James Caan, the veteran screen actor known for his work in such films as "The Godfather," "Misery" and "Elf," has died, his family said in a statement on his verified Twitter account. He was 82.
"It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Jimmy on the evening of July 6," the statement read. "The family appreciates the outpouring of love and heartfelt condolences and asks that you continue to respect their privacy during this difficult time."
They did not disclose a cause of death.
Caan first found fame playing Chicago Bears halfback Brian Piccolo in "Brian's Song," a widely seen 1971 TV movie. The tear-jerking film chronicled Piccolo's real-life battle with terminal cancer and drew praise for its treatment of the interracial friendship between Piccolo and a Black teammate, Gale Sayers.
His next film, 1972's "The Godfather," made Caan a star. Although he was not Italian, Caan was cast as hotheaded Sonny Corleone, oldest of mobster Vito Corleone's three sons, who is memorably gunned down by rival gangsters in an ambush at a tollbooth.
In a 2021 interview for "CBS Sunday Morning," Caan said he based Sonny's persona on the late comedian Don Rickles.
"It wasn't imitating Don Rickles. It was having that drive, that thing, you know? I was just locked into that," he said of his performance.
The role earned him an Oscar nomination. Caan also appeared in a flashback in "The Godfather, Part II."
The curly-haired actor was known for playing tough-guy characters in such films as "Thief" and "Rollerball." But he was a versatile actor who also exuded vulnerability in movies like "Misery," the 1990 Stephen King adaptation about a mild-mannered romance novelist held captive by an obsessive fan.
He is probably best known to younger audiences for his role in 2003's "Elf," the Christmas tale in which he played Will Ferrell's Scrooge-like father, a workaholic children's book publisher unhappy to learn he has an abnormally cheerful grown son who wears an elf costume and pours maple syrup on his spaghetti.
That was a powerful scene.
And the rat bastard had Sonny killed.
The payback wasn’t satisfactory…
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PoliteMight
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Sun 10 Jul, 2022 05:00 pm
I am saying this. These scabs stole money, and time from our parents, and grandparents, while burning garbage into our brains. Great the actor dances around set and we all clap claiming he/she did a great role. News Flash!! Most of these so called "great actors" are given roles out of favoritism rather then actually going through proper channels. Asides for producers and various venders making the claim to install ____ person inside of ____ scene just to give them face-time, and spoken lines. You will never know the truth about the crap that these people are doing just to get into the lime-light.
They "put" people into good roles, with facetime and spoken lines to represent their career goals. If any roles that was actually great then they were roles in which he actually pushed himself to be inside and produced ( funded aka throw money ) towards the production itself.
"A job is a job" and for a few of these actors they sell the idea that a "job is not a job" which it really a lie in itself.'
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You actually ask yourself "how many movies did they actually make an impact in" chances are out of most of the time it was probably one, meanwhile the rest was just their to show their face off to the world.
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Yestedays models, lap-dancers, are todays talk-show hosts, and minority women politicans. Yesterdays footballers, and classroom yuppie clown are todays action stars, announcers. You wake up every morning to slave away burning sombody imagine into your eyes meanwhile they get paid to look pretty and read lines from a cue card while marketing nonessential ideas.
You know what the sad part is ? My grandmother passed at 89 while her mother passed at 110. It is impressive that he is gone and so young. Which proves that money and so called good health does not keep you on this mortal coil so long.
Go down the list starting with former WWF/WWE Wrestlers and ending with those who did children programming and you will see the reality that most of these so called performers do not last long.
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