Caan was not afraid to study or to work hard, but it was clear early on that neither the life of an academic or a meatpacker was for him. Im very pleased and very honored by the fact the Actors Studio, the kids there have picked that scene to do quite a lot, said Caan. I was doing this thing with Marsha Mason [Note: Chapter Two] and some guy was sitting there on a little wooden chair and he had this script and asked me to read it. Best known by the younger generation for his roles as Buddy the Elf's (played by Will Ferrell) cranky father in the movie "Elf" and the temperamental Sonny Corleone in "The Godfather" franchise, the older generation recognizes Caan's versatility in a wide range of roles such asPaul Sheldon(via Screen Rant), an author turned prisoner in the movie "Misery," to Brian Piccolo in ABC's "Brian's Song," per TCM. Get the best of Fox News' entertainment coverage, right in your inbox. Caan was four times divorced, had a cocaine addiction, used prostituted women, was accused of beating his ex-wife and ex-girlfriend and of involvement in multiple violent assaults on other men, he had mobster friends whom he defended, and once lived at the Playboy Mansion, and apparently terrified his co-stars on multiple sets. 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. As in The Gambler, in which he brings to life screenwriter James Toback's fantasy/projection of a lit professor who can show up to class after an overstimulated night at the craps tables and. My thoughts and prayers are with his entire family during this difficult time. One of the film's sharpest moves is to keep Walter constantly frustrated by Buddy's antics, even as everyone else is eventually worn down by the man-elf's manic enthusiasm. "You know, we boxed in a ringsometimes it wasn't in a ring. "The Godfather" has long been dogged with questions of how much of the story is based on true events, and how much the real-life mafia was involved with the film's production. Distractify is a registered trademark. While James Caan will be remembered for his prolific acting career, he also directed one feature film, 1980's "Hide in Plain Sight." That should have been the final straw, but it is only just the beginning of trans activism. As he said toWENN, hedidn't want to be upstaged by a child actor in a sentimental weepie like "Kramer," while the thought of spending months in the jungle was enough to deter him from reuniting with Coppola on "Apocalypse Now.". Fourth Wave. Al Pacino called Caan, A great actor. Thats when I want to choke somebody.. "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. In 1995 he married actress/costume designer Linda Stokes who looks at least a decade younger than him and they divorced in 2016, after filing for divorce three times. Entertainment, Caan said that he lived with cocaine addiction after turning to the drug when his sister died from leukemia. Between 1982 and 1987, he went on what he would later call the Hollywood burnout. News. Misery helped put Caan's career back on track. James Caan died at 82 years old, . The Early Life Of James Caan. 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. But James saw it otherwise. (Getty Images), Caan's early work included "Red Line 7000," "El Dorado" and "The Rain People. The 75-year-old actor - who is best known for playing Sonny Corleone in 1972's The Godfather - had complained of chest pain, according to . He wasn't afraid to play against his tough guy image, either, in sensitive supporting turns opposite Barbra Streisand and Jane Fonda in "Funny Lady" and "Comes a Horseman," respectively. James was best known for playing Sonny Corleone in "The Godfather," which won him both Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor. I mean, I woke up and this whole thing had happened while I was asleep. breaking through in the 1971 TV movie "Brian's Song," an emotional drama about Chicago Bears running back Brian . According to Yahoo! I wear $150 slacks, I wear silk shirts, I wear $800 suits, I wear a gold watch, I wear a perfect D flawless three-karat ring, I change cars like other guys change their f---ing shoes! Thief was a critical smash, with the Sun-Times Roger Ebert giving it three and a half stars and writing, It is a good thing when a movie creates characters we feel strongly about, and Thief is populated with them. Sign up now to get updates and support our team of feminist writers. By Claire Jimenez(Grand Central, fiction). He married and divorced four times. He was a famously tricky interview subject, by turns hostile to journalists and refreshingly forthright. This will never happen with my son. She was the only person I was afraid of. Then he had a motorcycle accident and his house was nearly destroyed by a landslide. Other later films included Flesh and Bone, Bottle Rocket and Mickey Blue Eyes. He introduced himself to a new generation playing Walter, the workaholic, stone-faced father of Buddys Will Ferrell in Elf., Adam Sandler, who acted with him in Bulletproof and Thats My Boy