Pacino (right) in The Godfather (1972).

Alfredo James "Al" Pacino (born April 25, 1940) is an Academy Award, Emmy Award and Tony Award-winning American stage and film actor. He is probably best known, among many, for his roles as Michael Corleone in The Godfather Trilogy and as Tony Montana in the 1983 film Scarface. He is regarded by many as one of the best film actors of his generation.[1][2]

Early life

Pacino was born on April 25, 1940 in New York City's Manhattan borough to Italian-American parents Salvatore Pacino and Rose Gerard (the daughter of an Italian-born father and a New York-born mother of Italian descent). His parents divorced when Pacino was two years old. After the divorce, Al and his mother moved to The Bronx, New York to live with his grandparents, who originated from Sicily.[3] His father Salvatore moved to Covina, California, working as an insurance salesman and owner of his own restaurant called Pacino's Lounge.

Pacino attended Manhattan's School of Performing Arts.

Tough times forced the closure of Pacino's in the early 1990s, and is now called Citrus Grill. Salvatore Pacino died on January 1, 2005 at the age of 82.

Career

1960s

In 1966, Pacino studied under legendary acting coach Lee Strasberg (alongside whom he would later feature in the 1974 film The Godfather Part II). He found acting to be an enjoyable talent that he had possessed since childhood, though it left him penniless and homeless. But by the end of the decade, he had won an Obie award for stage work in The Indian Wants the Bronx and a Tony award for Best Supporting Actor in the Broadway play, Does the Tiger Wear a Necktie?. He made his first screen appearance in an episode of the television series N.Y.P.D. in 1968. His largely unnoticed movie debut came the following year in Me, Natalie.

1970s

It was the 1971 film The Panic in Needle Park, in which he played a heroin addict, that would bring him to the attention of director Francis Ford Coppola.

Al Pacino as the eponymous Frank Serpico.

Pacino's rise to fame came after portraying Michael Corleone in Coppola's blockbuster 1972 Mafia film The Godfather and Frank Serpico in the eponymous 1973 movie.

Although several established actors, including Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, and a little known Robert De Niro, were vying to portray Michael Corleone, director Coppola selected the relatively unknown Pacino, much to the dismay of studio executives. His performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 1973 Pacino starred in the very successful Serpico and the less popular Scarecrow alongside Gene Hackman.

In 1974, Pacino reprised his role as Michael Corleone in the very successful sequel The Godfather Part II which was acclaimed as being comparable to the original. In 1975, Pacino enjoyed further success with the release of Dog Day Afternoon, based on the true story of a bank robber John Wojtowicz.

During the 1970s, Pacino had four Oscar nominations for Best Actor for his performances in Serpico, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, and ...And Justice For All.

Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon (1975).

Pacino continued his dedication to the stage, winning his second Tony Award for The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and performing the title role in Richard III for a record run on Broadway despite poor notices from critics.

1980s

Pacino's career slumped in the early 1980s and his appearances in the controversial Cruising and the comedy-drama Author! Author! were critically panned. 1983's Scarface, directed by Brian DePalma proved to be a career highlight and a defining role. Upon its initial release, the film was critically panned but did well at the box office, grossing over $45 million domestically.[4] Pacino earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in Scarface as a Cuban drug lord.

Al Pacino as Tony Montana in Scarface.

1985's Revolution was a commercial and critical failure, resulting in a four year hiatus from films during which Pacino returned to the stage. He mounted workshop productions of Crystal Clear, National Anthems and other plays; he appeared in Julius Caesar in 1988 in producer Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival. He then worked on his most personal project, The Local Stigmatic, a 1969 Off Broadway play in which he starred, which he remounted with director David Wheeler and the Theater Company of Boston in a 1985 50-minute film version unreleased as of 2006. Pacino remarked on his hiatus from film: "I remember back when everything was happening, '74, '75, doing The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui on stage and reading that the reason I'd gone back to the stage was that my movie career was waning! That's been the kind of ethos, the way in which theater's perceived, unfortunately."[5] Pacino returned to films in 1989's Sea of Love.

