For the First Time (1959 film)
For the First Time is a 1959 musical film directed by Rudolph Maté and starring Mario Lanza, Johanna von Koczian, Kurt Kasznar, and Zsa Zsa Gabor. It was tenor star Mario Lanza's final film, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer six weeks before his death. Lanza stars as an operatic tenor who finds love for the first time with a young German woman, who happens to be deaf.
For the First Time (1959 film)
Mario Lanza 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.
MGM still of Mario Lanza, circa 1950
Mario Lanza's birthplace, 636 Christian Street, Philadelphia - June 8, 2016, demolished July 2018
Lanza as Giuseppe Verdi's Otello
Tenor Richard Tucker (left) speaking with Lanza in 1958 at Tucker's Covent Garden debut