Franco Zeffirelli

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Franco Zeffirelli
Born	12 February, 1923 Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Franco Zeffirelli (born Gianfranco Corsi on February 12, 1923), is an Italian film director. He is also an opera director, designer and producer of opera, theatre, film and television.

Internationally, he is best known for having directed the 1968 film version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet for which he won an Academy Award nomination. His 1977 television mini-series Jesus of Nazareth also won acclaim and is still shown on Easter weekend in many countries.

Zeffirelli was born and grew up in Florence, under the auspices of the British expatriate community and was particularly involved with the so-called Scorpioni who inspired his semi-autobiographical 1999 film Tea With Mussolini.

During World War II, he fought as a partisan before he met up with the British soldiers of the 1st Scots Guards and became their interpreter. In the post war years, he studied art and architecture at the University of Florence, and worked with directors such as Vittorio De Sica, Roberto Rossellini and Luchino Visconti.

In the 1960s, he made his name designing and directing his own plays in London and New York, and soon transferred his ideas to cinema.

Zeffirelli has also been a major director of opera productions since the 1950s in Italy, Europe, and the USA. Of particular note is his 1964 Royal Opera House production of Tosca with Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi, and several productions for the Metropolitan Opera in New York, including La bohème and Turandot.

In November 2004 he was awarded an honorary knighthood by the United Kingdom. In 1999 he received the Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Zeffirelli has also been a member of the Italian senate since 1996, representing the Forza Italia party.