The Godfather star James Caan dies aged 82 Actor who played Sonny Corleone in the groundbreaking 1972 epic engineered a comeback after his career went off the rails in the early 1980s A life in. Francis Ford Coppola said in a statement: his films and the many great roles he played will never be forgotten. Talia Shire, who also starred in The Godfather, called him a wildly gifted man. Arnold Schwarzenegger tweeted that Caan was an icon a legend. British director Edgar Wright called him a genuine megawatt movie star.. After undergoing serious back surgery in 2020, he was hospitalized for months and has only recently begun to walk again. Many well-known actors have trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse over the years, including Caan's "Godfather" co-star Robert Duvall and "Elf" co-star Mary Steenburgen. As a storyteller, Mann's aesthetic of crooks and cops driving rain-soaked urban streets, pulsing to the beat of dreamy synths (courtesy of Tangerine Dream here) is already fully formed and on display. Caan arranged to meet and pay the kidnappers, then arrived with Fiato and his crew with guns and baseball bats. Published July 7, 2022 10:51 a.m. PDT. "If there's anything I can attribute my success to," Caan told Roger Ebert in 1988, "it's that I said 'no.'" 5 Market data provided by Factset. For much of the 1980s he made no films, telling people he preferred to coach his son Scotts Little League games. More violence came his way as the brutal CIA man in Sam Peckinpahs The Killer Elite and, in contrast, he portrayed Billy Rose, the gambling, philandering husband of Barbra Streisands Fanny Brice in Funny Lady, all in the same year. Caan asked his friend to take care of Pesci after learning about an unpaid $8,000 bill from Pescis stay at a friends Miami hotel. Actor James Caan dies at age 82 - FOX13 News Memphis I dont deal with egos. Caan bonded with Brando, Robert Duvall and other cast members and made it a point to get everyone laughing during an otherwise tense production, sometimes dropping his pants and mooning a fellow actor or crew member. At the film's premiere, Caan approached Ferrell and said, "Every day on set, I thought you were way too over the top. "I won Italian of the Year in New York twice," he told Vanity Fair in 2009, and was once even denied a country club membership on grounds that he was a mafioso. James Caan Ditched 'The Godfather' Screening Due to Cut Scene | IndieWire Claire Jimenez's 'What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez' is our must-read new On another occasion, the FBI intercepted a phone conversation between Fiato and Caan concerning the actor Joe Pesci. Cookies help us deliver our Services. His official Twitter account confirmed the American actor's passing in a brief message posted to the social media platform on July 7. But even an artistic success like "Thief" can't nourish an actor forever, and at a certain point in the early 1980s, James Caan stepped away from the film business, seemingly for good. But Caan hit the headlines again in the 90s for the wrong reasons. But when we chatted via Zoom on Monday . Per the New York Post, their relationship was so strong that when Russo was arrested in 2011, the "Rollerball" actor submitted a letter to the court vouching for him. However, the many superb portrayals he gave in scores of films and TV episodes will. He has the pedigree, too: his grandfather Bob was a left tackle and offensive captain on Packers teams that won five NFL championships from 1961-67. A few years earlier, when he was still bankable, Caan had turned down three Oscar winners, M*A*S*H, Kramer vs Kramer (it was such middle-class, bourgeois baloney) and One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. It wasnt just women who were the targets of Caans violence and abuse. Fox News Flash top entertainment and celebrity headlines are here. "You know, we boxed in a ringsometimes it wasn't in a ring. James was best known for playing Sonny Corleone in "The Godfather," which won him both Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor. In the film, based on Stephen Kings novel, Caan is an author taken captive by an obsessed fan who breaks his ankles to keep him from leaving. Let's take a look at some things you might not know about James Caan. Never ever stopped laughing when I was around that man. I dont usually get that cerebral with s--- I read, but there was something really strange about it that drew me to it., The Bronx-born Caan employs a hard but accurate Chicago accent in Thief, but Frank has a very particular way of expressing himself, as when he first declines an offer to work for Robert Proskys crime boss, Leo. His manager, Matt Del Piano, confirmed Caan's death to Fox News Digital. In coverage of his passing, the actor has been described in flattering terms: he has been hailed as a legend, a titan in the film industry (People), iconic (Entertainment Weekly), a key figure of American cinema (Paris Match, une figure incontournable du cinma amricain), etc. Even when James Caan wasn't looking for trouble, trouble seemed to find him. The Chicago in Thief is the Chicago of the Green Mill Lounge and Wise Fools Pub, of the alleys behind Wabash Avenue in the Loop, of the intersection of Ashland and Webster, of diners and finished basements and used car lots but its also almost surreal in its beauty, from the consistent use of neon to the sparkling, rain-soaked streets. JAMES Caan looked frail and weak in the time leading up to his passing. The elder Caan experienced addiction in the 1980s, which required him to take a step back from acting. There were several flops, undeservedly in the case of Michael Manns Thief (1981), released as Violent Streets in the UK, and deservedly with the whimsical Kiss Me Goodbye (1982) Caans attempts at comedy were slow to be appreciated. In 2017, Godfather co-star Gianni Russo told EW that during the shooting of a fight scene between Caans character, Sonny, and Russos Carlo, Caan became aggressive and improvised actions that left Russo injured. In the early 1990s, Caan appeared in a number of hit movies, including 1991's big budget spectacle, For the Boys. Years later, Caan would downplay his contributions to the team, joking that his job was "mostly holding bags and