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James Edmund Caan[1] (March 26, 1940 - July 6, 2022) was an American actor. After early roles in The Glory Guys (1965), for which he received a Golden Globenomination, El Dorado (1967), and The Rain People (1969), he came to prominence in the 1970s with significant roles in films such as Brian's Song (1971), Cinderella Liberty (1973), The Gambler (1974), Freebie and the Bean (1974), Rollerball (1975), Funny Lady (1975), A Bridge Too Far (1977) and Chapter Two (1979). For his signature role in The Godfather (1972), that of hot-tempered Sonny Corleone, Caan was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the corresponding Golden Globe.

Caan's subsequent notable performances include roles in Thief (1981), Misery(1990), For the Boys (1991), Eraser (1996), Bottle Rocket (1996) and Elf (2003), as well as the role of "Big Ed" Deline in the television series Las Vegas (2003–08). He also prominently lent his voice to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013) as Tim Lockwood, father of Bill Hader's protagonist Flint Lockwood.

For his contributions to the film industry, Caan was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1978 with a motion pictures star located at 6648 Hollywood Boulevard.[2][3]

Early life[]

Caan was born on March 26, 1940, in the Bronx, New York, the son of Sophie (née Falkenstein; June 24, 1915 – January 18, 2016)[4] and Arthur Caan, Jewishimmigrants from Germany.[5] His father was a meat dealer and butcher.[6][7] One of three siblings,[8][9] Caan grew up in Sunnyside, Queens.[5] He was educated in New York City, and later attended Michigan State University. He later transferred to Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, but did not graduate. His classmates at Hofstra included Francis Ford Coppola and Lainie Kazan.

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, where he studied for five years; one of his instructors was Sanford Meisner.[7]

"I just fell in love with acting," he later recalled. "Of course all my improvs ended in violence."[10]

Career[]

1961–1965: Early roles[]

Caan began appearing off-Broadway in plays such as La Ronde before making his Broadway debut in Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole.[11][12]

Caan's first television appearance was in an episode of Naked City. He was also seen in episodes of Play of the WeekRoute 66Alcoa PremiereThe Untouchables (in an episode guest starring Lee Marvin), The Doctors and the Nurses,Wide CountryDeath Valley Days (twice) and Dr. Kildare.

Caan's first film was Irma la Douce (1963), in which he had an uncredited bit as a sailor. He guest starred on Ben CaseyCombat! (playing a German soldier), and Kraft Suspense Theatre.

In 1964, he starred as Jewish athlete Jeff Brubaker in the episode "My Son, the All-American" of Channing, a drama about college life.

His first substantial film role was as a punk hoodlum in the 1964 thriller Lady in a Cage, which starred Olivia de Havilland, who praised Caan's performance.[13]

Caan had roles in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Wagon Train. He was fourth-billed in a Western feature, The Glory Guys (1965). He said he turned down the starring role in a TV series around this time. "I want to be an actor not a millionaire."[14]

1965–71: Leading man[]

In 1965, Caan landed his first starring role, in Howard Hawks' auto-racing drama Red Line 7000.[15] It was not a financial success. However Hawks liked Caan and cast him in his next film, El Dorado, playing Alan Bourdillion Traherne, a.k.a. Mississippi, in support of John Wayne and Robert Mitchum.

Caan then had the starring role in Robert Altman's second feature film, Countdown (1968) and was second billed in the Curtis Harrington thriller Games(1968).

Caan went to Britain to star in a war film, Submarine X-1 (1968), then had the lead in a Western, Journey to Shiloh (1968).

He returned to television with a guest role in The F.B.I., then had an uncredited spot on the spy sitcom Get Smart as a favor to star Don Adams, playing Rupert of Rathskeller in the episode "To Sire with Love".

Caan won praise for his role as a brain-damaged football player in The Rain People (1969), directed by Francis Ford Coppola.[16] He made a Western called Gone with the West that was not released until 1975.

