Franco Zeffirelli dead – Italian film director of Romeo and Juliet dies aged 96
ITALIAN film director Franco Zeffirelli has died at the age of 96.
The film legend was best known for his movies including the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
Zefffirelli's son Luciano said his father died after a short illness at his home in Rome at noon on Saturday.
He said: "He had suffered for a while, but he left in a peaceful way."
Zeffirelli delighted audiences around the world with his romantic vision and often extravagant productions, most famously captured in his cinematic rendering of Romeo and Juliet and the miniseries Jesus of Nazareth.
Showing great flexibility, he produced classics for the world's most famous opera houses, from Milan's venerable La Scala to the Metropolitan in New York, and plays for London and Italian stages.
He directed more than two dozen films, working with stars including Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier, Alec Guinness, Faye Dunaway, and Jon Voight.
Often appreciated more by the public than critics, Zeffirelli was the last of a generation of Italian film giants who came of age after World War Two and included Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti and Vittorio De Sica.
Claiming no favourites, Zeffirelli once likened himself to a sultan with a harem of three: film, theater and opera.
Speaking in 2006, he said: "I am not a film director. I am a director who uses different instruments to express his dreams and his stories to make people dream."
RISE TO THE TOP
From his illegitimate birth on the outskirts of Florence on Feb. 12, 1923, Zeffirelli rose to be one of Italy's most prolific directors, working with such opera greats as Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and his beloved Maria Callas, as well Hollywood stars including Mel Gibson, Cher and Judi Dench.
Throughout his career, Zeffirelli took risks and his audacity paid off at the box office.
His screen success in America was a rarity among Italian filmmakers, and he prided himself on knowing the tastes of modern moviegoers.
He was one of the few Italian directors close to the Vatican, and the church turned to Zeffirelli's theatrical touch for live telecasts of the 1978 papal installation and the 1983 Holy Year opening ceremonies in St. Peter's Basilica.
Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi also tapped him to direct a few high-profile events.
But Zeffirelli was best known outside Italy for his colourful, softly-focused romantic films.
His 1978 Romeo and Juliet brought Shakespeare's story to a new and appreciative generation, and his Brother Sun, Sister Moon told the life of St. Francis in parables involving modern and 13th-century youth.
He received an honorary knighthood from the British government in 20014, made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Dario Nardella, the mayor of Zeffirelli's home city of Florence, announced on Twitter: "Franco Zeffirelli, one of the world's greatest men of culture, passed away this morning.
"Goodbye dear Maestro, Florence will never forget you."