James Caan
Encyclopedia
James Caan is an American actor. He is best known for his starring roles in The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...

, Thief
Thief (film)
Thief is a 1981 neo-noir film written and directed by Michael Mann and based on the novel The Home Invaders by "Frank Hohimer"...

, Misery
Misery (film)
Misery is a 1990 American Psychological Horror Film based on Stephen King's 1987 novel of the same name. Directed by Rob Reiner, the film received critical acclaim for Kathy Bates' performance as the psychopathic Annie Wilkes...

, A Bridge Too Far, Brian's Song
Brian's Song
Brian's Song is a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week that recounts the details of the life of Brian Piccolo , a Wake Forest University football player stricken with terminal cancer after turning pro, told through his friendship with Chicago Bears running back teammate and Pro Football Hall of Famer Gale...

, Rollerball
Rollerball (1975 film)
Rollerball is a 1975 American dystopian fiction film directed by Norman Jewison from a screenplay by William Harrison, who adapted his own short story "Roller Ball Murder", which first appeared in 1973 in Esquire magazine.-The Game:...

, Kiss Me Goodbye, Elf
Elf (film)
Elf is a 2003 comedy film directed by Jon Favreau, written by David Berenbaum and starring Will Ferrell, James Caan, and Zooey Deschanel. It was released in the United States on November 7, 2003 and grossed over $220,400,000 worldwide.-Plot:A baby crawls into Santa Claus' sack while he is...

, and El Dorado. He also starred as "Big Ed" Deline in the television series Las Vegas
Las Vegas (TV series)
Las Vegas was an American television series broadcast by NBC from September 22, 2003 to February 15, 2008. The show focuses on a team of people working at the ficticional Montecito Resort & Casino dealing with issues that arise within the working environment, ranging from valet parking and...

.

Early life

Caan was born in The Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...

, New York City, the son of Sophie and Arthur Caan, Jewish immigrants from Germany. His father was a meat dealer. Caan grew up in Sunnyside, Queens
Sunnyside, Queens
Sunnyside is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens, in New York state, in the United States. It shares borders with Hunters Point and Long Island City to the west, Astoria to the north, Woodside to the east and Maspeth to the south...

, New York City. He was educated at P.S. 150 40-01 43rd Avenue School in Queens, at the private Rhodes Preparatory School
Rhodes Preparatory School
Rhodes Preparatory School was a private school located at 11 West 54th Street in Manhattan, New York City, USA. There was a lower school with students in seventh and eighth grades and an upper school for students from grades nine through twelve. For a brief period in its history, there were also...

, also in New York City, and then attended Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

 in East Lansing
East Lansing, Michigan
East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located directly east of Lansing, Michigan, the state's capital. Most of the city is within Ingham County, though a small portion lies in Clinton County. The population was 48,579 at the time of the 2010 census, an increase from...

, Michigan, studying economics. Caan played college football at MSU, as quarterback for the Spartan freshman team in 1956. He later transferred to Hofstra University
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private, nonsectarian institution of higher learning located in the Village of Hempstead, New York, United States, about east of New York City: less than an hour away by train or car...

 in Hempstead, New York, but did not graduate. While studying at Hofstra University, however, he became intrigued by acting and was interviewed for, accepted to, and graduated from, New York City's Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre
Neighborhood Playhouse
The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre is an actor training school at 340 East 54th Street in New York City, generally associated with the Meisner technique of Sanford Meisner.-History:...

, where one of his instructors was Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner , also known as Sandy, was an American actor and acting teacher who developed a form of Method acting that is now known as the Meisner technique....

.

Early career

Caan began his acting career in television on such series as The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...

, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Kraft Suspense Theatre
Kraft Suspense Theatre
Kraft Suspense Theatre, an anthology series, was telecast from 1963 to 1965 on NBC. Sponsored by Kraft Foods, it was seen three weeks out of every four and was pre-empted for Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall specials once monthly...

, Combat!, Ben Casey
Ben Casey
Ben Casey is an American medical drama series which ran on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, *, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaffe intoned, "Man, woman, birth, death, infinity." Neurosurgeon Joseph...

, Dr. Kildare
Dr. Kildare
Dr. James Kildare is a fictional character, the primary character in a series of American theatrical films in the late 1930s and early 1940s, an early 1950s radio series, a 1960s television series of the same name and a comic book based on the TV show, and a short-lived 1970s television series...

