VANESSA REDGRAVE AND FRANCO NERO

Grace Onaga of New York City responded to my blog of yesterday about Letters to Juliet with this statement:

Vanessa Redgrave fell in love with Franco Nero when they were playing Guenevere and Lancelot in the Camelot musical a long time ago.  They had a son but never married and Vanessa went on (after divorcing Tony Richardson) to a distinguished acting career and years of companionship with Timothy Dalton (one of the former James Bonds - I loved him best).  In 1996, Vanessa and Franco met up again and got married.  When I saw the trailer for Letters,  all I could say was "oh my". 

So I did some additional research.  A Huffington Post article by Maria Rodale provides more details.  She referred to a Los Angeles Times review, and, to quote:

One is the line in which Claire tells Lorenzo "sorry I'm late," for keeping him waiting for 50 years. "And I say," explains Nero, " 'when we speak about love, it's never too late.' I was so proud about those two lines."

But Nero didn't mention during the interview he actually wrote those lines. "It did mean a lot to them," says Winick. In fact, when the couple learned that the scene had been cut, they called the studio. The lines were put back in.

If you haven't seen the movie, Claire is Vanessa Redgrave and these statements were said when she finally, finally, finds her first love, Lorenzo, which probably means nothing if you haven't seen the film, so in a few words, let me crystallize the essence of the script:

Remember Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and the tragedy of a love unfilled?  Well, yes, Shakespeare is British, but the story unfolds in Verona, Italy.  There is thus this mythical wall in Verona where people place notes to Juliet (just think of unrequited love), and, to make a long story short, a letter Claire (VR) placed 53 years before when she was a teenager (hidden behind a brick) is found, leading to a response...inspiring VR to return from England to Verona to find her first love, Lorenzo Bartolini.  Crazy, but what is life all about?  Unfortunately, this is a popular name in Italy, and with each mis-contact, hope diminishes...until by chance VR sees a young boy who she says looks exactly like LB, leading to, yes, his grandfather, the real LB, who dramatically rides up on a white horse, and just happens to be her husband, Franco Nero (or at least he plays Lorenzo Bartolini).

As heartwarming as all this is, VR has survived through three recent tragedies:

-  Her daughter Natasha Richardson, husband of Liam Neeson, was killed in a ski accident on 18March2010.

-  Her brother Corin, a respected stage actor, died of cancer on 6April2010.

-  Her sister Lynn Redgrave (Georgy Girl--click to hear the song by The Seekers) died of breast cancer on 2May2010.

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The Dow Jones Industrials sunk 115 to 10,511, while world markets were mixed.  The price of crude oil is plunging, now down to $68/barrel, a 20% drop in two weeks.  The equivalent percentage drop from today would mean a DJI of around 8400.  Gold slipped a buck to $1125/toz.

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Tropical Cyclone Laila is now at 63 MPH and will make landfall at Andhra Pradesh within the next 24 hours.

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