‘He could act, he could sing and he was handsome!’: Daughter of Mario Lanza on one of the first true superstars

MARIO LANZA was one of the first true superstars.

His records sold by the million, his films packed out picture houses and he was one of the great pin-ups of his day.

And despite the fact he died tragically young at only 38, after starring in just three Hollywood movies, Mario’s fame is still such that a new documentary has just been released almost 60 years later.

“It’s really amazing,” says his daughter Ellisa.

“But he was and is unique, he had a great talent and people still appreciate it after all these years.

“Everyone’s heard of Mario Lanza. Everyone starts out with rock ’n’ roll — including myself, my sister and my brothers! — but the wonderful thing about my father was that he was able to sing opera and he also sang popular music, something for everybody.

“I lost my father at nine and the fact he’s still so popular means his career was not in vain — it didn’t die with him.

“He could act, he could sing and he was handsome, so he was, what would you call it, a triple threat?

“His movies are what really helped him be introduced to the young tenors and sopranos and people who really love opera, so even people like Luciano Pavarotti, Carreras and Domingo queued up to praise him.”

What they praise most is the voice of Alfred Cocozza, who took the stage name Mario Lanza after his mother’s maiden name Maria Lanza.

“Well, you could say I’m prejudiced in this respect, but I truly believe when I hear him that it could be only him — his voice is so unique,” says Ellisa.

“Elvis Presley appreciated him. I know that they met, and Elvis and his fiancée at the time when he was stationed in Germany — Priscilla — would listen to his music, so he did influence Elvis.

“Also, Frank Sinatra and my father became friends and appreciated each other’s music.”

Hedda Hopper, the actress and newspaper columnist, called Mario “the last of the great romantic performers”.

Ellisa explains: “I feel that when my father sang, he sang from the heart, so I understand that comment.

“Even if you didn’t understand him, if he was singing opera in the original Italian, French or German, he could convey what the music was about just through the emotion, and that’s what she meant because he felt everything he sang.

“That was part of the gift, part of the ability to communicate to people.

“Audiences would go wild because he sang to them, it was the feeling as if he was just singing to you.

“My father had stage fright. Every time he went out, he was nervous, but he always wanted to give the audience his best and once he got out there, he had complete command.”

Maybe that’s something he got from listening to his own father’s records of Enrico Caruso, the great Italian operatic tenor?

“Oh my gosh, my grandfather loved Enrico Caruso!” says Ellisa. “My father could sing, but my grandparents didn’t know he could until he asked them if he could have voice lessons.

“They were just as surprised as anyone that he had this desire in him, and Enrico Caruso was a great influence on him.

“So it meant a lot to him when he played Caruso in a biopic. The Great Caruso is the movie that influences tenors today.”

While Mario loved opera and Caruso, he actually only sang in operas twice.

“He received good reviews for his opera debut in The Merry Wives of Windsor — and then he was drafted!” laughs Ellisa.

“But at least that meant he met my mother, Betty, who was the sister of one of his buddies in the Air Corps. They were in the Special Services, entertaining the troops — thank goodness he wasn’t sent overseas!

“After that, my father was travelling the country doing concert tours, but the opera requires so much discipline, and once he arrived in Hollywood, I think the lure of the movies — and the fact he could both sing and act — meant he just gravitated towards that.

“Also the movies paid a lot better and he had four children and needed to pay the bills!

“But if he’d gone into the opera, we wouldn’t be talking today, he wouldn’t have had the fame and the longevity the movies gave him.”

Mario’s fame meant his children — Colleen, Ellisa, Damon and Marc — had a very different upbringing to most.

“We were very fortunate,” Ellisa says. “We didn’t know we led a different life, we were just fortunate he always had his family with him.

“So when he was in Europe, we travelled with him, say he was on a long movie shoot in Italy or Germany. It was an interesting childhood.

“It was an experience, even on the ship over. My sister and I had a wonderful time and we had a birthday party on board for my youngest brother, and saw snow for the first time in Switzerland, which was quite fascinating!

“Add in being on movie sets and the costume fittings at home — it was all wonderful.”

Mario Lanza: The Best Of Everything is out now on DVD from Screenbound.