Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by CharlotteWebb (talk | contribs) at 21:09, 21 September 2006 (Reverted edits by 142.22.186.7 (talk) to last version by 74.128.213.7). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Alfredo James "Al" Pacino (born April 25, 1940) is an Academy Award-winning American stage and film actor famous for his prominent roles in crime films. He is regarded by many to be one of the greatest actors of his generation.

Early life

Pacino was born in The Bronx, New York to Italian-American parents Salvatore Pacino (who was born in the Sicilian town of Corleone) and Rose Gerard (the daughter of an Italian-born father and a New York-born mother of Italian descent). His parents divorced while Pacino was still a child. His grandparents originated from Corleone, Sicily. His father Salvatore moved to Covina, California, working as an insurance salesman and owner of his own restaurant called Pacino's Lounge. Tough times forced the closure of Pacino's in the early 1990s; it's now called Citrus Grill. Salvatore passed away on January 1, 2005 at the age of 82.

Career

1970s

In 1966, Pacino studied under legendary acting coach Lee Strasberg (alongside whom he would later feature in the 1974 film The Godfather Part II), finding acting a therapeutic outlet in a youth which saw him depressed and so impoverished he could barely afford the bus fares required to get him to his next audition. Yet by the end of the decade, he had won an Obie award for his stage work in The Indian Wants the Bronx and a Tony award for Does the Tiger Wear a Necktie? His movie debut came in 1969's Me, Natalie, which went largely unnoticed (except for a boffo performance from Patty Duke). But it was the 1971 film The Panic in Needle Park, in which he played a heroin addict, that would showcase his talents and bring him to the attention of director Francis Ford Coppola.

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 numerous established actors, including Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, and a then unknown Robert De Niro, were vying to portray Michael Corleone, Coppola selected the relatively unknown Pacino. 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. 1974 saw The Godfather Part II. In 1975, Pacino reached the first height of his popularity when Dog Day Afternoon was released. The film was based on the true story of bank robber John Wojtowicz. Other minor works to close out the decade include Bobby Deerfield and ...And Justice for All, which some perceive to be his most underrated performances.

By the end of the 1970s he would have three more nominations, all for Best Actor.

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 later proved to be both a career highlight and a defining role. When the film was first released, it too was hammered critically and became yet another flop at the box office. However, it did earn Pacino a Golden Globe nomination for his performance as a Cuban drug lord who (among other things) cries out the now famous line, punctuated by a grenade launcher blast, "You wanna play rough? Okay! Say hello to my little friend!". (The film was a loose remake of Howard Hawks 1932 original, which starred Paul Muni in the pivotal title role.) It wasn't until almost 20 years later, that Scarface began to find its success when a new generation embraced the film. That newly found recognition, however, had more to do with the film's attitude than with any acknowledgment of any cinematic excellence. Nevertheless, the role and film succeeded in elevating Pacino to iconic status, a place of popularity which continues to benefit from the mega marketing blitz of product...from T-Shirts, to action figures, to hip-hop emulations, among plenty of other marketing ploys.

1985's Revolution continued Pacino's string of commercial and critical failures, and he returned to stage work for four years. He mounted workshop productions of Crystal Clear, National Anthems and other plays; appeared in Julius Caesar in 1988 for producer Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival; and worked on his most personal project, The Local Stigmatic, a play he had starred in Off Broadway in 1969, then remounted in 1985 with director David Wheeler and the Theater Company of Boston in order to film a 50-minute movie version unreleased as of 2005.

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." .

1990s

Pacino returned to film in 1989's Sea of Love, which signaled a return to form. Just a year later, he received an Oscar nomination as Big Boy Caprice in the box office hit Dick Tracy. It would take 4 more years, but in 1993 Pacino finally won an Oscar, for Best Actor, for his portrayal of the depressed, irascible, retired and blind Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in Martin Brest's Scent of a Woman. That same year, he was also up for the supporting award for his role in Glengarry Glen Ross, making Pacino the first male actor ever to receive two acting nominations for two different movies in the same year, and the first actor of either gender to achieve that feat, and then proceed to win the Best Actor Oscar. (Jamie Foxx did the same in 2005.) Pacino has since turned in acclaimed performances in such crime thrillers as Carlito's Way, Heat, and Insomnia, the crime docudrama Donnie Brasco, the multi-Oscar nominated The Insider, the supernatural drama The Devil's Advocate, and others.

