{"id":414,"date":"2021-10-12T03:12:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-12T03:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/2017\/05\/07\/what-killed-mario-lanza-at-age-38\/"},"modified":"2021-10-15T01:19:59","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T01:19:59","slug":"what-killed-mario-lanza-at-age-38","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/?p=414","title":{"rendered":"What Killed Mario Lanza at Age 38?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 142px; height: 175px; float: left;\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/FamousDeaths\/lanza2.jpg\" alt=\"mario lanza\" \/>On October 7, 1959, singer Mario Lanza died suddenly at age 38 of a heart attack just as he was getting ready to check out of a medical clinic in Rome. \u00a0He didn&#8217;t mean to kill himself, but his entire adult life was full of behaviors and actions that are known to cause heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and premature death.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">At the time of his death, he was probably the most famous opera singer in the world, even though he had sung in very few operas. \u00a0 He wanted to have a classical music career, but after giving a concert at the Hollywood Bowl at age 26, the handsome and talented Lanza was offered such a huge seven-year contract by MGM Studios that he could not refuse it. \u00a0To protect his potential future operatic career, he stipulated in the contract that he would work only six months a year for MGM so he could spend the rest of the year performing and studying.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">He became a Hollywood star after his first film in 1949. He sold two million copies of his recording of &#8220;Be My Love,&#8221; which was the most-played song on jukeboxes in 1950. Soon afterward, he starred in <em>The Great Caruso<\/em>, a blockbuster movie that grossed an astounding $19 million in its first year, which would be $178 million today.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong>Rapid Rise and Self-Destructive Behavior\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">He was born Alfred Arnold Cocozza to Italian immigrant parents in Philadelphia, and was gifted with a marvelous voice and perfect pitch. \u00a0By age 16, he had started preparing himself to be an opera singer. \u00a0He took weekly lessons in solfeggio (sight reading) and Italian, and received a scholarship to the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood, Massachusetts from Serge Koussevitsky, the conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.\u00a0 After serving as an entertainer in the Army during World War II, he moved to New York where he studied under Enrico Rosati. \u00a0He appeared to be headed for a brilliant opera career when he was recruited by MGM.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">His movie career earned him so much money, made him so famous, and put him in such demand that there was no time for serious work in opera. \u00a0However, his millions of fans who cared nothing about opera thought of him as a great opera singer because of his movie portrayal of Caruso.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Qp7LIQ6tqyg\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">With his rapid success came serious behavior problems: frequent binge drinking, massive bouts of over-eating followed by drastic dieting, and fights with his directors and producers. During the filming of <em>The Student Prince<\/em> in 1952, he had a dispute that got him fired from the film, and he was replaced by another actor who lip-synched to Lanza&#8217;s voice. \u00a0Lanza was so upset that he ate and drank even more than the excessive amounts he had taken in previously.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">He moved from the United States to Italy with his wife and four children, made a film in Rome, continued to alternate between gorging himself and crash dieting, and frequently passed out drunk. \u00a0His health rapidly deteriorated; he developed clots in his legs that spread to his lungs and he had extremely high blood pressure, alcohol-and-overeating-induced cirrhosis of his liver and an enlarged failing heart. On October 7, 1959, Mario Lanza died at the very young age of 38. Doctors who had treated him over the years refused to release Lanza&#8217;s medical records, so details remained largely unavailable to the public.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div><strong>Answers 50 Years Later<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">Fifty years after Lanza&#8217;s untimely death, Dr. Philip A. Mackowiak, vice chairman of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and Lanza&#8217;s biographer, Armando Cesari, went to considerable lengths to trace the multiple causes of his death. They reported their findings in <em>Pharos Magazine<\/em> (Winter 2010).<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8t_D9zqyphw\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong>Frightening Weight Loss Programs<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><em><strong>Yoyo Dieting<\/strong>:<\/em> \u00a0Dr. Mackowiak reported that when Lanza was in the army in his early 20s, he ate two and a half chickens at one sitting. He was only 5&#8242; 7&#8243; tall and spent his movie career ballooning up to 260 pounds and then down to less than 170 pounds to be ready for his next film. He weighed more than 250 pounds when he died. \u00a0 Every time you lose weight, you lose fat and muscle. \u00a0Every time you gain weight, you gain only fat. So with each yoyo episode, you become fatter and fatter at the same weight and your skeletal and heart muscles become smaller and weaker.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong><em>HCG:<\/em><\/strong> At a weight loss clinic in 1957, he was injected with hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin, extracted from the urine of pregnant women) and allowed to eat only 500 calories per day. Dr. Mackowiak states that, &#8220;during one stay in that clinic he goes in there weighing 260 pounds and in the first 9 days loses 30 pounds and then in the next 3 months loses another 44 pounds . . . I also believe he was made hyperthyroid by the use of hCG.