Mario Lanza - Death

Death

In April 1959, Lanza suffered a minor heart attack followed in August by double pneumonia. He died in Rome in October at only 38 from a pulmonary embolism after undergoing a controversial weight loss program colloquially known as "the twilight sleep treatment," which required its patients to be kept immobile and sedated for prolonged periods. At his funeral were singers Maria Caniglia and Lidia Nerozzi and actors Franco Fabrizi and Enzo Fiermonte. American crooner Frank Sinatra sent his condolences by telegram.

Betty, his widow, returned to Hollywood with their four children but died five months later at the age of 37. Cesari cited the apparent cause of her death, according to the coroner, as "asphyxiation resulting from a respiratory ailment for which she had been receiving medication." In 1991, Marc, their youngest child, died of a heart attack at 37; six years later, Colleen, their elder daughter, was killed at 48 after being struck by two passing vehicles on a highway. Damon, the couple's oldest child and elder son, died in August 2008 of a heart attack at 55.