tweeted that he, Loved him very much. After leaving Las Vegas, James went on to feature in hit movies like New York, I Love You, Blood Ties, and The Good Neighbor. No cause of death was revealed. For more must-readbook recommendations, check out our interview with Jos Olivarez about his new poetry collection, and the March USA TODAY Book Club pick, "Promises of Gold;"the 20 books we were most excited for this winter, including a collaboration betweenColleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher, andRebecca Makkai's"I Have Some Questions for You";ourfavoritebooks of 2022that received perfect four-star reviews;and the juiciest celebrity memoirs released last year from Matthew Perry, Tom Felton, William Shatner, Jennette McCurdy and more. Caan was spotted using a walker at a restaurant with friends in California last year after spending some time in a wheelchair as he recovered from back surgery in 2020 +73 View gallery A. Although presented as the moral centre of the film, Caans character, Jonathan E, is as sadistic as everyone else around him. Its a thriller with plausible people in it. His next move: Manhattan'sthe Neighborhood Playhouse. From 1982 to 1987, Caan suffered from depression over his sister's death from leukemia, a growing problem with cocaine, and what he described as "Hollywood burnout," and did not act in any films. But it sure looked really bad. The greatest emphasis has been on his role as mobster Sonny Corleone in The Godfather (1972). 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. After his death, many admirers took to social media to post excerpts of his infamous 1976 Playboy interview, during which he spent the whole time goofing on his interviewer and the entire concept of a celebrity profile. The elder Caan experienced addiction in the 1980s, which required him to take a step back from acting. The film stars James Caan, Marsha Mason and Eli Wallach, and was produced and directed by Mark Rydell. Much of that time was spent coaching Little League baseball, an experience Caan cherished. Married and divorced four times, Caan had a daughter, Tara, and sons Scott, Alexander, James and Jacob. His passion for acting never ceased, even at the age of 80. Then in the B form, he has this woman he loves and a baby now, so he cant afford to be that guy anymore. The completed film, titled "Minkow" at the time, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival that same year but ended up on the shelf until nearly a decade later, when it was released quietly under the name "Con Man." A football player at Michigan State University and a practical joker on production sets, Caan was a grinning, handsome performer with an athletes swagger and muscular build. Behind the scenes, Caan and his character were not too far apart, as Ferrell once noted on a 2018 episode of "The Late Late Show with James Corden." After attending various schools, he entered two universities, Michigan State University, at which he was a football hero, and Hofstra University, Long Island, but failed to graduate from either. Broadway Shows He was 82. James Caan was a bona fide A-lister in the 1970s, but in the years following "The Godfather" he took a more eclectic route with his stardom, acting in films like Sam Peckinpah's ninjas-vs-spies mash-up "The Killer Elite" and the turn-of-the-century caper "Harry and Walter Go to New York." Caan's earliest on-screen roles were in television, where he notched appearances on anthology series like "Route 66" and "Naked City." Never ever stopped laughing when I was around that man. His defining role came as Sonny Corleone in Francis Ford Coppolas The Godfather (1972). Caan's movie and TV career stretches back over 60 years, with some of his most notable roles being in The Godfather (1972), Misery (1990) and Elf (2003). Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Per Rotten Tomatoes, the film also stars Caan who plays "a blue-collar worker in Buffalo whose estranged wife, Ruthie (Barbara Rae), has taken up with a local mobster, Jack Scolese (Robert Viharo)." (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. The guys nuts.. When 13-year-old Ruthy disappeared after track practice, it left the Ramirez family scarred. ", "I will miss him dearly and am proud to have worked with him all these years. He was a star athlete and class president at Rhodes High School and, after attending Michigan State and Hofstra University, he studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater under Sanford Meisner. "The Godfather" would sit at the top of nearly any actor's resume, and rightly so, but James Caan had other, less heralded favorites. Caan really did live at Hef's house for a short time, and even after moving out remained a frequent guest of the mansion for decades. Like our work? USA TODAY'sBarbara VanDenburghscopes out the shelves for this weeks hottest new book releases. