Mario Lanza

Lore & Background

Lanza began studying to be a professional singer at age 16. After appearing at the Hollywood Bowl in 1947, he signed a seven-year film contract with Louis B. Mayer of MGM. Prior to that, the adult Lanza sang only two performances of an opera. In 1948 he sang the role of Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly in New Orleans.

His film debut was That Midnight Kiss (1949). The Toast of New Orleans (1950) featured 'Be My Love,' his first million-selling hit. In 1951 he starred as Enrico Caruso in The Great Caruso, which produced another million-seller with 'The Loveliest Night of the Year.' The title song of Because You're Mine was his final million-selling hit and received an Academy Award nomination.

After recording the soundtrack for The Student Prince, he battled with studio head Dore Schary and was fired by MGM. He suffered from addictions to overeating and alcohol. He made three more films before dying of an apparent pulmonary embolism at age 38. At his death he was still 'the most famous tenor in the world.'

Reader's Guide

Lanza made his first opera appearance as Fenton in The Merry Wives of Windsor at Tanglewood on August 7, 1942. He sang Fenton twice at Tanglewood and appeared in a presentation of Act III of La bohème. His aspiring operatic career was interrupted by World War II, during which he served in Special Services in the U.S. Army Air Corps. After the war, he resumed his career with a concert in Atlantic City in September 1945.

He studied with Enrico Rosati for 15 months and then embarked on an 86-concert tour from July 1947 to May 1948. In April 1948 he sang two performances as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly for the New Orleans Opera Association. At the time of his death, he was preparing to return to opera, planning to sing Canio in Pagliacci during the Rome Opera's 1960–61 season.

Did You Know?

• Lanza adopted his stage name because of its similarity to his mother's maiden name, Maria Lanza.
• Conductor Serge Koussevitzky told Lanza, 'Yours is a voice such as is heard once in a hundred years.'