John Cazale
Encyclopedia
John Holland Cazale (August 12, 1935 – March 12, 1978), was an American
film and theater actor. During his six-year film career he appeared in five films, each of which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture
: The Godfather
, The Conversation
, The Godfather Part II
, Dog Day Afternoon
and The Deer Hunter
.
From his start as an acclaimed theater actor he became one of Hollywood's premiere character actors, starting with Coppola's The Godfather
in which he played Fredo Corleone
, the weak link in the Corleone crime family. "Cazale broke hearts on screen with portrayals of volatile, vulnerable, vacillating men, including Pacino's tragic bank-robbing partner in Dog Day Afternoon
," writes David Germain of the Associated Press
. He is described as an actor "whose intense face is known to just about any serious cinema fan but whose name often escapes them." In his final film, The Deer Hunter, he chose to continue acting despite being diagnosed with terminal
bone cancer, and died in New York City on March 12, 1978, shortly after completing his role. He was 42 years old.
Cazale was characterized as "an amazing intellect, an extraordinary person and a fine, dedicated artist" by Joseph Papp
, producer of the New York Shakespeare Festival
. A film documentary and tribute about Cazale, titled I Knew It Was You
, was an entry at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival
and featured interviews with Al Pacino
, Meryl Streep
, Robert De Niro
, Gene Hackman
, Richard Dreyfuss
, Francis Ford Coppola
, and Sidney Lumet
.
, Cazale was born in Winchester, Massachusetts
. He graduated from high school at Winchester High School
He studied drama at Oberlin College
and Boston University
, from which he graduated. He then moved to New York City
and worked as a messenger at Standard Oil
, where he met Al Pacino
, another aspiring actor.
"When I first saw John, I instantly thought he was so interesting," recalled Pacino. "Everybody was always around him because he had a very congenial way of expressing himself." While living together in a communal house in Provincetown, Massachusetts
, Cazale and Pacino were cast in a play by Israel Horovitz
, The Indian Wants the Bronx, for which they both won Obie Awards. He later won another Obie for the leading role in Horovitz's Line
, where he was noticed by Godfather casting director Fred Roos
, who then suggested him to director Francis Ford Coppola
.
Cazale had acted on stage with Robert De Niro
and Cazale's fiancée at the time of his death, Meryl Streep
, whom he met when they were both in the Public Theater
's 1976 production of Measure for Measure
. In that role, wrote Mel Gussow
of The New York Times
, "Mr Cazale, often cast as a quirky, weak outsider, as in The Godfather, here demonstrates sterner mettle as a quietly imperious Angelo who sweeps down, vulturelike, to deposit virtue." He also acted in a short film entitled The American Way, directed by Marvin Starkman in 1962.
Cazale made his feature film debut, alongside old friend Al Pacino, playing the role of Fredo Corleone
in Francis Ford Coppola
's The Godfather
. The film broke box office records and made Pacino, Cazale and several previously unknown co-stars famous, and earned him a Golden Globe nomination.
He acted in the same role in 1974 in The Godfather Part II
. Bruce Fretts, in Entertainment Weekly
, wrote, "Cazale's devastatingly raw turn intensifies the impact of the drama's emotional climax, in which Michael
(Pacino) orders Fredo's murder. "John could open up his heart, so it could be hurt," said Dominic Chianese
. "That's a talent few actors have."
Twelve years after his death, he appeared in a sixth feature film, The Godfather Part III
(1990
), in archive footage. The Godfather Part III was also nominated for Best Picture. This marks the unique achievement of John Cazale having every feature film in which he appeared be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Also in 1974, he co-starred with Gene Hackman
in Coppola's The Conversation
.
Cazale again starred alongside Pacino in Sidney Lumet
's 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon
. The film's screenwriter, Frank Pierson, said "the film had been cast with many of the actors that Al Pacino had worked with in New York, including John Cazale, who was a close friend and collaborator in The Godfather." For his role as Sal, he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor .
"In the screenplay, Cazale's role was written to be a smart-ass street kid. But Al came to me and said, 'Sidney, please, I beg you, read John Cazale for it.' And when John came in I was so discouraged and thought 'Al must be out of his mind.' This guy looks thirty, thirty-two, and that’s the last thing I want in this part. But Al had great taste in actors, and I hadn’t yet seen him in The Godfather. And Cazale came in, and then he read, and my heart broke. . . .