In 1995, Pacino starred in Michael Mann's Heat, in which he and fellow film icon Robert De Niro appeared on screen together for the first time (though both Pacino and De Niro starred in The Godfather Part II, they didn't share any scenes). The duo drew much attention from fans; both actors have generally been compared throughout their careers; both performances are considered indisputable masterpieces. Their tensely engaging interplay, especially in the famous diner scene when McCauley (DeNiro) explains "the discipline" to Lt. Hanna (Pacino), amounts to nothing less than an acting tour de force carried off with stylistically incomparable expertise.

Pacino has not received another nomination from the Academy since Scent of a Woman, but has won two Golden Globes since the turn of the 21st century, the first being the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion picture, and the second for his role in the highly praised HBO miniseries Angels in America.

Pacino has turned down a number of key roles in his career, including that of Han Solo in Star Wars, Captain Willard in Apocalypse Now, Richard Sherman in a remake of The Seven Year Itch (which was never filmed) and Edward Lewis in Pretty Woman. In 1996 Pacino was set to play General Manuel Noriega in a major biographical motion picture when director Oliver Stone pulled the plug on production to focus on the movie Nixon. Additionally, Pacino had recently turned down the offer to reprise the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather: The Game, due to the fact that his voice had changed dramatically since he played the young Michael. As a result, Electronic Arts could not use Pacino's likeness or voice in the game (although Michael does appear in it). It is rumoured that this decision was made by Pacino due to a conflict with EA's rival game publisher, Vivendi Universal, which is preparing to publish a competing movie-to-game adaptation of the 1983 remake of Scarface, titled Scarface: The World is Yours.

The qualitative consistency of Pacino's performances, as well as his larger-than-life onscreen presence, has established him as one of the world's major actors. Pacino still performs theater work and has also dabbled in directing. While The Local Stigmatic remains unreleased, his theatrical feature Looking for Richard and his film festival-screened Chinese Coffee earned good notices. Several characters essayed by Pacino are famous in popular culture. On the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains, he is only the second actor to have three appearances on both lists: on the heroes as Frank Serpico and on the villains list as Tony Montana and Michael Corleone.

With takings comparatively quiet at the box-office of late, Pacino looks like stepping up a gear in 2007 with several new projects. He will star in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Thirteen, alongside George Clooney, Brad Pit 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 and so in his anger starts planning a heist.

Personal life

• Pacino suffered from a throat disorder in the mid-1980s which forced him to stop smoking cigarettes. In Sea of Love, he sounded noticibly different, the beginning of his now-famous dark, owly eyes and hoarse, deep voice. He hasn't stopped smoking, but he has successfully transfered his habit to herbal cigarettes.

• Although he has never been married, Pacino has three children. 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.

• On the set of The Recruit, he met and befriended Colin Farrell, who regards Pacino as an idol. Pacino later called Farrell the most talented actor of his generation.

• Pacino rarely grants interviews, so when he decided in 2005 to reveal more of himself than he ever has before, the world welcomed this new glimpse into his personal and professional lives. see Al Pacino in his own words: conversations, 1979-2005, ed. Lawrence Grobel (New York: Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2006).

Trivia

• Was voted the Number 1 greatest movie star of all time in a Channel 4 (UK) poll.
• Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (16 October 1997)
• Ranked #4 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. (October 1997)
• Was arrested in January 1961, charged with carrying a concealed weapon.
• Son of Salvatore Pacino (insurance agent) and Rose Pacino (she died when Al was 22).
• He has a daughter, named Julie Marie, with acting teacher Jan Tarrant.
• Dropped out of school at the age of 17.
• Favoruite food is Tesco beef and onion crisps.
• Turned down the role of Ted Kramer in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).
• Turned down Born on the Fourth of July (1989).
• Turned down Pretty Woman (1990).
• Turned down Crimson Tide (1995).
• Originally asked for $7 million for The Godfather: Part III (1990), 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.
• His grandparents originate from Corleone, Sicily.
• Was frequently referred to as "that midget Pacino" by producers of The Godfather (1972) 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 (1973) 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 (1985) 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.
• 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 in 2005. Pacino was nominated in 1993 for Scent of a Woman (1992) and Glengarry Glen Ross (1992); Foxx in 2005 for Ray (2004) and Collateral (2004). Both won the Best Actor award and played blind men in their roles: Pacino as Frank Slade and Foxx as Ray Charles.

