Bravo, Brazzi

BRAZZI & MITZI GAYNOR IN SOUTH PACIFIC (1958)

Brazilian opera sensation Paulo Szot won a well-deserved Tony for his role in the lush Broadway revival of South Pacific, but even this handsome specimen is no match for the unbridaled dreaminess of the 1958 film version's Emile, Rosanno Brazzi.



This Continental dreamboat was a mature, sexy alternative to the youthful cads and beefcake boys who dominated the teen flicks and fan mags of the 1950's. He romanced such formidable divas as Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn and Joan Fontaine in some of their later films, and inspired countless romantic fantasies in the overblown Three Coins in the Fountain.


BRAZZI & JOAN FONTAINE IN A CERTAIN SMILE (1958)


BRAZZI & JOAN CRAWFORD IN THE STORY OF ESTHER COSTELLO (1957)

Despite his playboy image, Brazzi was a devoted husband to his homely, plump wife Lydia; they remained married from 1941 until her death in 1981. Brazzi married his second wife the following year, and they were together until his death in 1994 at age 78.