When the great Italian director of screen and stage, Franco Zeffirelli, passed away on June 15, 2019, obituaries and tributes to the man primarily focused on his 1968 film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. The film, which starred Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey as the title characters, was Zeffirelli’s biggest hit and one of the most popular Shakespeare screen adaptations, but was hardly the sole accomplishment of a man who had been creating art for over sixty years.
Romeo & Juliet was one of three Shakespeare plays that Zeffirelli brought to the big screen. A year earlier he had directed Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in The Taming of the Shrew, and in 1990 cast Mel Gibson as Hamlet. Away from Shakespeare, in 1979 Zeffirelli remade The Champ with 8-year-old Ricky Schroder and directed the young Brooke Shields in the vastly underrated Endless Love in 1981. A midlife return to his Catholic upbringing, in 1972 Zeffirelli directed a little-known gem, Brother Sun, Sister Moon, a film about St. Francis of Assisi, as well as the landmark 1977 miniseries, Jesus of Nazareth. Zeffirelli also directed operas on both stage and screen, often working with the famed diva Maria Callas, who was the subject of his final film, 2002’s Callas Forever. In 2004, Franco Zeffirelli was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Gian Franco Corso Zeffirelli was born in Florence, Italy on February 12, 1926. In his 1986 memoir, The Autobiography of Franco Zeffirelli, the future director wrote that he was the product of an affair between Florentine Alaide Garosi, a fashion designer, and Ottorino Corsi, a dealer in wool and silk. As both were married and could not carry on the surname of either parent, Florentine gave her son the last name “Zeffiretti”, which was misspelled in the register as “Zeffirelli”.
After the death of his mother at age six, young Franco grew up among the Scorpioni, a group of middle-aged women with an unusual sense of humor who spent much of their time at Gran Caffe Doney, an English cafeteria located at Via Tornabuoni. The Scorpioni were the subject of Zeffirelli’s 1999 film Tea with Mussolini with Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Joan Plowright as characters based on those Zeffirelli had known.
In 1941 Zeffirelli enrolled in the University of Florence, but his studies were cut short by World War II as the art student joined the Italian resistance against the Benito Mussolini led Italian Social Republic and its masters, Nazi Germany. In his autobiography, Zeffirelli went into great detail about his time with the resistance, the hardships of being a rouge against the state and eventually joining up with the 1st Scots Guard, a regiment of British soldiers with whom he served as an interpreter. This event was also the inspiration for a scene in Tea with Mussolini in which a teenaged Italian boy encounters the Guard.
After World War II came to an end, Zeffirelli returned to his studies at the University of Florence, but instead of focusing on art and architecture, Zeffirelli changed his career aspirations to theater after seeing a production of Henry V with Laurence Olivier.
Working in theater, Zeffirelli collaborated with directors like Luchino Visconti, Vittorio De Sica and Robert Rossellini. In The Autobiography of Franco Zeffirelli, Franco wrote about his years spent with Visconti, whom he met as set painter in Florence and who would appoint him as an assistant director on his 1948 film Le Terra Trema, inspired by an 1881 novel I Malavoglia by Giovanni Verga. It was while working with his mentor Visconti that Zeffirelli began his lifelong involvement in the opera.
Zeffirelli staged his first production of Romeo & Juliet on stage in 1960. Up until then Zeffirelli was most associated with the opera, but wished to start the new decade off with a major change in artistic direction. The play was first staged at the Royal Victoria Theatre (frequently referred to as “Old Vic”) in London with then unknowns John Stride and Judi Dench (now Dame Judi) as the doomed teenage lovers. Romeo & Juliet was a huge success.
It only seemed natural that Franco Zeffirelli’s transition from the stage to the screen would be through the work of William Shakespeare. His first film, though, would not be Romeo & Juliet but rather The Taming of the Shrew. The film was initially to star Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, but the leading roles eventually went to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, two of Hollywood’s biggest stars at the time and friends of Zeffirelli’s. The added bonus of having two stars attached to the project was that not only did the film have big names as a selling point for Columbia Pictures, but Burton and Taylor helped finance it.
The Taming of the Shrew was a modest success at the box office, but enough of a hit that with the combined popularity of Zeffirelli’s stage production of Romeo & Juliet, Paramount Pictures agreed (though reluctantly) to back a film version of William Shakespeare’s most famous play. Romeo & Juliet would be made for only a fraction (less than a million dollars) of The Taming of the Shrew, but was to be a much bigger hit than anyone expected.
At first Paramount was reluctant to produce Romeo & Juliet. The Taming of the Shrew had only been a minor hit and the studio felt that was more a result of the star power of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton than the name William Shakespeare. It was the era of Bonnie & Clyde and Easy Rider, and the studio did not see much commercial prospect in a Shakespeare play. Especially as Zeffirelli was insistent on casting unknowns as the title characters. Zeffirelli credited Bud Ornstein, Paramount’s head of production, for believing in the film. Ornstein had seen Zeffirelli’s stage production of Romeo & Juliet and felt there was potential in a film version. The studio brass finally agreed, on the strict stipulation that the budget be kept at a minimum.