being the tackling dummy," but that experience of being a football player and an athlete in general would mark a number of his most famous roles, from real-life Chicago Bear Brian Piccolo in the 1971 docudrama "Brian's Song" to the star player of a dystopian bloodsport in Norman Jewison's "Rollerball." Born on March 26, 1940, in The Bronx, New York, Caan's path to acting began while attending college, according to Britannica. Inside James Caan's drug addiction and depression battle after The 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. News. Fourth Wave. Unfortunately, he passed [] That should have been the final straw, but it is only just the beginning of trans activism. He was most known for playing the "tough guy" character, with notable examples in films like "Mickey Blue Eyes," where he starred alongsideHugh Grant, and "Honeymoon in Vegas," where he appeared oppositeSarah Jessica Parker. Paramount Pictures hired Coppola to adapt and direct the film, feeling that having an Italian-American at the helm would ensure that the film was authentic, and would protect them against charges of racism. He also made a brief appearance in a flashback sequence in The Godfather, Part II.. Offscreen, Caan's personal life was a bit of a rollercoaster. I can get that. Seldom unemployed, he traded happily on his 70s persona, particularly playing older and wiser versions of Sonny Corleone, either as mafia bosses, louche gamblers or businessmen with mafia connections in films such as Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Mickey Blue Eyes (1999), with Hugh Grants British art auctioneer getting mixed up with the mob, City of Ghosts (2002) and Dogville (2003). Originally intended to be the head of surveillance, Ed was supposed to be the kind of man who spends most of his time staring at the neon glow of television screens, carefully studying CCTV footage to prevent criminal activities. James Caans comeback became entrenched with his role in Rob Reiners Misery (1990), in which he spends most of the movie bedridden and kept captive by his No 1 fan, played by Kathy Bates. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Janelle Ash is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. Private funeral services for Barbara Emily Caan Licker, who died Monday, Then came the morning when he woke up in a friends flat to find 10 Los Angeles policemen standing over him with guns drawn. In March 1994, Caan was visiting his brother in Los Angeles when he got into a heated argument with another man, reportedly over an act of vandalism. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Veteran Hollywood actor James Caan, who had memorable roles in The Godfather and Misery, has passed away at the age of 82. Legal Statement. A car accident in 1985 sidelined him further, and soon it had been a full five years since he'd appeared in a movie. Great job.". Finding a new gravitas, Caan was utterly convincing as a stiff-necked but compassionate army sergeant who feels that there is nothing to win, and no way of winning it in Vietnam. Caan, for all his iconic roles, was also emblematic of the violent male misogynist that has plagued film since its inception. Why did he leave the show? Scott Caan also grew up to be an actor. Even when playing a bedridden romance novelist in "Misery," Rob Reiner's 1990 Stephen King adaptation, Caan's physicality plays an important part. James Caan death updates Fans also mourn mobster movie stars Ray The news of his death was reported around the . James Caan, the curly-haired tough guy known to movie fans as the hotheaded Sonny Corleone of "The Godfather" and to television . The story of how this pulpy, gossipy, and occasionally offensive book was turned into one of the greatest films of all time has been written and told time and again, most recently in the Paramount Plus miniseries "The Offer.". The news of his death was reported around the world the next day. "Not only was he one of the best actors our business has ever seen, he was funny, loyal, caring and beloved. The Godfather star James Caan dies aged 82 Caan had been a favorite of Francis Ford Coppola since the 1960s, when Coppola cast him for the lead in Rain People. He was primed for a featured role in The Godfather as Sonny, the No. In later years, Caan was content to have the security of a popular TV series, Las Vegas (2003-07), appearing as a former CIA agent now the head of security at the fictional Montecito resort and casino. Unfortunately, he passed [] Although he received professional help and was cured of the addiction, he was unemployable in Hollywood. Skoronski is productive: in three seasons as Northwesterns starting left tackle, he allowed just five sacks in 2,364 snaps. Las Vegas Has Basically Shut Down Thanks to the Coronavirus, FaZe Banks and His Crew Caused $30,000 in Damages to a Las Vegas Hotel Room, Man's Text Messages With Friend Who Was In Las Vegas Massacre Emerge Online. "But yeah, I mean, there's a few that I'm extra proud of. Scott Caan's injury was written into the script by the show's creators and blamed on his partner, O'Loughlin. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. When the series debuted, he was a casino surveillance chief dealing with cheaters and competitors of the fictional Montecito Resort and Casino. He reportedly had back surgery last . The following year he played a tongue-in-cheek version of Sonny Corleone in the comedy Honeymoon in Vegas, tricking Nicolas Cage into betting his girlfriend, Sarah Jessica Parker, in a high-stakes poker game so he can spirit her away and try to persuade her to marry him. But James saw it otherwise. James Caan, right, with Al Pacino, as brothers Sonny and Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972). After an uncredited bit as a sailor with a radio in Billy Wilders Irma la Douce (1963), he rose to stardom remarkably quickly. We had a scene where he goes to Malibu [to be with his family] at the end, but Michael decided against it, said Caan. James Caan obituary | Movies | The Guardian The actor's official Twitter account announced the news on Thursday:. I hardly ever go out, he told an interviewer in 1986. Thats when I want to choke somebody.. James Caan's Struggles Almost Sent His Son To Prison For Many Years