, The Wide Country, Alcoa Premiere, Route 66
Route 66 (TV series)
Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...

, and Naked City
Naked City (TV series)
Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format....

. In 1964, he starred as Jewish athlete Jeff Brubaker in the episode "My Son, the All-American" of Channing
Channing (TV series)
Channing is an American drama series that aired on American Broadcasting Company from September 18, 1963 to April 8, 1964...

, a drama about college life.

His first substantial film role was as a punk hoodlum in the 1964 thriller Lady in a Cage
Lady in a Cage
Lady in a Cage is a 1964 American film directed by Walter Grauman, written and produced by Luther Davis, and released by Paramount Pictures. It stars Olivia de Havilland and features James Caan in his first substantial film role.-Plot:...

, which starred Olivia de Havilland
Olivia de Havilland
Olivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland...

. In 1965 he landed his first starring role in Howard Hawks
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era...

' auto-racing drama Red Line 7000
Red Line 7000
Red Line 7000 is a 1965 American motion picture released by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Howard Hawks, who also co-wrote the screenplay...

. In 1966, Caan appeared as Alan Badillion Trahern aka Mississippi in El Dorado with John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...

 and Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...

. He had a starring role in Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...

's second feature film, Countdown, in 1968. In 1969, his appearance on the spy sitcom Get Smart
Get Smart
Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...

was uncredited, billed as "Rupert of Rathskeller as Himself"; in that same year he won praise for his role as a brain-damaged football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player in The Rain People
The Rain People
The Rain People is a 1969 film by Francis Ford Coppola. Alongside Shirley Knight, leading players are James Caan and Robert Duvall, both of whom would later work with Coppola in The Godfather. Future film director and Coppola friend George Lucas worked as an aide on this film, and made a short...

(1969) directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...

.

1970 to 1982

In 1970 Caan won more acclaim as dying football player Brian Piccolo opposite Billy Dee Williams
Billy Dee Williams
William December "Billy Dee" Williams, Jr. is an American actor, artist, singer, and writer.-Early life:Williams was born in New York City, New York, the son of Loretta...

 in the television movie Brian's Song
Brian's Song
Brian's Song is a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week that recounts the details of the life of Brian Piccolo , a Wake Forest University football player stricken with terminal cancer after turning pro, told through his friendship with Chicago Bears running back teammate and Pro Football Hall of Famer Gale...

, which was later released theatrically.

The following year Caan's career evolved to superstardom when Coppola cast him as the short-tempered Sonny Corleone
Sonny Corleone
Santino "Sonny" Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather and its 1972 film adaptation. He also appears as an infant, as a young boy, and an adult in The Godfather Part II....

 in The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...

. Originally, Caan was to be cast as Michael Corleone
Michael Corleone
Michael Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novels, The Godfather and The Sicilian. He is also the main character of the Godfather film trilogy that was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, in which he was portrayed by Al Pacino, who was twice nominated for an Academy Award for his...

 (Sonny's youngest brother), both Coppola and Caan, however, demanded that this role be played by Al Pacino
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...

 so Caan could play Sonny instead. Although another actor was already signed to play Sonny, the studio insisted on having Caan, so he remained in the production. Caan was nominated for an Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film, competing with co-stars Pacino and Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....

. It can be said that out of The Godfather cast, Caan was the most identified with his role, often mistaken for Italian despite his Jewish heritage, and he remarked “They called me a wiseguy. I won Italian of the Year twice in New York, and I’m not Italian.... I was denied in a country club once. Oh yeah, the guy sat in front of the board, and he says, ‘No, no, he’s a wiseguy, been downtown. He’s a made guy.’ I thought, What? Are you out of your mind?”

From 1971 to 1982 Caan appeared in many films, playing a wide variety of roles. His films included T.R. Baskin
T.R. Baskin
T.R. Baskin is a 1971 American drama film directed by Herbert Ross. It stars Candice Bergen, Peter Boyle, Marcia Rodd and James Caan.The screenplay by Peter Hyams focuses on a naïve young woman who moves to Chicago with the hope of finding romance and a fulfilling career.The film was released as A...