His greatest stage success of the decade was David Mamet's American Buffalo, for which Pacino was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.

1990s

Pacino received an Oscar nomination as Big Boy Caprice in the box office hit Dick Tracy (1990) followed by a return to aruguably his most famous character, Michael Corleone, in The Godfather Part III (1990). He would finally win an Oscar for Best Actor, for his portrayal of the depressed, irascible, and retired blind Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in Martin Brest's Scent of a Woman (1992). That very year, he was nominated for the supporting actor award for Glengarry Glen Ross, making Pacino the first male actor ever to receive two acting nominations for two different movies in the same year, and to win for the lead role (as did Jamie Foxx in 2005). During that same year, Pacino was offered to voice Batman villain Two-Face in the hugely successful Batman The Animated Series but turned down the role. Pacino has since turned acclaimed performances in such crime dramas as Carlito's Way (1993), Donnie Brasco (1997), the multi-Oscar nominated The Insider (1999) and Insomnia (2002).

In 1995, Pacino starred in Michael Mann's Heat, in which he and fellow film icon Robert De Niro appeared onscreen together for the first time. (Though both Pacino and De Niro starred in The Godfather Part II, they did not share any scenes. The pairing drew much attention as the two actors have long been compared). In 1996, Pacino starred in his theatrical feature Looking for Richard, and was lauded for his role as Satan in the supernatural drama The Devil's Advocate in 1997.

Pacino has not received another nomination from the Academy since Scent of a Woman, but has won two Golden Globes since 2000, the first being the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures, and the second for his role in the highly praised HBO miniseries Angels in America.

Pacino has turned down several key roles in his career, including that of Han Solo in Star Wars, Captain Willard in Apocalypse Now, Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas, Richard Sherman in a never-filmed remake of The Seven Year Itch, and Edward Lewis in Pretty Woman.[citation needed] In 1996, Pacino was slated to play General Manuel Noriega in a major biographical motion picture when director Oliver Stone pulled the plug on production to focus on his movie Nixon. Pacino subsequently received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Pacino's greatest stage successes of the decade were in revivals of Eugene O'Neill's Hughie and Oscar Wilde's Salome.

2000s

Pacino recently turned down an offer to reprise his role as Michael Corleone in The Godfather: The Game, ostensibly because his voice had changed dramatically since playing Michael in the first two Godfather films. As a result, Electronic Arts was not permitted to use Pacino's likeness or voice in the game, although his character does appear in it. (It is rumored Pacino actually declined the role due to a conflict with Electronic Arts' rival, Vivendi Universal, which launched a competing game adaptation of the 1983 remake of Scarface, titled Scarface: The World is Yours).

Pacino still acts on stage and has dabbled in film directing. While The Local Stigmatic remains unreleased, his film festival-screened Chinese Coffee has earned good notices. On the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains, he is only the second actor to appear on both lists: on the "heroes list" as Frank Serpico and on the "villains list" as Michael Corleone.

In October 1997, Pacino was ranked No 4 in Empire magazine's The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Timelist, and was later voted the Number 1 greatest movie star of all time in a Channel 4 (UK) poll. With his box office earnings relatively modest of late, Pacino looks to be gearing up with several new projects in 2007. He will star in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean's Thirteen alongside George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Andy Garcia.

Also scheduled for release is Rififi, a remake of the 1955 French original based on the novel by Auguste Le Breton. Pacino plays a career thief just out of prison who finds his wife has left him; in his anger, he starts planning a heist.[6]

Pacino is set to play surrealist Salvador Dalí in the film Dali & I: The Surreal Story.[7][8]

On October 20, 2006, the American Film Institute named Pacino the recipient of the 35th AFI Life Achievement Award.[9] On November 22, 2006, the University Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin awarded Pacino the Honorary Patronage of the Society.[10]

Personal life

Pacino has three children, despite being a confirmed bachelor. The first, Julie Marie, is his daughter with acting coach Jan Tarrant. He also has twins, Anton and Olivia, with ex-girlfriend Beverly D'Angelo.