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. He didn't feature in any movies in 1994, and he went on another break between 1996 and 1998. The Associated Press wrote: an acquaintance [of Caans] fell eight stories to his death [from a fire escape] while trying to reach an apartment where Caan was staying. The New York Times reported that at the time, [t]he police questioned him at length. Caan told the police he was asleep when it happened, and the death was deemed accidental. James Caan (@James_Caan) July 7, 2022. The late Associated Press writer Bob Thomas contributed biographical information to this report. But the women he abused, his victims, will remember a different man a man who, even in death, the media and Hollywood elites are too afraid to criticize. A character actor with movie star swagger, or perhaps the other way around, Caan got his start on television in the 1960s before becoming one of the biggest names in Hollywood in the 1970s, thanks in large part to his immortal turn as Sonny Corleone in "The Godfather." Al Pacino wrote in an emailed statement that, Jimmy was my fictional brother and my lifelong friend. But now I see what you were doing. Caan died from a heart attack in early July. In addition to famous lines like "Leave the gun, take the cannoli," the film (and book) gave new meaning to the word"godfather," a title that did not have sinister connotations before the novel. When Caan was going through a difficult divorce from wife Sheila Ryan in 1976, Hefner offered him a place to stay until he got back on his feet. But when we chatted via Zoom on Monday . His manager, Matt Del Piano, confirmed Caan's death to Fox News Digital. 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). There are some film stars for whom the frisson of fame and the exultation of acting are not enough. The actor had to leave Hawaii and go to LA to get an ACL injury treated. If macho means Im going to drive the car, then Im macho. Caans first wife was actress Dee Jay Mattis, and they were married from 1961 to 1966. 5 reality series "The Girls Next Door," attending the mansion's annual Halloween party. As he said in Cigar Aficionado, "I love kids because they're not full of s***, you know?" Poles needs to make sure Eberflus maintains significant input. Russo told EW: With this being my first film, I didnt want to complain he chipped my elbow with the garbage pail cover, and he broke two ribs. James Caan, the curly-haired tough guy known to movie fans as the hotheaded Sonny Corleone of "The Godfather" and to television . "One in my wrist, two in the other wrist, and one in each. In search ofsomething good to read? He earned one nickname, Shoulders, due to his broad physique. Then his friend Coppola gave him the lead in Gardens of Stone (1987). Caan starred in several television series including "Naked City" and "The Untouchables" before landing a film role in "Funny Lady" opposite Barbra Streisand, giving him the chance to showcase his adaptability (via IMDb). James disappeared from Hollywood on several occasions, intermittently working as a children's sports coach. 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. I would kill. On being perceived as a macho he said, If macho means I wear the pants, then Im macho. James Caan, the curly-haired tough guy known to movie fans as the hotheaded Sonny Corleone of The Godfather and to television audiences as both the dying football player in the classic weeper Brians Song and the casino boss in Las Vegas, has died. ", CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER, The actor was born in the Bronx and later made his on-screen debut in 1963 with "Irma la Douce. Share. "Jimmy was one of the greatest," Del Piano said in a statement. "I had these little skinny legs[with] this big square top," Caan told Cigar Aficionado in a 2006 interview. After undergoing serious back surgery in 2020, he was hospitalized for months and has only recently begun to walk again. One member of that new generation was a young, unknown Texas filmmaker named Wes Anderson who, along with brothers Luke and Owen Wilson, was preparing his first feature, a low-budget crime comedy called "Bottle Rocket." Caan receive good reviews for the role he called the most physically demanding of his career as he had to stay in bed most of the time. But Sonny, a remorselessly violent hoodlum driven by family loyalty, represented the true nature of the Corleone family. In 1993, Caan was questioned in relation to 25-year-old Mark Alan Schwartz death in Los Angeles. Three years later luck would strike again when Caan's old Hofstra classmate Francis Ford Coppola cast him as a former football player in the road trip drama "The Rain People" opposite Shirley Knight and Robert Duvall. Detectives were questioning a person who was inside the home at the time. The film had a respectable cast, including Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill, Talia Shire, and Caan as the FBI agent who brings young Minkow's house of cards tumbling down. Those legal run-ins did little to slow James Caan's career momentum, as he settled into serving as an elder statesman for a