, Cinderella Liberty
Cinderella Liberty
Cinderella Liberty is a 1973 film which tells the story of a sailor who falls in love with a prostitute and becomes a surrogate father for her 11-year-old mixed race son. It stars James Caan, Marsha Mason, Kirk Calloway, Eli Wallach, Burt Young, Allyn Ann McLerie, Dabney Coleman, Jon Korkes, and...

, Freebie and the Bean
Freebie and The Bean
Freebie and The Bean is a 1974 action-comedy film about two San Francisco police detectives who have one goal in life, bringing down a local hijacking boss. The picture, a precursor to the buddy cop film genre popularized a decade later, stars James Caan, Alan Arkin, Loretta Swit and Valerie...

, The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo. The film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, chronicling the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the...

, Rollerball
Rollerball (1975 film)
Rollerball is a 1975 American dystopian fiction film directed by Norman Jewison from a screenplay by William Harrison, who adapted his own short story "Roller Ball Murder", which first appeared in 1973 in Esquire magazine.-The Game:...

, a musical turn in Funny Lady
Funny Lady
Funny Lady is a 1975 film starring Barbra Streisand, James Caan, Omar Sharif, Roddy McDowall, and Ben Vereen.A sequel to the 1968 film Funny Girl, it is a highly fictionalized account of the later life and career of comedienne Fanny Brice and her marriage to songwriter and empresario Billy Rose...

, Harry And Walter Go To New York
Harry and Walter Go to New York
Harry and Walter Go to New York is a 1976 American period comedy film written by John Byrum, directed by Mark Rydell, and starring James Caan, Elliot Gould, Michael Caine, Diane Keaton, Charles Durning and Lesley Ann Warren. In the film, two down-on-their-luck con men try to pull off the biggest...

, A Bridge Too Far, Comes A Horseman
Comes a Horseman
Comes a Horseman is a 1978 film starring James Caan, Jane Fonda, Jason Robards, and Richard Farnsworth.The movie, set in the American West of the 1940s, tells the story of two ranchers whose small operation is threatened both by economic hardship and the expansionist dreams of a local land baron...

and Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...

's autobiographical Chapter Two. In 1980 Caan directed Hide In Plain Sight, a film about a father searching for his children lost in the Witness Protection Program. Despite critical praise, the film was not a hit with the public. The following year Caan appeared in the neo-noir
Neo-noir
Neo-noir is a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently utilize elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s.-History:The term Film Noir was coined by...

 movie Thief, directed by Michael Mann
Michael Mann (film director)
Michael Kenneth Mann is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. For his work, he has received nominations from international organizations and juries, including those at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Cannes and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...

, in which he played a professional safe cracker. Caan has often said it is the role of which he is proudest next to The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...

.

1982 to the present

From 1982 to 1987 Caan suffered from depression over his sister's death, a growing problem with cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

, and what he described as "Hollywood burnout," and did not act in any films. He returned to acting in 1987 when Coppola cast him as an army platoon sergeant for the "Old Guard" in Gardens of Stone
Gardens of Stone
Gardens of Stone is a 1987 film by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the novel of the same title by Nicholas Proffitt.A drama, it stars James Caan, Anjelica Huston, James Earl Jones and D. B. Sweeney.-Plot:...

, a film that dealt with the effect of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

 on the United States homefront. In 1988 and 1990 Caan starred in the films Alien Nation
Alien Nation (film)
Alien Nation is a 1988 American science fiction film directed by Graham Baker and produced by Gale Anne Hurd, Richard Kobritz and Bill Borden. The storyline was based on a screenplay written by Rockne S. O'Bannon. It stars James Caan, Mandy Patinkin, Terence Stamp, and Kevyn Major Howard...

, Dick Tracy, and Misery
Misery (film)
Misery is a 1990 American Psychological Horror Film based on Stephen King's 1987 novel of the same name. Directed by Rob Reiner, the film received critical acclaim for Kathy Bates' performance as the psychopathic Annie Wilkes...

, a hit film that marked a comeback for Caan. Since the script for Misery called for Paul Sheldon to spend most of his time in bed, the role was turned down by many of Hollywood's leading actors before Caan accepted.

In 1992 Caan appeared in Honeymoon in Vegas
Honeymoon in Vegas
Honeymoon in Vegas is a 1992 comedy film directed by Andrew Bergman and starring Nicolas Cage, James Caan and Sarah Jessica Parker.-Plot:...