"One of the things that I love about the casting of John Cazale ... was that he had a tremendous sadness about him. I don’t know where it came from; I don’t believe in invading the privacy of the actors that I work with, or getting into their heads. But my god - it’s there - in every shot of him. And not just in this movie, but in Godfather II also.
"When Al asked him during a scene, 'Is there any country you want to go to?' Cazale improvised his answer by saying, after long thought, 'Wyoming.' To me that was the funniest, saddest line in the movie, and my favorite, because in the script he wasn’t supposed to say anything. I almost ruined the take because I started to laugh so hard... but it was a brilliant, brilliant, ad lib."
"It's great working with John because he has a way of getting involved - in the whole thing, in the characters. He asks so many questions - he was just brilliant. It was tough to sell Johnny, but once Sidney got to see him read, and work with me, it turned out great."
in The Deer Hunter
. "I've hardly ever seen a person so devoted to someone who is falling away like John was," said Pacino. "To see her in that act of love for this man was overwhelming."
Director Michael Cimino
"rearranged the shooting schedule," wrote author Andy Dougan, "with Cazale and Streep's consent, so that he could film all his scenes first." He completed all his scenes, but died soon after, on March 12, 1978, before the film was finished. He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden, Massachusetts
.
Cazale was described by those close to him to be "often shy" and "very emotionally sensitive." Close friend and frequent co-star Pacino collaborated with him on three films and various theater productions. Although he never received an Oscar nomination, wrote Bruce Fretts, he "was the walking embodiment of the aphorism acting is reacting, providing the perfect counterbalance to his recurring costars, the more emotionally volatile Al Pacino and Robert De Niro." Pacino once commented, "All I wanted to do was work with John for the rest of my life. He was my acting partner."
The Boston Globe asks, "Why was Cazale so influential? In part, it was because of his commitment to the craft of acting." To Streep, he was "monomaniacal," which had an effect on his costars, who were then "challenged to take their own games up a notch."
Cazale's image was used for The Godfather
video game, as his character, Fredo. He has a theater named after him, the McGinn/Cazale Theatre (currently inhabited by the company Second Stage Theatre
), located at 2162 Broadway at 76th Street in New York City
. Cazale was cited as a "Distinguished Performance" by the Off-Broadway Obie Award
s for the 1967-68 season for his performance in Israel Horovitz
's play The Indian Wants the Bronx
.
His life and career were profiled in the documentary film, I Knew It Was You
, directed by Richard Shepard
, which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival
and was scheduled by HBO
.
John Cazale appeared in five full-length feature films while alive, plus a sixth using archival footage, after his death. All six films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture
. Three of the films won the Award: The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and The Deer Hunter.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film and theater actor. During his six-year film career he appeared in five films, each of which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
: 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...
, The Conversation
The Conversation
The Conversation is a 1974 American psychological thriller film written, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman...
, 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...
, Dog Day Afternoon
Dog Day Afternoon
Dog Day Afternoon is a 1975 drama film directed by Sidney Lumet, written by Frank Pierson, and produced by Martin Bregman. The film stars Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning, Chris Sarandon, Penny Allen, James Broderick, and Carol Kane. The title refers to the "dog days of summer".The film was...
and The Deer Hunter
The Deer Hunter
The Deer Hunter is a 1978 drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian American steel worker friends and their infantry service in the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, John Savage, John Cazale, and George Dzundza...
.
From his start as an acclaimed theater actor he became one of Hollywood's premiere character actors, starting with Coppola's 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...
in which he played Fredo Corleone
Fredo Corleone
Frederico "Fredo" Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather. In the fictional universe of the novel and its film adaptation, he is the second son of Vito Corleone , head of a powerful Mafia family...
, the weak link in the Corleone crime family. "Cazale broke hearts on screen with portrayals of volatile, vulnerable, vacillating men, including Pacino's tragic bank-robbing partner in Dog Day Afternoon
Dog Day Afternoon
Dog Day Afternoon is a 1975 drama film directed by Sidney Lumet, written by Frank Pierson, and produced by Martin Bregman. The film stars Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning, Chris Sarandon, Penny Allen, James Broderick, and Carol Kane. The title refers to the "dog days of summer".The film was...
