James Caan has built a durable film career in a variety of roles for 60 years, but is chasing skirts in one of his earliest characters, the original The Godfather film. It was forever closely identified with Sonny Corleone. He was 82 years old.
His death was announced by his family On twitter And confirmed by his manager, Matt Delpiano. Both his family and his manager refused to quote where he died or the cause.
By the time “The Godfather” was released in 1972, Kahn had established himself as a notable young actor. He played an important role in the 1966 western drama “El Dorado” starring John Wayne and Robert Mitchum. (Wayne, Khan said he was fooled by a chess game during a filming break.)
In his first collaboration with Francis Ford Coppola, the 1969 film The Rain People, he played a rustic ex-soccer player and received critic praise.
The early television movie “Brian’s Song” (1971) drew him to the attention of more viewers. Based on a true story, it focused on the friendship between black football star Gale Sayers of the Chicago Bears (played by Billy Dee Williams) and white teammate Brian Piccolo. Piccolo died of cancer in the 1970s at the age of 26, and Khan was not shy to play him in three handkerchief films with enthusiastic and humorous.
Then came Mr. Coppola’s “The Godfather”. Initially starring Michael Corleone — the role played by Al Pacino in the end — Khan eventually played Sony, and was soon angry and eventually shot down on the causeway. He told him that for years he would say something like “Hey, never go through the tollhouse again” because he completely immersed himself in that role. rice field.
Some even mistaken him for a real gangster. “I’ve been criticized many times,” he told Vanity Fair in 2004. “I won the” Italian of the Year “twice in New York, but I’m not Italian. “
He is actually Jewish and was raised by German-born parents in Sunnyside, Queens. “I was once rejected by a country club,” he said. “Oh yeah, the guy sat down in front of the board and said,’No, no, he was a wise man, he was downtown. He’s a maid man.” “What’s crazy?” I did. “
Kahn was nominated for an Emmy for Best Actor in “Bryan’s Song” and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for “The Godfather.” His Oscar contest included Mr. Pacino and another “The Godfather” actor, Robert Duvall. The three canceled each other and the award was given to Joel Gray of “Cabaret”.
By that time, Mr. Khan’s career was in full swing. The next decade was particularly fertile. Among his roles are the sailor who fell in love with “Cinderella Liberty” (1973), the self-destructive professor of “The Gambler” (1974), and the anti-authoritative athlete of “Rollerball” (1975). There was a fierce World War II. A sergeant from “A Bridge Too Far” (1977) and a not-so-bright former scammer from his favorite movie “Thief” (1981).
Not all of his films have received positive attention, but his rugged good looks and obvious wisdom have made his acting usually so. In a review of The New York Times’ Cinderella Liberty, Vincent Canby wrote: Kahn seems to be shaping as Paul Newman in the 1970s. He is an intelligent and versatile actor who is a modest yet unmistakable public figure. “
Like Paul Newman, Khan tried to reach out to the director. But he played only once in “Hide in Plain Sight” (1980), playing a man looking for children after the children and their mother were brought to the government’s Witness Protection Program. .. The movie didn’t go well with box office revenue and left him fascinated.
“Everyone wants to do’Rocky 9′,’ Airport 96’and’Jaws 7′,” he said in 1981.
In his prime minister, Mr. Khan had the reputation of the man he tasted. In the interview, he scattered four-letter words like bird seeds. He won six black belts in karate. He managed the boxer by tying Stair with a rope at the rodeo circuit. Sports writer Jim Murray once said, especially because the pursuit of rodeos left so many stitches and screws on the shoulders and arms. “
Mr. Khan also had a bad boy reputation. He got married and divorced four times. He appeared as a character witness to an old friend of Queens who was being tried as a gangster. Because the men who stood up remain loyal to their peers. And he had his brush on the law.
Police queried him in 1993 after a man died in a fire escape from his Los Angeles apartment where he was staying. Authorities concluded that the death was a coincidence, and Mr Khan said he was asleep when it happened.
The following year, North Hollywood police arrested him after he flashed a loaded pistol in public. He said he did it just to disband the fight. The fee has been withdrawn.
Along the way, I checked in at a cocaine addiction rehab center that started after my sister Barbara Ricker died of leukemia in 1981. The two were intimate. She was James and their brother, Ronald — and her death hit him hard.
He barely worked for the next six years and was in debt. “I went into the whole lifestyle of girls, drugs and parties,” he told Entertainment Weekly, adding, “You really got caught up in it and it’s very devastating.”
However, he bounced off, starting in 1987 with the Vietnam War drama “Gardens of Stone,” playing a tough soldier in another collaboration with Mr. Coppola. Later, directed by Rob Reiner, he acted as a writer captured by enthusiastic fans (played by Kathy Bates) in Stephen King’s novel-based box office hit “Misery” (1990). .. A tough and romantic mob man in “Honeymoon in Vegas” (1992). Yet another gangster in the comedy “Mickey for Love” (1999). And the editor of the whimsical book of “Elf” (2003).
He also turned to television, especially the series “Las Vegas”. In this series, from 2003 to 2007, he was seen as the president of the casino’s operations and security officer. Still, he worked steadily, but his later career lacked his early incandescence.
Born March 26, 1940 in Bronx, James Edmund Khan grew up in Queens, the son of Kosher meat wholesaler Arthur Khan and housewife Sophie (Falkenstein) Khan.
Street life attracted him more than the classroom. He dropped out of several schools before settling in Rhodes Preparatory School in Manhattan and graduated in 1956 at the age of 16.
At Michigan State University, he wanted to create a soccer team, but he failed. He transferred to Hofstra University on Long Island — Mr. Coppola was his classmate — but eventually he dropped out. Nevertheless, his interest in acting ignited there. He studied at the reputed Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater in Manhattan for five years.
Around that time, he met an actress named Dee Jay Mathis. He became the first of his four wives (his marriage length ranged from 12 years to just one year). He survived by his brother Ronald. Five children, actors Scott Caan and Tara, Alexander, James and Jacob Caan. And four grandchildren.
Khan’s early works include “Route 66,” “Dr. Kildare,” and “Wagon Train.” The movie was soon approaching, and “The Godfather” dominated.
In the film, he said he improvised some of his lines and actions, including two words that he did not invent, but led to the words.
Sony tells Michael how difficult it is to kill his family’s enemies. Badabin! — You blow their minds across your lovely Ivy League suit. “
“”Badabin? Bada boom? Did I say that? “Khan said in an interview with Vanity Fair. “Or did I just say? Badabin?? It just came out of my mouth. I don’t know where it came from. “
