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Mario Lanza
Sign in to saveAlso known as Alfredo Arnold Cocozza, Alfred Arnold Cocozza
American tenor and actor (1921-1959)
OverviewAI-generated
Alfred Arnold Cocozza, known professionally as Mario Lanza, was an American tenor and film actor. Born in Philadelphia on January 31, 1921, he began his work period in 1944 and was influenced by Enrico Caruso. Lanza recorded for RCA Victor and participated in World War II. He died of natural causes, specifically a myocardial infarction, in Rome on October 7, 1959.
His voice type was tenor, and his genre included opera. He is recognized in the Hollywood Walk Of Fame collection. Lanza is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery. His given names were Alfred and Arnold, and his birth name was Alfred Arnold Cocozza.
Synthesized by Vinony from 36 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, TMDb, Firecrawl, Vinony collections. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film & TV
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Known for
- Mario Lanza: The Best of Everything2017
- Legends — Self (archive footage)2006
- Singing to the Gods: Mario Lanza — Self (Archive Footage)2005
- The Art of Singing: Golden Voices of the Century1998
- Mario Lanza: The American Caruso — Self (archive footage)1983
- That's Entertainment! — (archive footage) (uncredited)1974
- Hollywood: The Dream Factory — Self (archive footage)1972
- For the First Time — Tonio Costa1959
- Seven Hills of Rome — Marc Revere1957
- Serenade — Damon Vincenti1956
via TMDB
Listeners · Last.fm
- Listeners
- 138,272
- Total plays
- 673,811
Tags
Mario Lanza (31 January 1921 – 7 October 1959) was an American operatic tenor and Hollywood movie star who enjoyed success in the 1950s. His voice was considered by many to rival that of Enrico Caruso, whom Lanza portrayed in the 1951 film The Great Caruso. Lanza was able to sing all types of music. While his highly emotional style was not universally praised by critics, he was immensely popular and his many recordings are still prized today. Operatic career: <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/
Key facts
- Born
- Alfredo Arnold Cocozza , ( 1921-01-31 ) January 31, 1921, Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, U.S.
- Died
- October 7, 1959 (1959-10-07) (aged 38), Rome , Lazio, Italy
- Education
- Berkshire Music Center
- Occupations
- Tenor actor
- Years active
- 1942–1959
- Spouse
- Betty Hicks ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1945 )
via Wikipedia infobox
Official website
Mario Lanza
lanzalegend.com →Link to the official site · 21,776 chars · not written by Vinony
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Arnold
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Philadelphia
- Place of death
- Rome
- Occupation
- recording artist
- Languages spoken
- Italian
- Genre
- opera
- Instrument
- voice
- Record label
- RCA Victor
- Conflict
- World War II
- Official website
- www.lanzalegend.com
- Image
- Mario Lanza foto 2 - collezione Tino Barindelli.tif
- Voice type
- tenor
Show 13 more facts
- Commons category
- Mario Lanza
- cause of death
- myocardial infarction
- date of birth
- 1921-01-31
- date of death
- 1959-10-07
- Commons gallery
- Mario Lanza
- place of burial
- Holy Cross Cemetery
- manner of death
- natural causes
- start of work period
- 1944-00-00
- influenced by
- Enrico Caruso
- end of work period
- 1959-00-00
- pseudonym
- Mario Lanza
- birth name
- Alfred Arnold Cocozza
- name in native language
- Mario Lanza
Sources (7)
via Wikidata · CC0
~21 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Mario Lanza ( US: /ˈlɑːnzə, ˈlænzə/ LA(H)N-zə, Italian: [ˈmaːrjo ˈlantsa]; born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza [alˈfreːdo koˈkottsa]; January 31, 1921 – October 7, 1959) was an American tenor and actor. He was a Hollywood film star popular in 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 that, the adult Lanza sang only two performances of an opera. The following year (1948) he sang the role of Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly in New Orleans.
His film debut for MGM was in That Midnight Kiss (1949) with Kathryn Grayson and Ethel Barrymore. A year later, in The Toast of New Orleans, his featured popular song "Be My Love" became his first million-selling hit. In 1951, he starred as tenor Enrico Caruso, his 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 11th top-grossing film that year.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Mario Lanza” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.