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John Cazale (August 12, 1935 – March 12 1978) was a distinguished American film actor whose career was tragically brief. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and died March 12 1978 from bone cancer.

After his award-winning work as a stage actor, Cazale's big screen debut, alongside his old friend Al Pacino, was as Fredo Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. The film broke box office records and made Pacino, Cazale and several of their previously unknown co-stars famous. Cazale would again star alongside Pacino in Sidney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon (for which he received a Golden Globe nomination), as well as reprising his role as Fredo in The Godfather Part II.

Despite being diagnosed with cancer, Cazale continued to work, his final appearance being alongside his then fianceé Meryl Streep, whom he met on the set, in his fifth film The Deer Hunter. When distributor Universal Studios first learned of Cazale's condition, they were reluctant to insure the actor but thanks to Streep and director Michael Cimino, both went to bat for the actor and they won out. Cazale never lived to see the release of the film and thus never learned that every single feature in which he had starred had received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. He is the only actor of those with multiple films to their credit who has such a distinction.

Today, Cazale is the only actor with multiple roles to have all of his films listed on the IMDB Top 250.

Friend and frequent co-star Al Pacino collaborated with the actor on three films and various theater productions, referred to Cazale as "his acting partner", a guy he could've acted with for the rest of his life.

Filmography

• The Godfather (1972)
• The Conversation (1974)
• The Godfather Part II (1974)
• Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
• The Deer Hunter (1978)
• The Godfather Part III (1990) (Archive footage)

External link

• John Cazale at IMDb

• 1935 births
• 1978 deaths
• American actors
• Film actors