None of these films, apart from El Dorado, had been particularly successful at the box office, including Rabbit, Run (1970), based on a John Updike novel, in which Caan had the lead and "was a film I really wanted to do, really wanted to be involved with."[17]

"No one would put me in a movie," he later recalled. "They all said, 'His pictures never make money'."[18]

Caan returned to the small screen with the TV movie Brian's Song (1971), playing dying football player Brian Piccolo, opposite Billy Dee Williams. Caan did not want to return to television and turned down the role four times, but changed his mind after reading the script. The film was a huge critical success and remains a famous Guy-cry film. Caan's performance earned him an Emmy nomination.[7][18]

He got a deal to make a film and agreed to be in T.R. Baskin.[19]

1972–82: Stardom[]

The following year, Coppola cast him as the short-tempered Sonny Corleone in The Godfather. Originally, Caan was cast as Michael Corleone (Sonny's youngest brother); both Coppola and Caan demanded that this role be played by Al Pacino, so Caan could play Sonny instead. Robert DeNiro was also considered to play Sonny. Although another actor, Carmine Caridi, was already signed to play Sonny,[20] the studio insisted on having Caan, so he remained in the production.

During production of The Godfather in 1971, Caan was known to hang out with Carmine Persico, aka "The Snake", a notorious mafioso and later one-time head of the Colombo crime family. Government agents briefly mistook Caan, who was relatively unknown at the time, as an aspiring mobster.[21][22]

Caan was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film, competing with co-stars Robert Duvall and Pacino.[7]Caan was closely identified with the role for years afterward: "They called me a wiseguy. I won Italian of the Year twice in New York, and I'm Jewish, 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?"[23]

Caan was now established as a leading movie star. He was in a road movie, Slither (1973), based on a script by W.D. Richter, and a romantic comedy with Marsha Mason, Cinderella Liberty (1973), directed by Mark Rydell.

He received good reviews for playing the title role in The Gambler (1974), based on a script by James Toback originally written for Robert de Niro, and directed by Karel Reisz. More popular at the box office was the action comedy Freebie and the Bean (1974) with Alan Arkin.[24]

Caan reprised his role as Sonny Corleone for a flashback scene in The Godfather Part II (1974). He had a big hit with Funny Lady (1975) playing Billy Roseopposite Barbra Streisand's Fanny Brice.

Caan starred in two big action films, Norman Jewison's Rollerball (1975), and Sam Peckinpah's The Killer Elite (1975). Both were popular, though Caan hated Elite.[25]

He made a cameo in Mel Brooks' Silent Movie (1976) and tried comedy with Rydell's Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976). Caan was so unhappy with the latter he sacked his management.[25] He said he didn't want to make Elite or Harry but "people kept telling me I had to be commercial."[26]

Caan was one of many stars in the war film A Bridge Too Far (1977). He had a change of pace when he went to France to make Another Man, Another Chance(1977) for director Claude Lelouch alongside Geneviève Bujold, which Caan did for "peanuts"[27] and loved the experience.[25]

Back in the United States, Caan made a modern-day Western, Comes a Horseman (1978) with Jane Fonda for director Alan J. Pakula.[28]

He was reunited with Mason in the film adaptation of Neil Simon's autobiographical Chapter Two (1979).[29] Caan later said he only did the film for the money as he was trying to raise money for his directorial debut, but it was a success at the box office.[30]

Turning director[]

In 1978, Caan directed Hide in Plain Sight, a film about a father searching for his children, who were lost in the Witness Protection Program.[7][31] Despite critical praise, the film was not a hit with the public.

The following year, Caan appeared in the neo-noir movie Thief (1981), directed by Michael Mann, in which he played a professional safe cracker. Although the film was not successful at the time, Caan's performance was widely lauded and the movie has acquired something of a cult following.[32] Caan always praised Mann's script and direction and has often said that, next to The GodfatherThiefis the movie of which he is proudest.[7]

During Caan's peak years of stardom, he rejected a series of starring roles that proved to be successes for other actors, in films including The French ConnectionOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's NestClose Encounters of the Third KindKramer vs. Kramer ("it was such middle class bourgeois baloney"[33]), Apocalypse Now (because Coppola "mentioned something about 16 weeks in the Philippine jungles"[27]), Blade RunnerLove Story and Superman ("I didn't want to wear the cape"[27]).[34][33]

In 1977, Caan rated several of his movies out of ten – The Godfather (10), Freebie and the Bean (4), Cinderella Liberty (8), The Gambler (8), Funny Lady (9), Rollerball (8), The Killer Elite (5), Harry and Walter Go to New York (0), Slither (4), A Bridge Too Far (7), and Another Man Another Chance (10).[25] He also liked his performances in The Rain People and Thief.[35]

Caan had a role in Lelouch's Les Uns et les Autres (1981), which was popular in France. In Hollywood, he was in a flop comedy called Kiss Me Goodbye (1982).