, and in 1993, he played Coach Winters in The Program
The Program
The Program is a 1993 film starring James Caan, Halle Berry, Omar Epps, Craig Sheffer, Kristy Swanson, Daniel Lee, and Joey Lauren Adams. The film was directed by David S...

alongside Halle Berry
Halle Berry
Halle Berry is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming...

. In 1996 he appeared in Bottle Rocket
Bottle Rocket
Bottle Rocket is a 1996 comedy film directed by Wes Anderson. It was co-written by Anderson and Owen Wilson. As well as being Wes Anderson's directorial debut, Bottle Rocket was the debut feature for brothers Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson, who co-starred with James Caan and Robert Musgrave.The film...

and pursued Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....

 in Eraser and later starred as kingpin Frank Colton in Bulletproof
Bulletproof
Bulletproofing is the process of making something capable of stopping a bullet or similar high velocity projectiles e.g. shrapnel. The term bullet resistance is often preferred because few, if any, practical materials provide complete protection against all types of bullets, or multiple hits in the...

with Adam Sandler and Damon Wayans. In 1998 Caan portrayed Philip Marlowe
Philip Marlowe
Philip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler in a series of novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. Marlowe first appeared under that name in The Big Sleep published in 1939...

 in the HBO film Poodle Springs
Poodle Springs (film)
Poodle Springs is a 1998 neo-noir HBO film directed by Bob Rafelson starring James Caan, Dina Meyer, and David Keith. The film is based on the unfinished novel Poodle Springs by Raymond Chandler, completed after his death by Robert B...

. Some of his most recent appearances have been in Mickey Blue Eyes
Mickey Blue Eyes
Mickey Blue Eyes is a 1999 film directed by Kelly Makin. Hugh Grant stars as Michael Felgate, an English auctioneer living in New York City who becomes entangled in his soon-to-be father in-law's mafia connections...

(1999), The Way of the Gun
The Way of the Gun
The Way of the Gun is a 2000 American film produced by Kenneth Kokin, written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie and starring Ryan Phillippe, Benicio del Toro, Juliette Lewis, Taye Diggs, Nicky Katt, and James Caan. It is considered a cult film. To date, this is the only film that McQuarrie has...

(2000), The Yards
The Yards
The Yards is a 2000 American crime film with Mark Wahlberg, James Caan, Joaquin Phoenix, and Charlize Theron, written and directed by James Gray...

(2000), City of Ghosts
City of Ghosts
City of Ghosts is a 2002 drama film co-written, directed by and starring Matt Dillon, about a con artist who must go to Cambodia to collect his share in money collected from an insurance scam...

(2002), Night at the Golden Eagle (2002), Dogville
Dogville
Dogville is a 2003 drama written and directed by Lars von Trier, and starring Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Chloë Sevigny, Paul Bettany, Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier, and James Caan...

(2003), and Elf
Elf (film)
Elf is a 2003 comedy film directed by Jon Favreau, written by David Berenbaum and starring Will Ferrell, James Caan, and Zooey Deschanel. It was released in the United States on November 7, 2003 and grossed over $220,400,000 worldwide.-Plot:A baby crawls into Santa Claus' sack while he is...

(2003).

In 2003 Caan auditioned for and won the role of Montecito Hotel/Casino president "Big Ed" Deline in Las Vegas
Las Vegas (TV series)
Las Vegas was an American television series broadcast by NBC from September 22, 2003 to February 15, 2008. The show focuses on a team of people working at the ficticional Montecito Resort & Casino dealing with issues that arise within the working environment, ranging from valet parking and...

. On February 27, 2007, Caan announced that he would not return to the show for its fifth season in order to return to film work; he was replaced by Tom Selleck
Tom Selleck
Thomas William "Tom" Selleck is an American actor, and film producer. He is best known for his starring role as Hawaii-based private investigator Thomas Magnum on the 1980s television show Magnum, P.I.. He also plays Police Chief Jesse Stone in a series of made-for-TV movies based on the Robert B....

.

Caan played the President of the United States in the 2008 film Get Smart
Get Smart (film)
Get Smart is a 2008 American spy-fi comedy film based on Mel Brooks and Buck Henry's 1960s spy parody television series of the same name. The film stars Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart and Anne Hathaway as Agent 99...

