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Mario Lanza (born Alfred Arnold Cocozza; January 31, 1921 – October 7, 1959) was an American tenor, actor and Hollywood film star of the late 1940s and the 1950s. Lanza began studying to be a professional singer at the age of 16. After appearing at the Hollywood Bowl in 1947, Lanza signed a seven-year film contract with Louis B. Mayer, the head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer who saw his performance and was impressed by his singing. Prior to this, the adult Lanza had sung only two performances of an opera. The following year (1948), however, he would sing the role of Pinkerton in Puccini's ''Madama Butterfly'' in New Orleans.〔Bessette, Roland L. ''Mario Lanza: Tenor in Exile'', Amadeus (1999), p. 65〕 His film debut was in ''That Midnight Kiss'' (1949) with Kathryn Grayson and Ethel Barrymore. The following year, in ''The Toast of New Orleans'', his featured popular song "Be My Love" became his first million-selling hit. In 1951, he played the role of Enrico Caruso (1873–1921), his tenor idol, in the biopic, ''The Great Caruso'', which produced another million-seller with "The Loveliest Night of the Year" (a song which used the melody of ''Sobre las Olas''). ''The Great Caruso'' was the top-grossing film that year.〔Vogel, Michelle. ''Children of Hollywood'', McFarland (2005), p. 65.〕 The title song of his next film, ''Because You're Mine'', was his final million-selling hit song. The song went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. After recording the soundtrack for his next film, ''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 dismissed by MGM.〔(Mario Lanza profile ), imdb.com; accessed March 30, 2015.〕 Lanza was known to be "rebellious, tough, and ambitious",〔 and 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 writes that "his smile, which was as big as his voice, was matched with the habits of a tiger cub, impossible to housebreak". She adds that he was the "last of the great romantic performers".〔Hopper, Hedda. ''The Whole Truth and Nothing But'', Pyramid Books (1963), chapter 18.〕 He made three more films before dying of an apparent pulmonary embolism at the age of 38. At the time of his death in 1959 he was still "the most famous tenor in the world".〔 Author Eleonora Kimmel concludes that Lanza "blazed like a meteor whose light lasts a brief moment in time".〔Kimmel, Eleonora. ''Altered and Unfinished Lives'', A.F.A. (2006) p. 191.〕 ==Early years== Born Alfred Arnold Cocozza in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was exposed to classical singing at an early age by his Abruzzese-Molisan Italian parents. His mother, Maria Lanza, was from Tocco da Casauria a province of Pescara in the region of Abruzzo. His father, Antonio Cocozza, was from the town of Filignano a province of Isernia in the region of Molise. By age 16, his vocal talent had become apparent. Starting out in local operatic productions in Philadelphia for the YMCA Opera Company while still in his teens, he later came to the attention of longtime (1924–49) principal Boston Symphony conductor Serge Koussevitzky. In 1942, Koussevitzky provided young Cocozza with a full student scholarship to the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, Massachusetts. Reportedly, Koussevitzky would later tell him, "Yours is a voice such as is heard once in a hundred years."〔Briggs, John. ''Leonard Bernstein: The Man, His Work, and His World'', World Pub. (1961), p. 55.〕 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 Lanza」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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