Editing Franco Zeffirelli (section)

===Film===
[[File:Director-Franco-Zeffirelli-and-Olivia-Hussey-in-the-movie-Romeo-and-Juliet-391759001112.jpg|thumb|Zeffirelli with [[Olivia Hussey]] while filming ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1967]]
Zeffirelli's first film as director was a version of ''[[The Taming of the Shrew (1967 film)|The Taming of the Shrew]]'' (1967), originally intended for [[Sophia Loren]] and [[Marcello Mastroianni]] but featuring the Hollywood stars [[Elizabeth Taylor]] and [[Richard Burton]] in their stead. Taylor and Burton helped fund production and took a percentage of the profits rather than their normal salaries.

While editing ''The Taming of the Shrew'', Zeffirelli's native Florence was [[1966 Flood of the Arno River|devastated by floods]]. A month later, he released a short documentary, entitled ''[[Florence: Days of Destruction]]'', to raise funds for the disaster appeal.<ref name=Get66>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QW0mAAAAIBAJ&pg=1659,15192|title=Burton Hosts Flood Special on Channel 33|newspaper=[[The Gettysburg Times]]|date=31 December 1966|access-date=29 December 2012}}</ref>

Zeffirelli's major breakthrough came the year after, when he presented two teenagers as ''[[Romeo and Juliet (1968 film)|Romeo and Juliet]]'' (1968). It made Zeffirelli a household name – no other subsequent work by him had the immediate impact of ''Romeo and Juliet''. The film earned $14.5 million in domestic rentals at the North American box office in 1969.<ref>"Big Rental Films of 1969", ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', 7 January 1970, p. 15</ref> It was re-released in 1973 and earned $1.7 million in rentals.<ref>"Big Rental Films of 1973", ''Variety'', 9 January 1974, p. 60</ref>

Film critic [[Roger Ebert]], for the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'', wrote: "I believe Franco Zeffirelli's ''Romeo and Juliet'' is the most exciting film of [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] ever made".<ref>{{cite web|last=Ebert|first=Roger|title=Romeo and Juliet|url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/romeo-and-juliet-1968|work=RogerEbert.com|publisher=Roger Ebert|date=15 October 1968|access-date=17 January 2014}}</ref>

After two successful film adaptations of Shakespeare, Zeffirelli went on to religious themes, first with a film about the life of [[St. Francis of Assisi]] titled ''[[Brother Sun, Sister Moon]]'' (1972), then his extended mini-series ''[[Jesus of Nazareth (TV series)|Jesus of Nazareth]]'' (1977) with an all-star cast. The latter was a major success in the ratings.

He moved on to contemporary themes with a remake of the boxing picture ''[[The Champ (1979 film)|The Champ]]'' (1979) and the critically panned ''[[Endless Love (1981 film)|Endless Love]]'' (1981). In the 1980s, he made a series of successful films adapting opera to the screen, with such stars as [[Plácido Domingo]], [[Teresa Stratas]], [[Juan Pons]] and [[Katia Ricciarelli]]. He returned to Shakespeare with ''[[Hamlet (1990 film)|Hamlet]]'' (1990), casting [[Mel Gibson]] in the lead role. His adaptation of the [[Charlotte Brontë]] novel ''[[Jane Eyre (1996 film)|Jane Eyre]]'' (1996) was a critical success.

Zeffirelli frequently cast unknown actors in major roles: [[Leonard Whiting]] (Romeo in ''Romeo and Juliet''), [[Graham Faulkner]] (St. Francis in ''[[Brother Sun, Sister Moon]]'') and [[Martin Hewitt (actor)|Martin Hewitt]] (David Axelrod in ''[[Endless Love (1981 film)|Endless Love]]'').