, and had a part in the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a children's book written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett. It was first published in 1978 by the Simon & Schuster imprint Atheneum Books, followed by a 1982 trade paperback edition from sister company Aladdin Paperbacks...

as the voice of the father of the lead character, Flint. As of 2010 Caan is Chairman of an Internet company, Openfilm
Openfilm
Openfilm is a website for finding and distributing independent film. Its Advisory Board includes members of the film industry, such as James Caan, Robert Duvall, Scott Caan and Mark Rydell, and independent filmmaker Alan Melikdjanian....

, intended to help upcoming filmmakers.

Other work

Caan is a practicing martial artist. He has trained with Takayuki Kubota
Takayuki Kubota
is a Japanese master of karate. He founded the Gosoku-ryu style of karate, and is the founder and president of the International Karate Association. Kubota holds the title of Sōke for his development of the Gosoku-ryū style of karate...

 for nearly thirty years, earning various ranks. He is a Master (Rank = 6 Dan) of Gosoku Ryu Karate and was granted the title of Soke Dai by the International Karate Association. Caan trained the Culver City Police Department in martial arts use.

Caan is an avid golfer with an 8 handicap. He is acting assistant golf coach to PGA professional and good friend Greg Osbourne at Glendale Community College in Southern California. He played in the LPGA pro-am event in Aventura, Florida on April 23–25, 2008.

Personal life

Caan has been married four times. In 1960 he married Dee Jay Mathis; they divorced in 1966. They had a daughter, Tara A. Caan, born on November 5, 1964. Caan's second marriage to Sheila Ryan (a former girlfriend of Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

) in 1976 was short-lived; they divorced the following year. Their son, Scott Caan
Scott Caan
Scott Andrew Caan is an American actor. He stars in the CBS television series Hawaii Five-0, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe award. He is the son of actor James Caan.-Early life:...

, who also is an actor, was born August 23, 1976.

Caan was married to Ingrid Hajek from September 1990 to March 1995; they had a son, Alexander James Caan, born on April 10, 1991. He married Linda Stokes in October 1996; they have two sons, James Arthur Caan (born November 6, 1995) and Jacob Nicholas Caan (born September 24, 1998). Caan filed for divorce on November 20, 2009, citing irreconcilable differences.

Filmography

Title Year Role Notes
Irma la Douce
Irma la Douce
Irma la Douce/Irma la Dolce is a 1963 romantic comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, directed by Billy Wilder.It is based on the 1956 French musical Irma La Douce by Marguerite Monnot and Alexandre Breffort.-Plot:...

1963 Soldier with radio (uncredited)
Lady in a Cage
Lady in a Cage
Lady in a Cage is a 1964 American film directed by Walter Grauman, written and produced by Luther Davis, and released by Paramount Pictures. It stars Olivia de Havilland and features James Caan in his first substantial film role.-Plot:...

1964 Randall Simpson O'Connell
1965 Pvt. Anthony Dugan
Red Line 7000
Red Line 7000
Red Line 7000 is a 1965 American motion picture released by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Howard Hawks, who also co-wrote the screenplay...

1965 Mike
El Dorado 1966 Alan Bedillion Traherne ('Mississippi')
Games
Games (film)
Games is a 1967 psychological thriller, directed by Curtis Harrington and starring James Caan, Katharine Ross, and Simone Signoret.-Plot:...

1967 Paul Montgomery
Submarine X-1
Submarine X-1
Submarine X-1 is a 1969 British World War II war film loosely based on the Operation Source attack on the German battleship Tirpitz in 1943. In the film James Caan stars as Lt...

1968 Cmdr. Richard Bolton, RNVR
Countdown 1968 Lee Stegler
Journey to Shiloh 1968 Buck Burnett
1969 Jimmy Kilgannon (Killer)
Rabbit, Run 1970 Rabbit Angstrom
T.R. Baskin
T.R. Baskin
T.R. Baskin is a 1971 American drama film directed by Herbert Ross. It stars Candice Bergen, Peter Boyle, Marcia Rodd and James Caan.The screenplay by Peter Hyams focuses on a naïve young woman who moves to Chicago with the hope of finding romance and a fulfilling career.The film was released as A...

1971 Larry Moore
Brian's Song
Brian's Song
Brian's Song is a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week that recounts the details of the life of Brian Piccolo , a Wake Forest University football player stricken with terminal cancer after turning pro, told through his friendship with Chicago Bears running back teammate and Pro Football Hall of Famer Gale...