Awards and Nominations

Academy Award

• Nominated: Best Supporting Actor, The Godfather (1972)
• Nominated: Best Actor, Serpico (1973)
• Nominated: Best Actor, The Godfather: Part II (1974)
• Nominated: Best Actor, Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
• Nominated: Best Actor, ...And Justice for All (1979)
• Nominated: Best Supporting Actor, Dick Tracy (1990)
• Nominated: Best Supporting Actor, Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
• Won: Best Actor, Scent of a Woman (1992)

BAFTA Award

• Nominated: Best Newcomer, The Godfather (1973)
• Nominated: Best Actor, Serpico (1975)
• Won: Best Actor, The Godfather: Part II (1975)
• Won: Best Actor, Dog Day Afternoon (1976)
• Nominated: Best Supporting Actor, Dick Tracy (1991)

Emmy Award

• Won: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie, Angels in America (2004)

Golden Globe Award

• Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, The Godfather (1973)
• Won: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Serpico (1974)
• Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, The Godfather: Part II (1975)
• Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Dog Day Afternoon (1976)
• Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Bobby Deerfield (1978)
• Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, ...And Justice for All (1980)
• Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy, Author! Author! (1983)
• Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Scarface (1984)
• Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Sea of Love (1990)
• Nominated: Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture, Dick Tracy (1991)
• Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, The Godfather: Part III (1991)
• Nominated: Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture, Glengarry Glen Ross (1993)
• Won: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Scent of a Woman (1993)
• Won: Cecil B. DeMille Award (2001)
• Won: Best Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television, Angels in America (2004)

