James Caan The Godfather actor passes away

Francis Ford Coppola had been a fan of Caan ever since he chose him for the starring role in Rain People in the 1960s. He was selected for a prominent role in The Godfather as Sonny, Vito Corleone’s eldest son and top enforcer in the Mafia.

One of the most shocking movie scenes in history saw Sonny Corleone, a violent and careless guy who committed numerous murders, meet his own demise. Corleone pauses at a toll booth on his route to another job and notices that it is unnervingly deserted of customers. Before he can run away, he is killed by what seems like an endless barrage of machine gun fire. Cann once claimed that for decades after, random people would come up to him on the street and lightheartedly advise him to avoid toll roads.

In an otherwise tense production, James Caan formed bonds with Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, and other cast members. He made it an effort to make everyone laugh by occasionally dropping his pants and “mooning” an actor or crew person. Francis Ford Coppola worried his 1972 film would be a failure, but it was a huge critical and financial success, earning Caan, Duvall, and Al Pacino nods for best supporting actor at the Oscars.

The 1971 television film Brian’s Song, an emotional drama about Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo, who had passed away from cancer the year before at age 26, gave Caan his big break as a television star. Caan and co-star Billy Dee Williams, who portrayed Piccolo’s teammate and best friend Gale Sayers, were both nominated for Best Actor Emmys for their roles in one of the most well-known and heartbreaking TV movies in history.

James Caan was one of Hollywood’s busiest actors after Brian’s Song and The Godfather, playing in such films as Hide in Plain Sight (which he also directed), Funny Lady (with Barbra Streisand), The Killer Elite, and Neil Simon’s Chapter Two, among others. He also had a fleeting cameo in The Godfather, Part II’s flashback scene.

But Caan’s taste in movies started to change in the early 1980s. His sister Barbara’s death from leukaemia in 1981, which had until that point served as a compass for his profession, saddened him. He had also started to deal with drug addiction.

He reclaimed his status as a major star in 1990’s Misery, starring with Kathy Bates.

James Caan, in high demand once more, starred alongside Bette Midler in For the Boys in 1991 as a member of a song-and-dance team entertaining American soldiers during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. In the comedy Honeymoon in Vegas the year after, he performed as a mock Sonny Corleone.

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Flesh and Bone, Bottle Rocket, and Mickey Blue Eyes were some of the later movies. He made a name for himself by portraying Walter, Will Ferrell’s stone-faced, workaholic father in the movie Elf.

With four marriages and divorces under his belt, Caan had Tara as well as the sons Scott, Alexander, James, and Jacob.