Franco Ventriglia

Birth Name:
Francis Ventriglia
Birth Date:
October 20, 1922
Birth Place:
Fairfield, Connecticut
Death Date:
November 28, 2012
Place of Death:
Wallingford, Connecticut
Age:
90
Cause of Death:
Natural causes
Cemetery Name:
Oak Lawn Cemetery
Claim to Fame:
Music
Franco Ventriglia was an opera singer who sang bass in every major European opera house during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Serving in the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing in the South Pacific during World War II upon return stateside Franco was working at his brother's filling station in Easton, Connecticut when Mario Pagano, a maestro de Canto at the American Theatre Wing Professional School heard from one of Ventriglia's coworkers about his singing talent. Ventriglia passed an audition and went on to attend the school on the G.I. Bill. After Pagano's death, Ventriglia and his wife Jean boarded the ocean liner SS Constitution for Italy. On board, after singing Ol' Man River for a group in first class, he met a businessman who asked him to contact Toti Dal Monte, a great coloratura soprano who also taught voice in Rome. Ventriglia took singing lessons from Dal Monte and eventually made his operatic debut in Palermo, singing in the Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. He later sang with Luciano Pavarotti in La bohème and Rigoletto. He performed in Samson and Delilah at La Scala, a performance he considered the highlight of his career. He returned to the U.S. in 1978, where he continued to perform at venues including Carnegie Hall, and traveled to perform in southeast Asia, until his retirement in 2001 at age 79.

Fun Fact

Ventriglia attended American Theatre Wing Professional School with Marlon Brando.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Oak Lawn Cemetery

1530 Bronson Road

Fairfield, Connecticut, 06824

USA

North America

Map:

Cemetery map of Oak Lawn Cemetery in Fairfield, Connecticut

Grave Location:

Section R, Plot 63

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery on Cemetery Road stay to the right and continue on Oak Lawn Road all the way until it veers to the left as if you were driving to the mausoleum. Turn left on Dogwood Lane and count 21 spaces along the section on the left. Park and walk 5 rows into the section on the left and look for the black marble monument for opera singer Franco Ventriglia.

Grave Location GPS

41.1646563, -73.2736311

Photos:

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