Throughout his career, Franco Zeffirelli has shown great ability in getting strong performances out of young child actors, including Brooke Shields and Ricky Schroder. This began with Romeo & Juliet when he cast seventeen-year-old Leonard Whiting as Romeo Montague and sixteen-year-old Olivia Hussey as Juliet Capulet.
In her 2018 autobiography The Girl on the Balcony: Olivia Hussey Finds Life After Romeo & Juliet (written with Alexander Martin), Olivia wrote that Zeffirelli was protective of her but always treated her as an adult. The actress was admittedly shy and apprehensive about appearing naked in the film’s bedroom scene where the teens make love. The scene was very controversial at the time, as it showed the sixteen-year-old Hussey nude. The scene was shot at the end of the production and Hussey credited Zeffirelli’s belief in her and her co-star Leonard Whiting’s playfulness during filming in making the scene she had feared throughout principal photography relatively easy.
Casting unknowns in Romeo & Juliet was a wise choice in Zeffirelli’s creative decision-making. With unknowns, the actors are bringing little to no baggage to roles and to the film, allowing the audience to get lost in the characters and the story. Viewers were not watching Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, but rather Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet. I think this investment in the characters while knowing their ultimate fate is what makes the film so powerful.
Romeo & Juliet was a critical and commercial hit, earning Zeffirelli an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. Twenty-two years later, Zeffirelli returned to the work of William Shakespeare with the 1990 film Hamlet, casting then action movie star Mel Gibson against type as the title character. The film came out well, if not matching the power of Romeo & Juliet.
One of Franco Zeffirelli’s greatest achievements is his 1972 film Brother Sun, Sister Moon, a story about the life of Saint Francis of Assisi. Like all of Zeffirelli’s films, it is filmed with a lush beauty, and boasts a strong performance by Graham Faulkner as Francesco di Bernardone (St. Francis of Assisi) and features songs by the Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan (after Paul Simon declined), who was popular at the time. The film received extremely negative reviews by film critics who felt the story was too nice for its own good. Brother Sun, Sister Moon is quite a remarkable film, though.
Going from opera and William Shakespeare to religions and biblical films like Brother Sun, Sister Moon and the popular 1977 television miniseries Jesus of Nazareth was a result of Franco Zeffirelli having a near-death experience.
Like many, Zeffirelli had grown up with a strict Catholic upbringing, but as an adult had drifted away from the church. What brought him back was a fateful drive from Rome to Florence with Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida to a football game in 1969, when the actress lost control of the car and it spun off the road, leaving both occupants seriously injured. Not long before, Zeffirelli had been driving along the same road during severe weather conditions and had just missed hitting an overturned motercoach. Climbing aboard the coach, Zeffirelli heard quiet chanting, which turned out to be a group of Jesuit priests in prayer. Zeffirelli helped get the Jesuits to Salvator Mundi in Rome and to the best medical treatment possible. In the aftermath of these two traumatic, life-changing incidents, Franco found himself returning to his childhood faith.
Franco Zeffirelli spent two years of his life working on the landmark television mini-series, Jesus of Nazareth, which more than forty years later remains one of the most authentic stories on the life of Jesus Christ. The screenplay was co-written by Anthony Burgess, the author of the controversial novel A Clockwork Orange (which was adapted to the screen by Stanley Kubrick in 1971). Zeffirelli, Burgess, and the film’s executive producer Lew Grade wanted to make the most realistic portrait of Jesus Christ that was possible, stressing the humanity of the man. In Jesus of Nazareth, we see not just Jesus, the son of God, but Jesus the human being.
Early in the casting of Jesus of Nazareth, screen legend Lawrence Olivier was cast in the small role of Nicodemus. Zeffirelli wrote in his autobiography that with the popularity of religious inspired films during the 1970s and Olivier’s part in the film, big name stars wanted aboard. The miniseries became an all-star production with Anthony Quinn as Caiaphas, Ernest Borgnine as the Centurion, Peter Ustinov as Herod, Christopher Plummer as Herod Antipas, James Mason as Joseph of Arimathea, and Ralph Richardson as Simone. Zeffirelli wanted Elizabeth Taylor as Mary Magdalene, but the actress was ill and the part went to Ann Bancroft. Michael York, who had played Lucentio in The Taming of the Shrew and Tybalt in Romeo & Juliet, appeared in his third film for Zeffirelli as John the Baptist. After considering other actresses for the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus, Zeffirelli cast Olivia Hussey, the young actress who had played a very major role in the success of Romeo & Juliet nearly a decade earlier. After achieving stardom at age sixteen as Juliet Capulet, her years following Romeo & Juliet had been a difficult time for the young actress. Olivia had appeared, though, in several successful films, possibly most notably the 1974 cult slasher movie Black Christmas, but was more than eager to work once again with Zeffirelli, whom she considered to be almost a father. English actor Robert Powell, who had been in several films including Ken Russell’s rock musical Tommy (based upon The Who’s album of the same name), won the role of Jesus after only two auditions with Zeffirelli.