Trivia

• Ranked #4 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.
• Was arrested in January 1961, charged with carrying a concealed weapon.
• He has a daughter, named Julie Marie, with acting teacher Jan Tarrant.
• Dropped out of school at the age of 17.
• Turned down the role of Ted Kramer in Kramer vs. Kramer
• Turned down Born on the Fourth of July.
• Turned down Apocalypse Now.
• Turned down the role of Han Solo in Star Wars.
• Turned down Pretty Woman.
• Turned down Crimson Tide.
• Originally asked for $7 million for The Godfather: Part III, a figure that so enraged director Francis Ford Coppola that he threatened to write a new script that opened with Michael Corleone's funeral. Pacino settled for $5 million.
• Father of twins Anton and Olivia (b. 25 January 2001), with Beverly D'Angelo.
• Was frequently refered to as "that midget Pacino" by producers of The Godfather who didn't want him for the part of Michael Corleone.
• Francis Ford Coppola asked Pacino to play Captain Willard in his film Apocalypse Now (1979). Pacino politely turned down the offer, saying he'd "do anything" for Francis but he "woudn't go to war with him!"
• Stopped a 2-pack-a-day smoking habit in 1994 to protect his voice. He now only occasionally smokes herbal cigarettes.
• Al was so much into character (playing a plain-clothes NYC cop) while filming Serpico he actually pulled over and threatened to arrest a truck driver for exhaust pollution.
• Is an avid fan of opera.
• Once worked as an usher at Carnegie Hall.
• Larry King considers Pacino's appearance on his show Larry King Live in November 1996 as one of his personal all-time favorite interviews.
• As of 2002, his salary was around $10 million a picture.
• One of the few Hollywood stars who has never married.
• Served as a godfather in real life, to the son Hank of childhood friend Bruce Kenselaar.
• Despite the fact that he starred in "The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui" for Off- Broadway scale pay (the minimum salary allowed by Actor's Equity), the production had the highest ticket price in Off-Broadway history at $100 per ticket.
• He is one of the elite ten thespians to have been nominated for both a Supporting and Lead Acting Academy Award in the same year. The other nine are Barry Fitzgerald Fay Bainter, Teresa Wright, Jessica Lange, Sigourney Weaver, Emma Thompson, Holly Hunter, Julianne Moore and Jamie Foxx. Pacino was the second male actor, after Barry Fitzgerald, to have been nominated for both a Best Supporting Actor and a Best Actor Oscar in the same year, the third is actor Jamie Foxx, who was nominated for Best Actor and Best supporting Actor in 2005.
• Won two Tony Awards: in 1969 as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Dramatic) for "Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?" and in 1977 as Best. Actor (Play) for "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel."
• Won his first Oscar twenty-one years after his first nomination.
• He and Chris Sarandon improvised their scene on the phone in the film Dog Day Afternoon.
• Studied acting under his friend Charles Laughton.
• He is an avid Shakespeare fan.
• Was voted the Number 1 greatest movie star of all time in a Channel 4 (UK) poll.
• For a short while, he was the only actor to be in the #1 Best and Worst Movie on IMDb: The Godfather and Gigli.
• In a Playboy magazine interview, he claimed that he was fired from his job as a movie theater usher while walking down the staircase and admiring himself in the mirrored wall.
• He was voted the 41st Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
• Portrayed crime bosses in The Godfather Trilogy, Scarface and Dick Tracy.
• In 2004 he became the eighteenth performer to win the Triple Crown of Acting. Oscar: Best Actor, Scent of a Woman (1992); Tonys: Best Supporting Actor-Play "Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?: (1969) and Best Actor-Play "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel" (1977); and Emmy: Best Actor-Miniseries/Movie, "Angels in America" (2003) (mini).
• Read for Chazz Palminteri's part in The Usual Suspects. Source: Director Bryan Singer, "Pursuing The Usual Suspects" documentary from UK DVD.
• Pacino was rejected repeatedly by studio heads while auditioning for the role of Michael in The Godfather but Francis Ford Coppola fought for him. This film was shot briskly because both the director and the leading actor were in constant fear of being fired. Ironically, the film turned out to be a breakthrough for both.
• He is the stepson of actress and make-up artist Katherin Kovin-Pacino.
• He has four sisters: Josette, a teacher, twins Roberta and Paula, and a younger sister named Desiree, whom Pacino's father adopted whilst married to his fourth wife.
• Was a longtime member of David Wheeler's Theatre Company of Boston, for which he performed in "Richard III" in Boston from Dec 1972 to Jan 1973 and at the Cort Theater in New York City from June 10 to July 15, 1979. He also appeared in their productions of Bertolt Brecht's "Aurturo Ui" at the Charles Theater in Boston in 1975 and later in New York and London, and in David Rabe's "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel" at the Longacre Theater in New York in 1977, for which Pacino won a Tony Award. Wheeler also directed Pacino in Heathcote Williams' "The Local Stigmatic" for Joseph Papp's Public Theater in New York City in 1976. Pacino appeared in a 1989 film of "Stigmatic" directed by Wheeler that was presented at the Cinémathèque in Los Angeles.
• Was the recipient of the 2001 Cecil B. DeMille Award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for his "outstanding contribution to the entertainment field".
