MSSU is celebrating the "Italy Semester" and MSSU's long-running radio show "Southern Serenade" is featuring Italian–American tenor Mario Lanza from a new Sony 2-disc CD release on the evening of a Mario Lanza movie marathon on TV's Turner Classic Movies (TCM) channel.
Born in Philadelphia in 1921, Alfredo Arnold Cocozza became Mario Lanza, destined for a career as an engaging operatic tenor, not on the traditional opera stage, but on the Hollywood sound stages of the late 1940s and 1950s. Although never becoming a great actor, Lanza's good looks, magnetic personality and great musical talent propelled him into a successful movie career shortened only by an early death at the age of 38.
Source: http://www.koamtv.com