1971 Brian Piccolo Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
1972 Santino 'Sonny' Corleone
Sonny Corleone
Santino "Sonny" Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather and its 1972 film adaptation. He also appears as an infant, as a young boy, and an adult in The Godfather Part II....

Nominated –
Slither
Slither (1973 film)
Slither is a 1973 comedy film starring James Caan. It was directed by Howard Zieff.This was the first screenplay by W. D. Richter, who went on to adapt stories like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Big Trouble in Little China for the screen and directed the cult film The Adventures of Buckaroo...

1973 Dick Kanipsia
Cinderella Liberty
Cinderella Liberty
Cinderella Liberty is a 1973 film which tells the story of a sailor who falls in love with a prostitute and becomes a surrogate father for her 11-year-old mixed race son. It stars James Caan, Marsha Mason, Kirk Calloway, Eli Wallach, Burt Young, Allyn Ann McLerie, Dabney Coleman, Jon Korkes, and...

1973 John Baggs Jr.
1974 Axel Freed Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1974 Sonny Corleone
Freebie and the Bean
Freebie and The Bean
Freebie and The Bean is a 1974 action-comedy film about two San Francisco police detectives who have one goal in life, bringing down a local hijacking boss. The picture, a precursor to the buddy cop film genre popularized a decade later, stars James Caan, Alan Arkin, Loretta Swit and Valerie...

1974 Freebie
Funny Lady
Funny Lady
Funny Lady is a 1975 film starring Barbra Streisand, James Caan, Omar Sharif, Roddy McDowall, and Ben Vereen.A sequel to the 1968 film Funny Girl, it is a highly fictionalized account of the later life and career of comedienne Fanny Brice and her marriage to songwriter and empresario Billy Rose...

1975 Billy Rose Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Rollerball
Rollerball (1975 film)
Rollerball is a 1975 American dystopian fiction film directed by Norman Jewison from a screenplay by William Harrison, who adapted his own short story "Roller Ball Murder", which first appeared in 1973 in Esquire magazine.-The Game:...

1975 Jonathan E. Saturn Award for Best Actor
Saturn Award for Best Actor
The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed, who felt that films within those genres...

 tied with Don Johnson
Don Johnson
Donnie Wayne "Don" Johnson is an American actor known for his work in television and film. He played the lead role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s TV cop series, Miami Vice, which led him to huge success. He also played the lead role in the 1990s cop series, Nash Bridges...

 for A Boy and His Dog
A Boy and His Dog
A Boy and His Dog is a cycle of narratives and films including or stemming from works of science fiction author Harlan Ellison.Ellison began the cycle with the 1969 short story of the same title, and a revised and expanded novella-length version was published in Ellison's story collection The Beast...

Gone with the West
Gone with the West
Gone with the West is a 1975 American film directed by Bernard Girard.The film is also known as Little Moon & Jud McGraw in Australia and Little Moon and Jud McGraw .- Plot summary :...

1975 Jud McGraw
1975 Mike Locken
Harry and Walter Go to New York
Harry and Walter Go to New York
Harry and Walter Go to New York is a 1976 American period comedy film written by John Byrum, directed by Mark Rydell, and starring James Caan, Elliot Gould, Michael Caine, Diane Keaton, Charles Durning and Lesley Ann Warren. In the film, two down-on-their-luck con men try to pull off the biggest...

1976 Harry Dighby
Silent Movie
Silent Movie
Silent Movie is a 1976 satirical comedy film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976...

1976 Himself
1977 Sgt. Eddie Dohun
Un autre homme, une autre chance
Un autre homme, une autre chance
Another Man, Another Chance is a 1977 French film directed by Claude Lelouch.-Synopsis:France in 1870: Napoleon III has just lost the war against Prussia and left the country in poverty....

1977 David Williams aka Another Man, Another Chance
Comes a Horseman
Comes a Horseman
Comes a Horseman is a 1978 film starring James Caan, Jane Fonda, Jason Robards, and Richard Farnsworth.The movie, set in the American West of the 1940s, tells the story of two ranchers whose small operation is threatened both by economic hardship and the expansionist dreams of a local land baron...

1978 Frank 'Buck' Athearn
1941
1941 (film)
1941 is a 1979 period comedy film directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and featuring an ensemble cast including John Belushi, Ned Beatty, John Candy, Toshiro Mifune, Christopher Lee and Dan Aykroyd...

