--- description: Director Franco Zeffirelli, who died on June 15, made his name with stage productions of operas before his 'Romeo and Juliet' film. title: The Lavish Lens of Franco Zeffirelli image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82f6ed14f20c6cbb/6989fed197cdffb93f6b9206/director-franco-zeffirelli-dies.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [remembrance](/tag/remembrance/) ## remembrance Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Lavish Lens of Franco Zeffirelli  by [Stephanie Zacharek](/author/stephanie-zacharek/)  ## Stephanie Zacharek Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Film Critic Jun 20, 2019 10:11 AM CUT  Director Franco Zeffirelli on set in 1996. Director Franco Zeffirelli on set in 1996.Miramax/Everett Collection  by [Stephanie Zacharek](/author/stephanie-zacharek/)  ## Stephanie Zacharek Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Film Critic Jun 20, 2019 10:11 AM CUT In the 1950s and ’60s, [Franco Zeffirelli](https://time.com/5607729/romeo-and-juliet-franco-zeffirelli-dies-96/ "undefined") made his name with magnificent stage productions of operas like _La Traviata, La Bohème_ and _Aida_. But more people know Zeffirelli, who died on June 15 at age 96, as a film director, largely because of the tender and intuitive Shakespeare adaptation he made in 1968\. For many teenage school kids of the era, _Romeo and Juliet_, starring real-life teenagers Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, served as an introduction to Shakespearean performance–and the film’s brief but tasteful nudity kept everyone awake. Zeffirelli brought visual and emotional opulence to his opera and film productions alike. But he faced controversy too, including an allegation of sexual assault, which his family has refuted. Also, a conservative Catholic, he publicly supported the church’s anti-homosexuality stance; he himself came out as gay in 1996, though he preferred not to speak about his personal life. In art, Zeffirelli had a taste for excess. In life, he was no less complicated. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5610746/director-franco-zeffirelli-dies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5610746/director-franco-zeffirelli-dies/"},"headline":"The Lavish Lens of Franco Zeffirelli","datePublished":"2019-06-20T10:11:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T23:48:17.479Z","description":"Director Franco Zeffirelli, who died on June 15, made his name with stage productions of operas before his 'Romeo and Juliet' film.","url":"https://time.com/5610746/director-franco-zeffirelli-dies/","keywords":["remembrance","movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82f6ed14f20c6cbb/6989fed197cdffb93f6b9206/director-franco-zeffirelli-dies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Stephanie Zacharek","jobTitle":"Film Critic","url":"https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82f6ed14f20c6cbb/6989fed197cdffb93f6b9206/director-franco-zeffirelli-dies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"director-franco-zeffirelli-dies","caption":"Director Franco Zeffirelli on set in 1996.","creditText":"Miramax/Everett Collection","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5610746/director-franco-zeffirelli-dies/","name":"The Lavish Lens of Franco Zeffirelli"}}]}] ```