Oscar nominee tackled roles in ‘Godfather,’ ‘Brian’s Song’
James Caan, the curlyhaired 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 “Brian’s Song” and the casino boss in “Las Vegas,” died Wednesday, his manager said. Caan was 82.
No cause was given, and Caan’s family, who requested privacy, said that no further details would be released at this time.
A football player at Michigan State University and a practical joker on production sets, Caan was a grinning, handsome performer with an athlete’s swagger and muscular build.
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 eldest son of Mafia boss Vito Corleone.
Despite Coppola’s fears he had made a flop, the 1972 release was an enormous critical and commercial success and brought supporting actor Oscar nominations for cast members Caan, Robert Duvall and Al Pacino.
Caan was already a star on television, breaking through in the 1971 TV movie “Brian’s Song,” an emotional drama about Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo, who had died of cancer the year before at age 26.
It was among the most popular and wrenching TV movies in history, and Caan and co-star Billy Dee Williams, who played Piccolo’s teammate and best friend Gale Sayers, were nominated for best actor Emmys.
After “Brian’s Song” and “The Godfather,” Caan was one of Hollywood’s busiest actors, appearing in “Hide in Plain Sight” (which he also directed), “Funny Lady” (opposite Barbra Streisand), “The Killer Elite” and Neil Simon’s “Chapter
Two,” among others. He also made a brief appearance in a flashback sequence in “The Godfather: Part II.”
But by the early 1980s, he began to sour on films, though Michael Mann’s 1981 neo-noir heist film “Thief,” in which he played a professional safecracker seeking a way out, is among his most admired films.
He had begun to struggle with drug use and was devastated by the 1981 leukemia death of his sister, Barbara, who until then had been a guiding force in his career. For much of the 1980s, he made no films, telling people he preferred to coach his son Scott’s Little League games.
Short on cash, Caan was hired by Coppola for the leading role in the 1987 film “Gardens of Stone.” The movie, about life at Arlington National Cemetery, proved too grim for most audiences, but it renewed Caan’s acting career.
He returned to fullfledged stardom opposite Kathy Bates in “Misery” in
1990. In the film, Caan is an author taken captive by an obsessed fan who breaks his ankles to keep him from leaving. Bates won an Oscar for the role.
His 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 Buddy’s Will Ferrell in “Elf.”
Born March 26, 1939, in New York City, Caan was the son of a kosher meat wholesaler. 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.
Following a brief stage career, he moved to Hollywood. He made his movie debut in a brief uncredited role in 1963 in Billy Wilder’s “Irma La Douce.”
Married and divorced four times, Caan had a daughter, Tara, and sons Scott, Alexander, James and Jacob.