new generation of actors and audiences who grew up watching him in his 1970s heyday. On top of this, he walked off the set of The Holcroft Covenant (1985) and was replaced by Michael Caine. The top entertainment stories, features and must-read reviews sent to you weekly. However, the many superb portrayals he gave in scores of films and TV episodes will outlive the gossip and sensational headlines. When [Mann] came to me with the script [for Thief], I bought three tomatoes, I didnt know what the hell he was selling, cracked Caan. Caan briefly lived at the Playboy Mansion and, in 2010, People reported that his son, Scott, spent much of his unconventional childhood inside the walls of the Playboy Mansion. James Caan told People, Id have Scott bring me girls. Our relationship was always friendship before business. Jul 15, 2022 7 min. I looked guilty.. The first episode of the crime drama aired on Sept. 22, 2003 and it was an immediate hit. The second nickname, Killer Caan, came from his skills as a teenage boxer. Las Vegas provided him with an exceptional opportunity to experience an aspect of film production he was more or less unacquainted with before. A 1999 article in The Guardian states the LAPD arrested Caan at the time and interrogated him for 10 hours over Schwartz death. 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. He was 82. James Caan stands up to Mob Boss from "Thief" 1981 by An Unexpected Life on YouTube But by the early 1980s, a decade of stardom had taken its toll. In 1993, a man named Mark Schwartz died when trying to climb up to the balcony of an apartment where the actor was staying. The women he abused will remember a different man than the one widely praised by Hollywood for "being a legend.". I spend most of my time upstairs in my bedroom, wearing out one spot on the bed where I sit when Im making phone calls. When he had not appeared in a film for four years, people in Hollywood were beginning to ask, What ever happened to ?. He also showed a tender side as a naive sailor who falls for a prostitute in Cinderella Liberty (1973) and in Karel Reiszs The Gambler (1974), in which Caan, intense and sympathetic, gives one of his finest performances as a university professor addicted to gambling. Janelle Ash is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. 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. His character rose to become boss of the Montecito but remained the tough guy who had learned judo in an undercover division of the U.S. government. Caan told Bright Lights Film Journal that he was eager to star in the film, but that he was not quite as keen to jump into the director's chair. Caan was well teamed with Genevive Bujold in Claude Lelouchs romance set in the US, Another Man, Another Chance (1977), and with Jane Fonda in the western Comes a Horseman (1978). But then he has to get rid of all the s--- he got in B so he can go back to A, you see what Im saying? According to The New York Times, Rowland claimed Caan picked her up by the neck, choked her and threw her into a hallway after an argument. A 2015 article in HuffPost mentions the broken nose, black eye, and constant intimidation [Rowland] suffered at the hands of Hollywood actor and her then boyfriend James Caan. Rowlands IMDb profile mentions a pictorial in Celebrity Sleuth from 1995 entitled James Caan Tried to Kill Me! In 1999, The Guardian reported that the physical battery suit against Caan was dismissed without trial. Caan's long career was marked by a. I have more fun when I'm working, and I have a lot of laughs. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. The news of his death was reported around the . The fun of it was taken away, he told an interviewer in 1981. On 26-3-1940 James Caan (nickname: James) was born in The Bronx, New York, United States. A handful of small film roles followed, and Caan finally got his breakthrough in 1966's "El Dorado," Howard Hawks and John Wayne's unofficial remake of their own "Rio Bravo." A July 7 obituary in The New York Times of Caan frames the actors violent tendencies as part of his bad boy reputation. Most of his behavior is blamed on his cocaine addiction, which began after the premature death of his sister. You can bull---t your way around it, but it is there, you know?" While the film was well-received Caan recalled that "Francis Coppola said it was one of the best flight films he has ever seen" he never directed another. "I've had a wonderful four years, worked with great people and made friends for life working on Las Vegas, but I'm eager to return to where my heart is, which is film, and due to the show's schedule, I missed some great opportunities to do that," James explained in a previous interview with The Hollywood Reporter. 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. We may never be able to fully separate the truth from the legends, but we do know that at some point during the production of the film Caan became good friends with Colombo crime family lieutenant Andrew Russo.