• Won the Best Actor Obie (awarded for the best Off-Broadway performances) for "The Indian Wants The Bronx" in 1968. Was also nominated for a Best Actor Obie for "Why Is A Crooked Letter" in 1966.
• His performance in the Broadway play "Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?" won him a Tony Award for Best Dramatic Supporting Actor, and a Drama Desk Award and Theatre World Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1969.
• Turned down the lead role of Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind
• While Paramount brass dithered over whether to cast him as "Michael Corleone", the role that would make him a star, a frustrated Pacino signed up for the role of "Mario Trantino" in The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971). When Paramount finally decided to offer him the role in The Godfather, they had to buy him out of his contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ironically, the role went to Robert De Niro, whom The Godfather: Part II would make a star.
• His favorite actress is Julie Christie.
• He and Jamie Foxx are two out of the only three actors to be nominated for an Academy Award for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor in the same year. (Barry Fitzgerald did it first in 1945) Pacino was nominated in 1993 for Scent of a Woman and Glengarry Glen Ross / Foxx in 2005 for Ray and Collateral. Both men won the Best Actor award, and they both played blind men in their roles: Pacino as Frank Slade and Foxx as Ray Charles.
• Premiere Magazine ranked him as #37 on a list of the Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature (2005).
• Grew up in the South Bronx, New York City
• Attended The High School of the Performing Arts until he dropped out.
• Was John Schlesinger's original pick for Marathon Man but producer Robert Evans insisted that Schlesinger cast Dustin Hoffman instead.
• Has a production company called Chal Productions. The "Ch" is in tribute his friend "Charlie Laughton" (not the actor Charles Laughton) while the "Al" is for himself.
• Worked in the mail room of Commentary magazine.
• His favorite color is black.
• Breifly worked as a stand-up comic early in his career.
• Early in his acting career, he considered changing his name to "Sonny Scott" to avoid being typecast by his Italian name. "Sonny" was his childhood nickname.
• Alec Baldwin, who costarred with Pacino in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) and Looking for Richard (1996), wrote a 65 page final thesis on Al Pacino and method acting for his degree at NYU.
• Was friends with John Cazale since they were teenagers. They starred together in Dog Day Afternoon (1975), The Godfather: Part II and The Godfather.
• During the making of The Recruit, he met and became close friends with Colin Farrell. He went on to call Farrell the most talented actor of his generation.
• He and Anthony Hopkins won Best Actor Awards back-to-back. Both of them won for playing characters that had previously been played by other actors (Vittorio Gassman and Brian Cox, respectively). They also both played their roles opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman, who appears in both Scent of a Woman and Red Dragon. He and Hopkins have also both appeared in remake of a Michael Mann film. Hopkins appeared in the Manhunter (1986) remake Red Dragon, and Pacino appeared in the L.A. Takedown remake, Heat.
• Oscar-winning director John Schlesinger envisioned a cast of Pacino, Julie Christie and Laurence Olivier for Marathon Man. Pacino has said that the only actress he had ever wanted to work with was Christie, who he claimed was "the most poetic of actresses." Producer Robert Evans, who disparaged the vertically challenged Pacino as "The Midget" when Francis Ford Coppola wanted him for The Godfather and had thought of firing him during the early shooting of the now-classic film, vetoed Pacino for the lead. Instead, Evans insisted on the casting of the even- shorter Dustin Hoffman. On her part, Christie -- who was notoriously finicky about accepting parts, even in prestigious, sure-fire material -- turned down the female lead, which was then taken by Marthe Keller (who, ironically, became Pacino's lover after co-starring with him in Bobby Deerfield. Of his dream cast, Schlesinger only got Olivier, who was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Pacino has yet to co-star with Christie.
• Turned down the role of Richard Sherman for a remake of The Seven Year Itch (1955) which was never filmed.
• Turned down role as Michael Corleone in the Godfather videogame.
• His performance as Sonny Wortzik in Dog Day Afternoon is ranked #4 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
• His performance as Michael Corleone in The Godfather: Part II is ranked #20 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
• His performance as Tony Montana in Scarface is ranked #74 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
• His performance as "Michael Corleone" in The Godfather: Part II is ranked #11 on the American Film Institute's 100 Heroes & Villains.
• His performance as Frank Serpico in Serpico is ranked #40 on the American Film Institute's 100 Heroes & Villains.
• Was director Bryan Singer's first choice for the role of "Dave Kujan" in The Usual Suspects. Pacino passed on the role and has since stated that that is the role he regrets passing on the most.
• 16 October 1997 imprinted his hands and signature in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
• Stated in an interview that the movie he most wanted to be in but couldn't get the role was Slap Shot. Director George Hill opted not to go with Pacino because he could not ice skate.
• Revealed to James Lipton on Inside the Actor's Studio for the first time ever that his father was born in Corleone, Sicily.

References