Italian movie and stage director Franco Zeffirelli has died, aged 96

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48648278

 

Perhaps most famous for his Shakespeare-movies, "The Taming of the Shrew" (with Taylor/Burton), "Romeo and Juliet" and "Hamlet (with Mel Gibson), but also for his epic mini-series "Jesus of Nazareth"

 

For some young people, his Romeo and Juliet was their first (adult-sanctioned) experience seeing nudity. I distinctly remember Leonard Whiting’s backside in my seventh grade English class.

He also directed the fantastic, and semi-autobiographical, "Tea with Mussolini". Any movie which has Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Judi Dench and Dame Joan Plowright among its cast can only be marvelous, and when you add Lily Tomlin and Cher, it's movie magic. (Of interest on this site dedicated to soaps is of course that Paolo Seganti (Damian Grimaldi on "As the World Turns") has a pivotal role in this movie too)

 

On the downside he seems to have had some questionable personal opinions, serving as a senator for Silvio Berlusconi's populist "Forza Italia", and he has been accused of sexual harassment more than once.

Edited June 15, 20196 yr by I Am A Swede