• 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 (1975).
• Studied acting under Charles Laughton.
• He is an avid Shakespeare fan.
• For a short while, he was the only actor to be in the #1 Best and Worst Movie on IMDb: The Godfather (1972) and Gigli (2004)
• 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.
• Portrayed crime bosses in The Godfather Trilogy, Scarface (1983) and Dick Tracy (1990).
• 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).
• Pacino was rejected repeatedly by studio heads while auditioning for the role of Michael in The Godfather (1972) 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 (1977)
• 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 (1972), 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 (1974) would make a star.
• His favorite actress is Julie Christie.
• 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 (1976) but producer Robert Evans insisted that Schlesinger cast Dustin Hoffman instead.
• Has a production company called Chal Productions. The "Ch" is in tribute Charles Laughton while the "Al" is for himself.
• Worked in the mail room of Commentary magazine.
• Shares a birthday with Talia Shire, his co-star in The Godfather films, and Hank Azaria, co-star in Heat.
• Speaks fluent Spanish
• His favorite color is black.
• Briefly 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 co-starred 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 New York University (NYU).
• Was friends with John Cazale since they were teenagers. They starred together in Dog Day Afternoon (1975), The Godfather: Part II (1974) and The Godfather (1972)
• He is only one of four actors to be nominated for an Oscar twice for playing the same role in two separate films. He was nominated as for The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974). The others are Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler (1961) and The Color of Money (1986), Bing Crosby as Father O'Malley in Going My Way (1944) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), and Peter O'Toole as Henry II in Becket (1964) and The Lion in Winter (1968).
• 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 (1992) and Red Dragon (2002). He and Hopkins have also both appeared in remake of a Michael Mann film. Hopkins appeared in the Manhunter (1986) remake Red Dragon (2002), and Pacino appeared in the L.A. Takedown (1989, TV) remake, Heat (1995).
• Oscar-winning director John Schlesinger envisioned a cast of Pacino, Julie Christie and Laurence Olivier for Marathon Man (1976). 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 (1972) 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 (1977)). 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 (1975) is ranked #4 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
• His performance as Michael Corleone in The Godfather: Part II (1974) is ranked #20 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
• His performance as Tony Montana in Scarface (1983) is ranked #74 on Priere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
• His performance as Michael Corleone in The Godfather: Part II (1974) is ranked #11 on the American Film Institute's 100 Heroes & Villains.
• His performance as Frank Serpico in Serpico (1973) 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 (1995). Pacino passed on the role and has since stated that that is the role he regrets passing on the most.
• According to the book "Al Pacino: In Conversation with Lawrence Grobel," his favorite film of all-time is the Robert De Niro film "Bang the Drum Slowly."

Filmography

Salary

• S1m0ne (2002) $11,000,000
• The Godfather: Part III (1990) $5,000,000
• And Justice for All (1979) $1,000,000
• The Godfather: Part II (1974) $500,000 and 10% of the gross after break-even
• The Godfather (1973) $35,000

External links

• Al Pacino The Most Updated Website On The Net Of Pacino (Fansite)
• Al Pacino at IMDb
• Los Angeles Times, Sunday, Sept. 17, 1989: "Pacino Re-Focuses on Film Career: After Five-Year Absence, Actor Returns to the Big Screen", by Frank Lovece
• Complete list of roles turned down by Al Pacino
• Wippit's Al Pacino biography

• American film actors
• American film directors
• BAFTA winners
• Best Actor Academy Award winners
• Emmy Award winners
• Greenwich Village scene
• Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute alumni
• High school dropouts
• People from the Bronx
• Italian American actors
• Sicilian-Americans
• 1940 births
• Living people