February 12, 1923 - Franco Zeffirelli (born Gianfranco Corsi on February 12, 1923), is an Italian film director. He is also an opera director, designer and producer of opera, theatre, film and television. Internationally, he is known for having directed the 1968 film version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet for which he was nominated to receive an Academy Award. His 1977 television mini-series Jesus of Nazareth also won acclaim and is still shown on Easter weekend in many countries. Zeffirelli was born and grew up in Florence, under the auspices of the British expatriate community and was particularly involved with the so-called Scorpioni who inspired his semi-autobiographical 1999 film Tea With Mussolini. During World War II, he fought as a partisan before he met up with the British soldiers of the 1st Scots Guards and became their interpreter. In the post war years, he studied art and architecture at the University of Florence, and worked with directors such as Vittorio De Sica, Roberto Rossellini and Luchino Visconti. In the 1960s, he made his name designing and directing his own plays in London and New York, and soon transferred his ideas to cinema. Zeffirelli has also been a major director of opera productions since the 1950s in Italy, Europe, and the U.S.. Of particular note is his 1964 Royal Opera House production of Tosca with Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi, and several productions for the Metropolitan Opera in New York, including La bohème and Turandot. Also of note is his set design for Madama Butterfly in the fall of 1985 for the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In November 2004 he was awarded an honorary knighthood by the United Kingdom. In 1999 he received the Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Zeffirelli is openly gay. He has received criticism from religious groups for what they call the blasphemous representation of biblical figures in his films and also criticism from members of the gay community for publicly backing the Roman Catholic Church with regard to homosexual issues. Director Bruce Robinson claimed to have been the unwanted target of sexual advances by Zeffirelli during the filming of Romeo and Juliet in which Robinson had a minor acting role. Robinson says that he based the lecherous character of Uncle Monty in the film Withnail and I on Zeffirelli. In 2007, disappointed with the manner in which Pope Benedict XVI had been presenting himself to the media, Zeffirelli openly offered his services to the Pontiff as an image consultant. In connection with this matter, he was quoted as saying "I am a Christian down to the depths of my spirit."