera before his film career—his voice was praised by critics and conductors. Serge Koussevitzky reportedly told him, "Yours is a voice such as is heard once in a hundred years." Lanza's legacy is complicated by his personal struggles with overeating and alcohol, which contributed to his early death at 38. He never fully realized his operatic ambitions, though at the time of his death he was preparing to return to opera, with plans to sing Canio in Leoncavallo's *Pagliacci* during the Rome Opera's 1960–61 season. His impact on popularizing opera in film remains notable.

Did You Know?

• Lanza was born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza and adopted the stage name Mario Lanza because of its similarity to his mother's maiden name, Maria Lanza.
• At age 16, his vocal talent became apparent, and he started out in local operatic productions for the YMCA Opera Company in Philadelphia.
• Serge Koussevitzky provided him a full student scholarship to the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood in 1942, reportedly telling him, 'Yours is a voice such as is heard once in a hundred years.'
• Lanza's first commercial recordings for RCA Victor in May 1949 included the aria 'Che gelida manina' from *La bohème*, which was awarded Operatic Recording of the Year by the National Record Critics Association.
• At the time of his death, Lanza was planning to make his return to opera as Canio in Leoncavallo's *Pagliacci* during the Rome Opera's 1960–61 season.

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