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.

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.

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 fired by MGM.

[4] 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."

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.

"[8] He made the first of his few appearances in opera as Fenton in Otto Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor (in English) at the Berkshire Music Festival in Tanglewood on August 7, 1942 after a period of study with conductors Boris Goldovsky and Leonard Bernstein.

Lanza sang Nicolai's Fenton twice at Tanglewood, in addition to appearing there in a one-off presentation of Act III of Puccini's La bohème with the noted Mexican soprano Irma González, baritone James Pease and mezzo-soprano Laura Castellano.

Music critic Jay C. Rosenfeld wrote in The New York Times of August 9, 1942, "Irma González as Mimì and Mario Lanza as Rodolfo were conspicuous by the beauty of their voices and the vividness of their characterizations."

[10] Lanza's aspiring operatic career was interrupted in World War II when he was assigned to Special Services in the U.S. Army Air Corps.

He resumed his singing career with a concert in Atlantic City, New Jersey with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in September 1945 under Peter Herman Adler, subsequently his mentor.

[11] Lanza studied with Enrico Rosati for 15 months, and then embarked on an 86-concert tour of the United States, Canada and Mexico between July 1947 and May 1948 with bass George London and soprano Frances Yeend.

"[12] In April 1948, Lanza sang two performances as Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly for the New Orleans Opera Association conducted by Walter Herbert with stage director Armando Agnini.

But, as biographer Armando Cesari wrote, Lanza by 1949 "was already deeply engulfed in the Hollywood machinery and consequently never learned [that key mid-Verdi tenor] role.

The contract required him to commit to the studio for six months of the year and Lanza initially believed he would be able to combine his film career with his operatic and concert appearances.

[17] Lanza's first two starring films, That Midnight Kiss and The Toast of New Orleans, both opposite top-billed Kathryn Grayson, were commercial successes, and in 1950, his recording of "Be My Love" from the latter became the first of three million-selling singles for the young tenor, earning him enormous fame in the process.

Shortly before his own death in 1987, Enrico Jr. wrote in Enrico Caruso: My Father and My Family (posthumously published in 1990) that:I can think of no other tenor, before or since Mario Lanza, who could have risen with comparable success to the challenge of playing Caruso in a screen biography ... Lanza was born with one of the dozen or so great tenor voices of the century, with a natural voice placement, an unmistakable and very pleasing timbre, and a nearly infallible musical instinct.

MGM refused to replace Bernhardt, and the film was subsequently made starring English actor Edmund Purdom, who lip-synched to Lanza's dubbed singing voice.

[21] Depressed by his dismissal, and with his self-confidence severely undermined, Lanza became a virtual recluse for more than a year, frequently seeking refuge in alcoholic binges.

During this period, Lanza also came very close to bankruptcy as a result of poor investment decisions by his former manager, and his lavish spending habits left him owing about $250,000 in back taxes to the IRS.

It was then that he came to the attention of that opera house's artistic director, Riccardo Vitale, who promptly offered the tenor carte blanche in his choice of operatic roles.

[15] At the same time, however, his health continued to decline, with the tenor suffering from a variety of ailments, including phlebitis and acute high blood pressure.

While in the clinic, he underwent a controversial weight loss program colloquially known as "the twilight sleep treatment", which required its patients to be kept immobile and sedated for prolonged periods.

[35] He was referred to by some sources as the "new Caruso" after his "instant success" in Hollywood films,[36] while MGM hoped he would become the movie studio's "singing Clark Gable" for his good looks and powerful voice.

His films, especially The Great Caruso, influenced several future opera stars, including Joseph Calleja, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, and Vyacheslav Polozov.

[40][6] According to opera historian Clyde McCants, "Of all the Hollywood singers who performed operatic music...the one who made the greatest impact was Mario Lanza.