James Caan, who played the fiery Sonny Corleone in The Godfather in 1972 and the owner of a casino in Vegas30 years later, died at the age of 82.
Posted at 1:42 p.m.
Updated at 3:01 p.m.
His manager, Matt DelPiano, said he died Wednesday without specifying the cause.
A football player at Michigan State University—and also a tireless prankster on film sets—James Caan was a handsome actor with an athletic look. He had a long and distinguished career, despite drug addiction, temper tantrums and minor run-ins with the law.
He’s been a favorite of Francis Ford Coppola since the 1960s, when the director cast him in the lead role in rain people (1969), before playing Santino “Sonny” Corleone, eldest son of mob boss Vito Corleone.
PHOTO RICHARD SHOTWELL, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
James Caan in 2016
The Godfather (1972) offered Oscar nominations for supporting actors James Caan, Robert Duvall and Al Pacino.
James Caan was already a TV star, with his performance in the 1971 TV movie Brian’s Songa moving sports drama about Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo, who died of cancer the previous year at the age of 26.
After Brian’s Song and The Godfather, James Caan has become one of Hollywood’s most in-demand actors. He notably played in Could not witness (Hide in Plain Sight1980), which he also directed, funny lady (1975), opposite Barbra Streisand, elite killer (1975), by Sam Peckinpah, with Robert Duvall, and Chapter Two (1979), from a screenplay by Neil Simon.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Al Pacino and James Caan in The Godfather
But his star faded in the early 1980s: he had begun to struggle with drug use and he was devastated by the death in 1981 of his sister Barbara, who until then had been a beacon in his career.
He returned to stardom in his own right in 1990, opposite Kathy Bates in Miseryadaptation of a novel by Stephen King.
Once again in demand, he notably played in 1991 in For the Boys, alongside Bette Midler. He also introduced himself to a new generation by playing Walter, Will Ferrell’s stone-faced, workaholic father in elf (2003).
Subsequently, from 2003 to 2007, he was the headliner of the television series Vegasin the role of Big Eda former CIA agent turned casino owner.
Married and divorced four times, James Caan had a daughter, Tara, and four sons: Scott, Alexander, James and Jacob.