&#8221; Too much thyroid hormone can cause irregular heartbeats and sudden death. HCG has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for weight loss because it has not been shown to be effective or safe. \u00a0Taking in fewer than 500 calories a day for several weeks would cause the body to break down the heart muscle itself and use its protein to fuel the rest of the body. This loss of heart muscle weakens the heart, can cause it to beat irregularly, and can prevent the heart from pumping blood to the brain which can kill a person (<em>Am J Clinical Nutr<\/em>, 1981;34:453-461).<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong><em>Twilight Sleep:<\/em><\/strong> \u00a0 In 1958, Lanza was treated at a German clinic with an even more extreme weight loss program called &#8220;twilight sleep therapy&#8221; that keeps the person immobile and heavily sedated for a long period. When you lie in bed sleeping, you do not eat and all the muscles in your body get smaller and weaker. \u00a0This includes the heart muscle that can become too weak to pump blood through your body.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong>Alcoholism\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">Almost all the alcohol in your body can only be broken down by your liver. \u00a0The alcohol you drink goes to your liver to damage it and markedly increase your risk for diabetes. \u00a0A high rise in blood sugar damages every cell in your body. \u00a0To prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high, your pancreas releases insulin that lowers blood sugar by driving sugar from your bloodstream into your liver. However, if your liver is damaged or full of fat, your liver does not accept the sugar, no matter how much insulin your pancreas produces. \u00a0Your blood sugar rises to high levels, you suffer diabetes and are at high risk for premature death. \u00a0 See <a href=\"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/nutrition\/alcohol-has-no-health-benefits.html\">Alcohol Has No Health Benefits<\/a><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong>Events Leading to his Death<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">In April 1959, Lanza suffered a heart attack. In August he had pneumonia and probably suffered another heart attack. On September 25, 1959, he entered Rome&#8217;s Valle Giulia clinic for more &#8220;sleep therapy&#8221; to lose weight for an upcoming film. Again he was sedated and prevented from moving for several days. Immobilization markedly increases risk for any of three potentially fatal events:<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\u2022 a pulmonary embolism: \u00a0A year and a half before he died, he fell while visiting Lana Turner&#8217;s estate near London. He injured his leg and developed a clot in his leg that appears to have persisted for the rest of his life. The clot could have traveled from his legs to his lungs to block the flow of blood there and kill him.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\u2022 a massive heart attack, possibly his third, in a heart too weak to pump blood and with arteries full of plaques,<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\u2022 a stroke: a clot or hemorrhage into brain.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">Dr. Mackowiak reported that Lanza had additional risk factors for all of these possible causes of death:<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\u2022 <em>Malignant High Blood Pressure.<\/em> \u00a0He had severe systolic high blood pressure, as high as 290. He could have popped a blood vessel in his brain to cause a major stroke and died as a result of that.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\u2022 <em>Lack of Exercise:<\/em> In his teen years, Lanza tried to exercise by turning his bedroom into a gym with weights and a stationary bicycle. Since it didn&#8217;t work then, he never again attempted a sustained exercise program that would help to prevent arterial plaques, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and sudden death.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\u2022 <em>Family History:<\/em> Two of his children died of young heart attacks, suggesting a strong family history of heart attacks. His youngest child, Marc, died in 1991 at age 37, while his older son Damon died at 55 in 2008.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XOPvS5mYX70\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong>The Primary Lesson: Avoid Excess<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">Mario Lanza died at the very young age of 38 when he should have had a glorious career ahead of him. \u00a0According to Dr. Mackowiack, he had just about every imaginable risk factor for heart attacks and strokes, yet he did nothing to prevent his own death. \u00a0He:<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\u2022 ate and drank excessively.<br \/>\n\u2022 had a horrendous diet loaded with sugar and refined carbohydrates, which can cause diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes<br \/>\n\u2022 did not exercise<br \/>\n\u2022 was massively obese at times<br \/>\n\u2022 repeatedly lost and regained weight<br \/>\n\u2022 damaged his liver with excessive alcohol<br \/>\n\u2022 had incredibly high blood pressure<br \/>\n\u2022 received dangerous unapproved medical treatments<\/div>\n<p><a title=\"mario lanza\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mario_Lanza\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mario Lanza<\/a><br \/>\nJanuary 31, 1921 &#8211; October 7, 1959<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On October 7, 1959, singer Mario Lanza died suddenly at age 38 of a heart attack just as he was getting ready to check out of a medical clinic in Rome.  He didn&#8217;t mean to kill himself, but his entire adult life was full of behaviors and actions that are known to cause heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and premature death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7602,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-histories-and-mysteries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}