Michael v gazzo biography of george michael
Michael Vincente Gazzo was born in Hillside, New Jersey, on April 5, 1923. He attended Erwin Piscator's Dramatic Workshop at the New School on the GI Bill after being demobilized from the US Army Air Force after World War II.
Gazzo's first major success was as a playwright. His play about drug addiction, "A Hatful of Rain," was a success on Broadway, running for 389 performances in 1955 and 1956 and winning Ben Gazzara and Anthony Franciosa Tony award nominations as Best Actor and Best Featured Actor, respectively. However, his second (and what would prove to be his last) Broadway play, "The Night Circus," also starring Gazzara, was a flop, lasting just 7 performances in 1958,
"A Hatful of Rain" was made into a successful film by Oscar-winning director Fred Zinnemann in 1957. Franciosa won an Oscar nomination for reprising his role in the film. Gazzo turned to screenwriting, penning the Elvis Presley hoses-opera King Creole (1958). Eventually he turned back to acting, where his stocky physique and unique screech of a voice made him a first-rate character actor by the 1970s.
His biggest and best acting gig came to him when Richard S. Castellano refused to appear in The Godfather Part II (1974) due to a money dispute. Castellano's character Clemenza was killed off and Gazzo was cast as Clemenza's successor in the Corleone crime family in New York. Gazzo was outstanding as the old-fashioned, unsophisticated mafioso who, believing he has been betrayed and marked for death by his don, turns state's evidence against him, only to honor the Mafia code of "omerta" in the end. Gazzo won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nod for his performance.
Gazzo continued to work in films until his death, mostly assaying Mafia bosses and other criminal types. On film, though, he was able to break out of typecasting in his frequent television appearances and play good guys. He died of a stroke on February 14, 1995 in Los Ang
"A Hatful of Rain" by Michael Vincente Gazzo
Theatre
The Greek National Theatre will present Michael Gazzo’s famous play "A Hatful of Rain" during next winter’s theatrical season 2013-2014.
The play will be presented at our National Theatre’s Youth theatrical stage, under the direction of George Kordelas, translated by Kalia Papadaki.
The National Theatre’s new Artistic Director Mr. Sotiris Xatzakis noted that “The story of a "A hatful of rain" remains highly relevant to this day and its staging at the theatre’s Youth Stage aims to give our youngsters a message against the use of drugs, which currently abound in the streets surrounding our National Theatre”.
"A Hatful of Rain" was written in 1955 and was staged the same year in New York, under the direction of Frank Korsaro, starring Ben Gazzara, Shelley Winters and Anthony Franciosa. Following its theatrical success, the play was produced in 1957 as a dramatic film and experienced equally great success.
"A Hatful of Rain" deals with the effects of drugs addiction, a taboo subject at the time and particularly relevant to this today.
The setting is a housing project apartment with Johnny, a veteran of the Korean War, secretly addicted to morphine after his stay in a military hospital. His emotional distance alienates him from the apartment's other residents, Johnny's pregnant wife and his younger brother, while his father's arrival further complicates the situation leading to a dynamic and dramatic climax.
The movie version of "A Hatful of Rain" was adapted from the play by the author himself with the collaboration of Alfred Hayes and Carl Foreman. The film was directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Eva Marie Saint, Don Murray, Anthony Franciosa, Lloyd Nolan, and Henry Silva. Anthony Franciosa was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role at Venice Festival Film.
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Michael V. Gazzo’s "A Hatful of Rain" is the second theatrical play th
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