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Mario Lanfranchi (born Parma, Italy, June 30, 1927) is an Italian film, theatre and television director, screenwriter, producer, collector and actor.〔Director M. Lanfranchi is frequently credited with performances as a film actor (even by IMDB), while it's a mere case of homonimy. His only appearance in a film has been a cameo (The Doctor) in his own ''The Merciless Man'' (Genova a Mano Armata, 1976), and that was only to help the production in trouble for the sudden illness of an actor. See director's disambiguation and clarification in his long interview with film critic-historian Renato Venturelli, in Cinema & Generi 2010, Le Mani 2010, quoted in the bibliography.〕 After receiving a degree at the Drama Academy (Accademia dei Filodrammatici) of Milan in the early 1950s, he was hired by Sergio Pugliese at RAI, at the onset of Italian television. He was the first to bring opera to the small screen, in 1956, with ''Madama Butterfly'', by Giacomo Puccini, which introduced to a wide public Anna Moffo, at that time an unknown American soprano, who became his wife (1957–1974 div.). In 1967 he began his career as a film director with the western movie ''Sentenza di morte'' (Sentence of Death). He lives in a 16th Century villa in Santa Maria del Piano outside Parma. == Biography == Since childhood he absorbed at home the atmosphere of theatre and music. He was even held at baptism by two famous singers of the period, the tenor Francesco Merli and the soprano Mercedes Caspir, and as a very young man he was personally acquainted with some of the most notable singers, including Maria Caniglia, Ebe Stignani, Beniamino Gigli, Gino Bechi as well as promising operatic newcomers like Mario Del Monaco. His father Guido (1895–1957), a music enthusiast and especially an opera-lover, had been the president of the theatre commission and later the superintendent of the Teatro Regio (Royal Theatre) of Parma, and was later entrusted with other important responsibilities in the field of editing and administration of the daily newspaper ''Il Tempo di Milano'', besides ''Il Sole'' and ''24 Ore'', two important financial dailies that later merged under the single banner of ''Il Sole 24 Ore''. After observing the restrictions which afflicted the lives of many actors, the elder Lanfranchi would have preferred to see his son in major managerial positions of important companies and so he tried to dissuade the young Mario from his interests in theatre and acting. At the end they balanced a prudent degree in jurisprudence with courses in acting and directing at the Accademia dei Filodrammatici (Drama Academy) of Milan. Mario already lived at the time in the Lombard capital of Milan where, after the devastating April–May 1944 bombings of Parma, prompted by the nearby rail and highway junctions, the family had moved him in with friends, assured that in the shadow of the nearby church's protective Madonna, he would be safer. * During the final tryout at the Academy he was noticed by leading actor Gianni Santuccio, who would shortly end his relations with Piccolo Teatro (Milan) as a result of a major argument with director Giorgio Strehler, and he offered to a stunned and emotional Mario Lanfranchi, the job of directing his new show at the Teatro Manzoni for a newly formed company that featured Lilla Brignone. It turned out very well, and there followed opportunities to direct other works, including opera, since in the meantime he had also had his 'baptism' in lyric opera at the Teatro Morlacchi of Perugia through the assistance of the publisher and impresario from Bologna, Carlo Alberto Cappelli. * Before entrusting him with the direction of an operatic work, Cappelli had tested him by assigning him to oversee the practical details of an important project in collaboration with the two famous impresarios Eugene Iskoldoff and Peter Daubeny. That was the 1952 English tour of an Italian opera company specifically formed for the occasion, with singers from La Scala and major names like Tito Gobbi and Magda Olivero. The "National Italian Opera Company" debuted at London's Stoll Theatre, remained on the program for two months and for another two months was taken on a triumphal tour of the major English cities. Its success was such that the tour was repeated the following year. Additionally, the event had such a considerable impact that the 25-year -old director was included in the list of invited guests at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. ''“A grand and unforgettable spectacle”'', as this man of the theatre likes to recall it. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mario Lanfranchi」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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