Page "Sergio Franchi" Paragraph 18

The Secret of Santa Vittoria and Other Projects As noted elsewhere, the handsome Italian tenor had received numerous movie offers, but none that suited him.

Touted as a " Mario Lanza with sex-appeal ," the connections between the two tenors would diminish but not stop.

In 1963 ( noting that RCA got as much fan mail for Mario Lanza as for Elvis Presley ), Franchi turned down an MGM offer to star in Lanza's life story.

Hedda Hopper quoted him as saying " If I did it well, I'd always be remembered as the man who played Lanza.

If I didn't do it well, heaven help me.

" On a more personal note Franchi stated, " I don't want go down in history as the man who played the role of Mario Lanza ... I want to be remembered for myself.

" In 1968 Franchi accepted a non-singing, supportive role in MGM's The Secret of Santa Vittoria.

Franchi was in awe of his co-stars, Anthony Quinn and Anna Magnani, but soon got tired of all the waiting around.

He stated he preferred performing on Broadway, where each night is different and a challenge to make it new.

Unlike Mario Lanza before him, the opportunities for musical films had almost completely disappeared.

However, Franchi was considered for, but did not get the role he really coveted ... starring in the film version of Man of La Mancha.

Franchi was hoping good reviews of " Vittoria " would help ... and, indeed, Franchi's performance drew strong praise from critics: Stanley Kramer was delighted by Franchi's performance, and stated that Franchi " went from slick nightclub performer to peasant beautifully.

" But " La Mancha " was envisioned as a block-buster in need of a major star, and Peter O ' Toole got the lead with singing dubbed by Simon Gilbert.

After his Broadway role in " Waltz ," Franchi continued to be considered for new roles on stage.

At one point it was announced that he was to play in Meredith Willson's planned production of Christopher Columbus — 1491 ; but for various reasons it never was produced on Broadway, but produced in 1969 by the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Association.

Also mentioned in the 1970s was a Broadway role in a Rudolph Valentino show (" Ciao, Rudy ") that Marcello Mastroianni did in Rome.

In several later articles, it seemed that Franchi's appearance in a revival of South Pacific was eminent, but those production plans were not finalized.

Franchi's return to Broadway was more than a decade away.

His down-time in Italy did afford Franchi some valuable reflection time, some considerable new fame ( Ed Sullivan traveled to Italy to interview his friend Sergio Franchi and Virna Lisi ), and Franchi returned from the five months filming in Anticoli Corrado, Italy ready to make some changes in his life.

Franchi had recorded several more albums for RCA: From Sergio-with Love, and There Goes My Heart in 1967 ; I'm a Fool to Want You and Wine and Song in 1968.

However, Franchi did not renew his contract with RCA in 1969: he signed instead with United Artists Records, with whom he had made the soundtrack recording, The Secret of Santa Vittoria.

Later ( in 1971 ), he signed with Metromedia.

Without a contract for new works, RCA Victor issued a series of compilation albums (" Greatest Hits ") for the popular Franchi over the next decade ... and dozens of collaboration albums with only one Franchi song.

Franchi moved his family residence in 1969 to where many of the great singers of the day were working ... Las Vegas!