," writes David Germain of the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
. He is described as an actor "whose intense face is known to just about any serious cinema fan but whose name often escapes them." In his final film, The Deer Hunter, he chose to continue acting despite being diagnosed with terminal
Terminal illness
Terminal illness is a medical term popularized in the 20th century to describe a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death of the patient within a short period of time. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as...
bone cancer, and died in New York City on March 12, 1978, shortly after completing his role. He was 42 years old.
Cazale was characterized as "an amazing intellect, an extraordinary person and a fine, dedicated artist" by Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp was an American theatrical producer and director. Papp established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in downtown New York . "The Public," as it is known, has many small theatres within it...
, producer of the New York Shakespeare Festival
New York Shakespeare Festival
New York Shakespeare Festival is the previous name of the New York City theatrical producing organization now known as the Public Theater. The Festival produced shows at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, as part of its free Shakespeare in the Park series, at the Public Theatre near Astor Place...
. A film documentary and tribute about Cazale, titled I Knew It Was You
I Knew It Was You
I Knew It Was You is a 2009 American documentary film about actor John Cazale, directed by Richard Shepard and produced by Brett Ratner, Stacey Reiss, and Richard Shepard.-Background:...
, was an entry at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
and featured interviews with 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...
, Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
, Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
, Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman
Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
, Richard Dreyfuss
Richard Dreyfuss
Richard Stephen Dreyfuss is an American actor best known for starring in a number of film, television, and theater roles since the late 1960s, including the films American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Stakeout, Always, What About...
, 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...
, and Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...
.
Early career
An Italian AmericanItalian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
, Cazale was born in Winchester, Massachusetts
Winchester, Massachusetts
Winchester is a town located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, eight miles north of Boston. With its agricultural roots having mostly disappeared, it is now an affluent suburb...
. He graduated from high school at Winchester High School
Winchester High School
Winchester High School is a comprehensive 9-12 high school located in Winchester, Massachusetts.-Notable alumni:*Nick Martini, professional freeskier- Films with Poor BOyz Productions and co-founder of Stept Productions....
He studied drama at Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
and Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, from which he graduated. He then moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and worked as a messenger at Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
, where he met 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...
, another aspiring actor.
"When I first saw John, I instantly thought he was so interesting," recalled Pacino. "Everybody was always around him because he had a very congenial way of expressing himself." While living together in a communal house in Provincetown, Massachusetts
Provincetown, Massachusetts
Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,431 at the 2000 census, with an estimated 2007 population of 3,174...
, Cazale and Pacino were cast in a play by Israel Horovitz
Israel Horovitz
Israel Horovitz is an American playwright and screenwriter.-Theatre career:An American dramatist, Horovitz has written more than 70 produced plays, many of which have been translated and performed in more than 30 languages worldwide . The 70/70 Horovitz Project was created by NYC Barefoot Theatre...
, The Indian Wants the Bronx, for which they both won Obie Awards. He later won another Obie for the leading role in Horovitz's Line
Line (play)
Line is a 1967 one-act play by Israel Horovitz, his first play produced. It is an absurdist drama about 5 people waiting in line for an event...
, where he was noticed by Godfather casting director Fred Roos
Fred Roos
-Life and career:Roos was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Florence Mary and Victor Otto Roos. Beginning in television as a casting director for The Andy Griffith Show, Roos went on to produce most of Francis Ford Coppola's films subsequent to The Godfather, including Apocalypse Now...
, who then suggested him to director 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...
.
Cazale had acted on stage with Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
and Cazale's fiancée at the time of his death, Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
, whom he met when they were both in the Public Theater
Public Theater
The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as The Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers. It is headquartered at 425 Lafayette Street in the former Astor Library in the East Village...
's 1976 production of Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was classified as comedy, but its mood defies those expectations. As a result and for a variety of reasons, some critics have labelled it as one of Shakespeare's problem plays...
. In that role, wrote Mel Gussow
Mel Gussow
Melvyn H. Gussow was an American theater critic, movie critic, and author who wrote for The New York Times for 35 years.-Biography:...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, "Mr Cazale, often cast as a quirky, weak outsider, as in The Godfather, here demonstrates sterner mettle as a quietly imperious Angelo who sweeps down, vulturelike, to deposit virtue." He also acted in a short film entitled The American Way, directed by Marvin Starkman in 1962.
