Franco Enriquez

Franco Enriquez
Enriquez in RAI television studios (Radiocorriere magazine, 1955)
Born	Gianfranco Enriquez 20 November 1927 Florence, Kingdom of Italy
Died	30 August 1980 (1980-08-31) (aged 52) Ancona, Italy
Occupation	Director

Gianfranco "Franco" Enriquez (20 November 1927 – 30 August 1980) was an Italian stage, opera and television director.

Life and career

Born in Florence, Enriquez was the son of conductor Vittorio Gui and musician Elda Solaroli.^[1] In the late 1940s, while being a student of Italian literature at the University of Florence, he became assistant director of Giorgio Strehler and later of Luchino Visconti.^[1] In 1951, he made his directorial debut with an adaptation of the George Bernard Shaw's drama Caesar and Cleopatra, played by the Ricci-Magni stage company at the Teatro Eliseo in Rome.^[1] He made his opera debut one year later, directing Maria Callas in Vincenzo Bellini's Norma.^[1]

Starting from 1954, Enriquez was also very active on television, specializing in adaptations of stage works, notably Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Antony and Cleopatra.^[1][2] In 1961, he co-founded the successful and critically acclaimed theatrical company "Compagnia dei quattro" ("Company of the Four") with Valeria Moriconi (with whom he started a relationship that lasted until his death), Glauco Mauri and Mario Scaccia.^[1] He later became artistic director of the Teatro Stabile di Torino and then of the Teatro Stabile di Roma, and in 1968 he co-wrote with Franco Cuomo and directed one of the first Italian works inspired by the Protests of 1968, the drama play Discorso per la lettera a una professoressa della scuola di Barbiana e la rivolta degli studenti ("Speech for the letter to a teacher from the Barbiana school and the students' revolt").^[1]

Diagnosed with severe liver dysfunction, Enriquez died on 30 August 1980 at the age of 52.^[1]

References

External links

• Franco Enriquez at IMDb