1979 Sailor in fight (uncredited)
Chapter Two 1979 George Schneider
Hide in Plain Sight 1980 Thomas Hacklin
Thief
Thief (film)
Thief is a 1981 neo-noir film written and directed by Michael Mann and based on the novel The Home Invaders by "Frank Hohimer"...

1981 Frank
Les uns et les autres
Les Uns et les Autres
Les Uns et les Autres is a 1981 French film by Claude Lelouch. The film is a musical epic and it is widely considered as the director's best work with Un Homme et une Femme. It won the Technical Grand Prize at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival. In the United States, it was distributed under the name...

1981 Jack Glenn/Jason Glenn aka Dance of Life
Kiss Me Goodbye
Kiss Me Goodbye (film)
Kiss Me Goodbye is a 1982 film directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Sally Field in a Golden Globe nominated performance. The movie also stars James Caan and Jeff Bridges.-Plot:...

1982 Jolly Villano
Gardens of Stone
Gardens of Stone
Gardens of Stone is a 1987 film by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the novel of the same title by Nicholas Proffitt.A drama, it stars James Caan, Anjelica Huston, James Earl Jones and D. B. Sweeney.-Plot:...

1987 SFC. Clell Hazard
Alien Nation
Alien Nation (film)
Alien Nation is a 1988 American science fiction film directed by Graham Baker and produced by Gale Anne Hurd, Richard Kobritz and Bill Borden. The storyline was based on a screenplay written by Rockne S. O'Bannon. It stars James Caan, Mandy Patinkin, Terence Stamp, and Kevyn Major Howard...

1987 Det. Sgt. Matthew Sykes
Dick Tracy 1990 Spaldoni
Misery
Misery (film)
Misery is a 1990 American Psychological Horror Film based on Stephen King's 1987 novel of the same name. Directed by Rob Reiner, the film received critical acclaim for Kathy Bates' performance as the psychopathic Annie Wilkes...

1990 Paul Sheldon Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Actor
Saturn Award for Best Actor
The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed, who felt that films within those genres...

1991 Doctor Scurvy
For the Boys
For the Boys
For the Boys is a 1991 film which tells the story of Dixie Leonard, a 1940s actress/singer who teams up with Eddie Sparks, a famous performer to entertain American troops. The film traces her life through 50 years. The original music score was composed by Dave Grusin.The film was adapted by...

1991 Eddie Sparks
Honeymoon in Vegas
Honeymoon in Vegas
Honeymoon in Vegas is a 1992 comedy film directed by Andrew Bergman and starring Nicolas Cage, James Caan and Sarah Jessica Parker.-Plot:...

1992 Tommy Korman
1993 Sam Winters
Flesh and Bone 1993 Roy Sweeney
1995 Jim
North Star 1996 Sean McLennon
Bottle Rocket 1996 Mr. Henry
Eraser
Eraser (film)
Eraser is a 1996 American action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Caan and Vanessa L. Williams. It was directed by Chuck Russell. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Sound Effects Editing in 1996.-Plot:...

1996 U.S. Marshal Robert Deguerin
Bulletproof
Bulletproof (1996 film)
Bulletproof is a 1996 American action-comedy film directed by Ernest Dickerson, and starring Damon Wayans, James Caan and Jeep Swenson.-Plot:...

1996 Frank Colton
This Is My Father
This Is My Father
This Is My Father is a 1998 Irish-American film directed by Paul Quinn.- Plot :The film portrays a tragic love story set in late 1930s Ireland, focusing on the relationship between Fiona Flynn , a beautiful, feisty seventeen-year-old from a middle class family, and Kieran O'Dea , a shy labourer in...

1998 Kieran Johnson
Mickey Blue Eyes
Mickey Blue Eyes
Mickey Blue Eyes is a 1999 film directed by Kelly Makin. Hugh Grant stars as Michael Felgate, an English auctioneer living in New York City who becomes entangled in his soon-to-be father in-law's mafia connections...

1999 Frank Vitale
2000 Frank Olchin
Luckytown
Luckytown
Luckytown is a 2000 film starring Kirsten Dunst, James Caan and Vincent Kartheiser.-Plot:When she turns 18, unhappy Lidda Daniels leaves Southern California to look for Charlie, her father, a professional gambler who abandoned her years before...

