Perhaps unbeknownst to many soap opera fans, Joseph Mascolo, best known for his villainous turns on two popular daytime dramas, was a close friend of the late, great tenor, Luciano Pavarotti.
Mascolo and Pavarotti first struck up a friendship nearly three decades ago, after working together on the film, Yes, Giorgio. The chemistry between the two men of imposing stature, was not altogether unlikely, considering that prior to achieving success in acting, Mascolo’s first love was music.
Joseph Mascolo is popularly known for his portrayal of somewhat similar powerful and often unscrupulous men on the daytime dramas, Days of Our Lives and The Bold and the Beautiful. On Days of Our Lives, he has given life to one of soapdom’s most lecherous evil tycoons in the person of Stefano DiMera. On The Bold and the Beautiful, he was the somewhat lesser tyrannical yet still untrustworthy Massimo Marone.
But before he made a killing out of, well, killing, people in Salem on the long-running Days, Mascolo was first and foremost, a lover, patron and artist of music. At one time, he was even a concert clarinetist with the New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. It was not surprising then for him and the legendary operatic/classical singer, Luciano Pavarotti, to forge a bond while working together on Yes, Giorgio back in 1982.
Mascolo recently spoke to Soap Opera Digest regarding his sentiments about the passing of his long-time friend, who died September 6, after a lingering bout with pancreatic cancer.
“I spent a lot of time crying,” Mascolo said in the interview. “He and I had a great time together. We worked together, which was a lot of fun. We also ate well and drank some good wine. It just hurts my heart that that voice is gone… And that’s what kills me, because it is one of the most unique, beautiful voices of our century.”
“He was bigger than life in every way, and he enjoyed life as much as he could,” Days of Our Lives‘ resident bad man said of his late friend. “Some people frowned when he started doing a few concerts with rock-and-rollers. But what happened because of it is that people were more aware of opera than they were before.”
-Rosario Santiago, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Soap Opera Digest
(Image Courtesy of Soap Opera Digest)
Staff Columnist, BuddyTV