The Godfather and The Godfather Part II
Fredo Corleone
Frederico "Fredo" Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather. In the fictional universe of the novel and its film adaptation, he is the second son of Vito Corleone , head of a powerful Mafia family...
in 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...
's 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...
. The film broke box office records and made Pacino, Cazale and several previously unknown co-stars famous, and earned him a Golden Globe nomination.
He acted in the same role in 1974 in 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...
. Bruce Fretts, in Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, wrote, "Cazale's devastatingly raw turn intensifies the impact of the drama's emotional climax, in which Michael
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...
(Pacino) orders Fredo's murder. "John could open up his heart, so it could be hurt," said Dominic Chianese
Dominic Chianese
Dominic Chianese is an American film, television and theatre actor, perhaps best known for his role as Corrado "Junior" Soprano on the HBO TV series, The Sopranos.-Early life:...
. "That's a talent few actors have."
Twelve years after his death, he appeared in a sixth feature film, The Godfather Part III
The Godfather Part III
The Godfather Part III is a 1990 American gangster film written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, and directed by Coppola. It completes the story of Michael Corleone, a Mafia kingpin who tries to legitimize his criminal empire...
(1990
1990 in film
The year 1990 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall .* The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in Die Hard 2....
), in archive footage. The Godfather Part III was also nominated for Best Picture. This marks the unique achievement of John Cazale having every feature film in which he appeared be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Also in 1974, he co-starred with Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman
Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
in Coppola's The Conversation
The Conversation
The Conversation is a 1974 American psychological thriller film written, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman...
.
Dog Day Afternoon
Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...
's 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon
Dog Day Afternoon
Dog Day Afternoon is a 1975 drama film directed by Sidney Lumet, written by Frank Pierson, and produced by Martin Bregman. The film stars Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning, Chris Sarandon, Penny Allen, James Broderick, and Carol Kane. The title refers to the "dog days of summer".The film was...
. The film's screenwriter, Frank Pierson, said "the film had been cast with many of the actors that Al Pacino had worked with in New York, including John Cazale, who was a close friend and collaborator in The Godfather." For his role as Sal, he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor .
- Sidney Lumet commentary
"In the screenplay, Cazale's role was written to be a smart-ass street kid. But Al came to me and said, 'Sidney, please, I beg you, read John Cazale for it.' And when John came in I was so discouraged and thought 'Al must be out of his mind.' This guy looks thirty, thirty-two, and that’s the last thing I want in this part. But Al had great taste in actors, and I hadn’t yet seen him in The Godfather. And Cazale came in, and then he read, and my heart broke. . . .
"When Al asked him during a scene, 'Is there any country you want to go to?' Cazale improvised his answer by saying, after long thought, 'Wyoming.' To me that was the funniest, saddest line in the movie, and my favorite, because in the script he wasn’t supposed to say anything. I almost ruined the take because I started to laugh so hard... but it was a brilliant, brilliant, ad lib."
- Al Pacino commentary
"It's great working with John because he has a way of getting involved - in the whole thing, in the characters. He asks so many questions - he was just brilliant. It was tough to sell Johnny, but once Sidney got to see him read, and work with me, it turned out great."
The Deer Hunter
Despite being diagnosed with terminal bone cancer, Cazale continued work with fiancée Meryl StreepMeryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
in The Deer Hunter
The Deer Hunter
The Deer Hunter is a 1978 drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian American steel worker friends and their infantry service in the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, John Savage, John Cazale, and George Dzundza...
. "I've hardly ever seen a person so devoted to someone who is falling away like John was," said Pacino. "To see her in that act of love for this man was overwhelming."
Director Michael Cimino
Michael Cimino
Michael Cimino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and author. He is best known for writing and directing Academy Award-winning The Deer Hunter and the infamous Heaven's Gate. His films are characterized by their striking visual style and controversial subject...
"rearranged the shooting schedule," wrote author Andy Dougan, "with Cazale and Streep's consent, so that he could film all his scenes first." He completed all his scenes, but died soon after, on March 12, 1978, before the film was finished. He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden, Massachusetts
Malden, Massachusetts
Malden is a suburban city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 59,450 at the 2010 census. In 2009 Malden was ranked as the "Best Place to Raise Your Kids" in Massachusetts by Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine.-History:...
.