2000 Charlie Doyles
2000 Joe Sarno
Warden of Red Rock 2001 John Flinders
Viva Las Nowhere 2001 Roy Baker
2001 Capt. Fred Moosally
In the Shadows 2001 Lance Huston
Night at the Golden Eagle 2002 Prison Warden (uncredited)
City of Ghosts
City of Ghosts
City of Ghosts is a 2002 drama film co-written, directed by and starring Matt Dillon, about a con artist who must go to Cambodia to collect his share in money collected from an insurance scam...

2002 Marvin
Blood Crime 2002 Sheriff Morgan McKenna
Jericho Mansions
Jericho Mansions
Jericho Mansions is an independent film directed by Alberto Sciamma. It stars Jennifer Tilly, James Caan and Geneviève Bujold. It was released in 2003 to very little success.It was filmed in Saint John, New Brunswick....

2003 Leonard Grey
Dogville
Dogville
Dogville is a 2003 drama written and directed by Lars von Trier, and starring Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Chloë Sevigny, Paul Bettany, Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier, and James Caan...

2003 The Big Man
This Thing of Ours 2003 Jimmy 'the con'
Elf
Elf (film)
Elf is a 2003 comedy film directed by Jon Favreau, written by David Berenbaum and starring Will Ferrell, James Caan, and Zooey Deschanel. It was released in the United States on November 7, 2003 and grossed over $220,400,000 worldwide.-Plot:A baby crawls into Santa Claus' sack while he is...

2003 Walter Hobbs
Santa's Slay
Santa's Slay
Santa's Slay is a 2005 Christmas Black comedy horror film that stars former professional wrestler Bill Goldberg as Santa Claus. The movie was written and directed by David Steiman, a former assistant to Brett Ratner....

2005 Darren Mason (uncredited)
Wisegal
Wisegal
Wisegal is a Lifetime Television crime drama film starring Alyssa Milano and directed by Jerry Ciccoritti. The movie premiered on March 15, 2008.-Plot:The story is narrated by an adult Nino Montanari, who reminisces on his family history......

2008 Salvatore Palmeri
Get Smart
Get Smart (film)
Get Smart is a 2008 American spy-fi comedy film based on Mel Brooks and Buck Henry's 1960s spy parody television series of the same name. The film stars Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart and Anne Hathaway as Agent 99...

2008 The President
Mercy 2009 Gerry Ryan
Something, Something, Something, Darkside
Something, Something, Something, Dark Side
"Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" is the season finale of the eighth season of the animated comedy series Family Guy and part of the series's trilogy Laugh It Up, Fuzzball. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on May 23, 2010...

2009 Himself
New York, I Love You
New York, I Love You
New York, I Love You is a 2009 romance film released in the United States on October 16, 2009. From the producer of Paris, je t'aime, it stars an ensemble cast, among them Bradley Cooper, Shia LaBeouf, Natalie Portman, Anton Yelchin, Hayden Christensen, Orlando Bloom, Irrfan Khan, Rachel Bilson,...

2009 Mr. Riccoli (segment "Brett Ratner")
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (film)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a 2009 American computer-animated family comedy film, produced by Sony Pictures Animation, distributed by Columbia Pictures, and released on September 18, 2009. The film is loosely based on the children's book of the same name by Judi and Ron Barrett.The film...

2009 Tim Lockwood (Flint's father) (voice)
Middle Men 2010 Jerry Haggerty
Henry's Crime
Henry's Crime
Henry's Crime is a 2011 romantic comedy film directed by Malcolm Venville and starring Keanu Reeves, James Caan, Vera Farmiga, and Danny Hoch. The film follows Henry who goes to jail for a robbery he didn't commit. Once released, he plans on robbing the same bank with his former cellmate Max...

2010 Max
Minkow 2010 Paul Vinsant
2010 Jalepeno (voice, web-based series)
Anyone's Son 2011 John Hanna
Detachment
Detachment (film)
Detachment is a 2011 American drama about the high school education system starring Adrien Brody with an ensemble supporting cast.-Plot:Detachment is a chronicle of three weeks in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students through the eyes of a substitute teacher named...

2011 Mr. Seaboldt (post-production)
Sweetwater 2011 Ned Irish (pre-production)

External links

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