James Caan, star of The Godfather and Misery, died on 6 July aged 82.
Caan’s career experienced drastic highs and lows, from early success and fame in films such as The Godfather and Funny Lady to a period of personal tragedy in the 1980s, before engineering a comeback. He leaves behind a legacy of vivid portrayals and vibrant characters.
Caan studied acting under Sanford Meisner, one of the legendary New York acting teachers, alongside future co-star Robert Duvall. His early film credits include the Howard Hawks Western El Dorado (1966), alongside John Wayne, and The Rain People (1969), which was directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
It was in Coppola’s The Godfather (1972) that Caan cemented his place amongst Hollywood royalty in what would be his defining performance. As Sonny, oldest son of the Corleone family, Caan embodied the violent and erratic side of the mafia family. He became so closely identified with the role that he would often be mistaken for a gangster. As he said to Vanity Fair in 2009, “They called me a wiseguy. I won Italian of the Year twice in New York, and I’m Jewish, not Italian.”
In the 1970s, Caan enjoyed a slew of successful roles, including Funny Lady (1975) in which he starred alongside Barbara Streisand and the war-film A Bridge Too Far (1977). He also famously turned down a number of Oscar-winning films, including The French Connection, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Kramer vs. Kramer (which he described as “middle-class, bourgeois baloney”).
In the early 1980s, Caan experienced tragedy when he lost his sister, whom he described as “my best friend, my manager”, to leukemia. At the same time, his career stagnated, with the ill-fated Kiss Me Goodbye (1982) flopping at the box office. For five years, he quit acting.
Caan was, however, able to engineer a comeback. He returned to the screen by reuniting with Francis Ford Coppola in Gardens of Stone (1987). In 1990, Caan starred in one of his best performances as the captive author Paul Sheldon in Rob Reiner’s critically and commercially successful Misery.
After his death was announced, Hollywood paid tribute to the actor. Francis Ford Coppola said Caan’s work “will never be forgotten.” Director Michael Mann lamented the “terrible and tragic loss.” In a 1999 interview with the Guardian, Caan said “My biggest regret is I threw away my good fortune. I made dumb mistakes. Mea culpa. But you know what, I’m still alive and I’m still healthy, and I may even be a movie star some day.” In the end, he was vindicated. If nothing else, James Caan was a movie star.
Words by Reuben Bharucha
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