Legacy
The Boston Globe asks, "Why was Cazale so influential? In part, it was because of his commitment to the craft of acting." To Streep, he was "monomaniacal," which had an effect on his costars, who were then "challenged to take their own games up a notch."
Cazale's image was used for The Godfather
The Godfather: The Game
The Godfather: The Game is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Electronic Arts. It is the second video game in the Godfather series and based upon the 1972 film of the same name. Originally released in March 2006 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows, The Godfather...
video game, as his character, Fredo. He has a theater named after him, the McGinn/Cazale Theatre (currently inhabited by the company Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre is an award-winning contemporary Off-Broadway theater company.-Mission:The theatre's mission is to give new life to contemporary American plays and to produce the world premiers of new plays by both established and emerging playwrights...
), located at 2162 Broadway at 76th Street in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Cazale was cited as a "Distinguished Performance" by the Off-Broadway Obie Award
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
s for the 1967-68 season for his performance in Israel Horovitz
Israel Horovitz
Israel Horovitz is an American playwright and screenwriter.-Theatre career:An American dramatist, Horovitz has written more than 70 produced plays, many of which have been translated and performed in more than 30 languages worldwide . The 70/70 Horovitz Project was created by NYC Barefoot Theatre...
's play The Indian Wants the Bronx
The Indian Wants the Bronx
The Indian Wants the Bronx is a one-act play by Israel Horovitz.Gupta, the Indian of the title, has just arrived in New York City from his native country to visit his son and speaks only a few words of English. While waiting for a bus to the Bronx, he is approached by two young punks, Joey and...
.
His life and career were profiled in the documentary film, I Knew It Was You
I Knew It Was You
I Knew It Was You is a 2009 American documentary film about actor John Cazale, directed by Richard Shepard and produced by Brett Ratner, Stacey Reiss, and Richard Shepard.-Background:...
, directed by Richard Shepard
Richard Shepard
Richard Shepard is an American film and television director and screenwriter. In 2007 Shepard received a Directors Guild of America Award and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for the television pilot Ugly Betty....
, which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
and was scheduled by HBO
Home Box Office
HBO, short for Home Box Office, is an American premium cable television network, owned by Time Warner. , HBO's programming reaches 28.2 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium network in America . In addition to its U.S...
.
Filmography
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
. Three of the films won the Award: The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and The Deer Hunter.
| Release date | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 15, 1972 | 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... |
Fredo Corleone Fredo Corleone Frederico "Fredo" Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather. In the fictional universe of the novel and its film adaptation, he is the second son of Vito Corleone , head of a powerful Mafia family... |
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| April 7, 1974 | The Conversation The Conversation The Conversation is a 1974 American psychological thriller film written, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman... |
Stan | |
| December 12, 1974 | 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... |
Fredo Corleone Fredo Corleone Frederico "Fredo" Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather. In the fictional universe of the novel and its film adaptation, he is the second son of Vito Corleone , head of a powerful Mafia family... |
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| September 21, 1975 | Dog Day Afternoon Dog Day Afternoon Dog Day Afternoon is a 1975 drama film directed by Sidney Lumet, written by Frank Pierson, and produced by Martin Bregman. The film stars Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning, Chris Sarandon, Penny Allen, James Broderick, and Carol Kane. The title refers to the "dog days of summer".The film was... |
Salvatore Naturile Salvatore Naturile Salvatore Antonio Naturile, also known as Donald Matterson and "Sal" was an American bank robber who, along with John Wojtowicz, inspired the 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon. In the film he is portrayed by actor John Cazale.-Early life:Little is known about Naturile's background except for... |
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture |
| December 8, 1978 | The Deer Hunter The Deer Hunter The Deer Hunter is a 1978 drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian American steel worker friends and their infantry service in the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, John Savage, John Cazale, and George Dzundza... |
Stanley "Stosh" | |
| December 25, 1990 | The Godfather Part III The Godfather Part III The Godfather Part III is a 1990 American gangster film written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, and directed by Coppola. It completes the story of Michael Corleone, a Mafia kingpin who tries to legitimize his criminal empire... |
Fredo Corleone Fredo Corleone Frederico "Fredo" Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather. In the fictional universe of the novel and its film adaptation, he is the second son of Vito Corleone , head of a powerful Mafia family... |
(archive footage) |