Jesus of Nazareth aired around the world in March and April 1977, with the NBC network airing it in two parts to massive ratings. The peacock network would rebroadcast the mini-series in 1979, 1980, 1984, 1987, and 1990. Jesus of Nazareth was one of several highly rated mini-series that aired on network television during the late 70s and early 80s, including the David Wolper productions of Alex Haley’s Roots (1978) and Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds (1983), the Harve Bennett produced Rich Man, Poor Man (1976) and A Woman Called Golda (1982) and James Clavell’s Shogun (1980).
With the possible exception of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth remains the definitive story of Jesus Christ. After more than 40 years it remains a powerful piece of television. Franco Zeffirelli considered Jesus of Nazareth to be his greatest film.
After directing a high rated mini-series, Zeffirelli (now in his 50s) went Hollywood. He moved to Las Angeles part time to make films beginning with 1979’s The Champ, a remake of the 1931 film of the same name with Jackie Cooper. It was a film that Zeffirelli loved as a child.
The Champ is the story of Billy Flynn (Jon Voight), an ex-boxer who returns to the ring to earn money to raise his son Timothy (Ricky Schroder), and win back his ex-wife Annie (Faye Dunaway). Despite having then big-name stars Dunaway and Voight, The Champ is best remembered for young Ricky Schroder’s heartfelt performance as he cries over his dead father’s body, begging “The Champ” to come back to him. Schroder’s performance ranks along with Linda Blair in The Exorcist (1973) and Tatum O’Neil in Paper Moon (also 1973) and is one of the best performances by a pre-teen during the 1970s. The Champ received mixed reviews from the critics, but did good box office.
Producers Jon Peters and Peter Guber signed Zeffirelli to direct a film adaptation of Scott Spencer’s superb 1979 coming of age novel Endless Love, to star Brooke Shields as the story’s heroine, fifteen-year-old Jade Butterfield. The child model and actress, barely in her teens, had achieved superstar status with the 1980 film The Blue Lagoon. Zeffirelli had liked Spencer’s novel and thought young Brooke to be talented and took the film with the stipulation that Peters and Guber stay away from the production and that his usual producer, Dyson Lovell, oversee the film.
Brooke’s costar in Endless Love was to be 22-year-old unknown Martin Hewitt, who was picked for the role of seventeen-year old David Axelrod, out of 500 actors who auditioned. Jade and David are two teens in Chicago whose passionate love affair soon grows so intense that it threatens to tear their families apart and possibly destroy their very lives. The impressive supporting cast included Don Murray, Richard Kiley, Beatrice Straight, Shirley Knight, a young James Spader and Tom Cruise in his first film, appearing in a very small role.
Zeffirelli went into Endless Love with high expectations and came away disappointed. During filming in Chicago, New York City and Long Island, the director began to sense he was not getting the performances from the actors he wanted, though he still believed in Brooke Shields. Though he pulled a wonderful performance out of the young actress, it was difficult on the teenager. In her 2014 book There Was a Little Girl: The Real Story of My Mother and Me, Shields wrote that Zeffirelli was often drunk on the set and verbally abusive of her. Though she has no regrets, as she feels Endless Love is her best performance. When producer Peters convinced Zeffirelli to cut the film to a shorter length, he felt the final product suffered even more.
Endless Love was panned by critics. Scott Spencer, who wrote the novel that the book was based on, was especially critical of the movie, feeling that Zeffirelli had glorified an unhealthy relationship. What most critics failed to understand was that Endless Love is not so much a story about love, as it is about obsession and the fine line between the two. I see the film as nothing less than an underrated masterpiece.
Despite the very negative reviews, thanks in no small part to Brooke Shield’s popularity and the number one title song by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross, Endless Love did well at the box office. Still, the film left a bad taste in Zeffirelli’s mouth and he would not make another Hollywood film until Hamlet, and never another mainstream Hollywood film. The critical lashing he took with The Champ and Endless Love sent Zeffirelli back to his beloved opera.
In America, where opera is not as popular as it is in Europe, Franco Zeffirelli will no doubt be best remembered for his Romeo & Juliet, while Jesus of Nazareth remains an Easter tradition for many. Still, other Zeffirelli films like Brother Sun, Sister Moon and Endless Love are equally memorable. Franco Zeffirelli was a true artist in every sense of the word. The world of stage and screen will not be the same without him.
This article is dedicated to the memory of the late, great Franco Zeffirelli. Also to Achelle, Amalia, and Avellina.