1982–1986: Temporary retirement[]

From 1982 to 1987, Caan suffered from depression over his sister's death from leukemia, a growing problem with cocaine, and what he described as "Hollywood burnout,"[33] and did not act in any films.

In a 1991 interview, Caan claimed that making the 1982 film Kiss Me Goodbyewas another factor in this self-imposed exile. Caan called it one of the worst experiences of his life and professed that director Robert Mulligan was the most incompetent filmmaker he had ever worked with.[7] "A lot of mediocrity was produced," he said. "Because I think that directors got to the point where they made themselves too important. They didn't want anything or anybody to distract from their directorial prowess. There were actors who were good and capable, but they would distract from the special effects. It was a period of time when I said, 'I'm not going to work again.'"[36]

He walked off the set of The Holcroft Covenant and was replaced by Michael Caine. Caan devoted much of his time during these years to coaching children's sports.[10] In 1985 he was in a car crash.[37]

Caan considered retiring for good but instead of being "set for life," as he believed, he found out one day that "I was flat-ass broke... I didn't want to work. But then when the dogs got hungry and I saw their ribs, I decided that maybe now it's a good idea."[38]

1987–2002: Comeback[]

Caan returned to acting in 1987, when Coppola cast him as an army platoon sergeant for the 3rd US Infantry Regiment ("The Old Guard") in Gardens of Stone, a movie that dealt with the effect of the Vietnam War on the United States homefront.[39]

Caan only received a quarter of his pre-hiatus salary, and then had to kick in tens of thousands more to the completion bond company because of Holcroft. "I don't know what it is, but, boy, when you're down, they like to stomp on you," he said.[38]

The movie was not a popular success but Alien Nation (1988), where Caan played a cop who partnered with an alien, did well. He had a support role as Spaldoni, under much make up, in Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy.

He was going to make an action film in Italy, but then heard Rob Reiner was looking for a leading man in his adaptation of Stephen King's Misery (1990).[7]Since the script for Misery called for the male lead Paul Sheldon, to spend most of his time lying in bed tormented by his nurse, the role was turned down by many of Hollywood's leading actors before Caan accepted.[38]

Caan had a small role in The Dark Backward (1991) and co-starred with Bette Midler in the expensive For the Boys (1991), directed by Rydell who called Caan "one of the four or five best actors in America".[33]

Caan was a gangster in the comedy Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) and played Coach Winters in The Program (1993). He had a support role in Flesh and Bone(1993) and A Boy Called Hate (1995), the latter starring his son Scott.

In 1996, he appeared in North Star, a Western; Bottle Rocket, the directorial debut of Wes Anderson; Eraser, with Arnold Schwarzenegger; and Bulletproofwith Adam Sandler and Damon Wayans.

In 1998, Caan portrayed Philip Marlowe in the HBO film Poodle Springs. He was also in This Is My Father (1998).

Caan was a gangster for comedy in Mickey Blue Eyes (1999), with Hugh Grant. He was in The Yards (2000) with Mark Wahlberg and director James Gray, Luckytown (2000) with Kirsten Dunst, and The Way of the Gun (2000) for Christopher McQuarrie.[7][40]

Caan starred in TV movies like Warden of Red Rock (2001) and A Glimpse of Hell(2001), and was in some thrillers: Viva Las Nowhere (2001), In the Shadows(2001), and Night at the Golden Eagle (2002). He was in Lathe of Heaven (2002), City of Ghosts (2002) with Matt Dillon, Blood Crime (2002), The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie (2003), and Jericho Mansions (2003).

Most of these films were not widely seen, but Dogville (2003) and Elf (2003), in which Caan had key supporting roles, were big successes on the art house and commercial circuit respectively.

In 2002, he portrayed Jimmy the Con in the film This Thing of Ours, whose associate producer was Sonny Franzese, longtime mobster and underboss of the Colombo crime family, one of New York's Five Families, and is the oldest living member of the American Mafia.[41][42]

2003–2007: Las Vegas[]

In 2003, Caan auditioned for and won the role of Montecito Hotel/Casino president "Big Ed" Deline in Las Vegas.[43]

On February 27, 2007, Caan announced that he would not return to the show for its fifth season to return to film work; he was replaced by Tom Selleck.[44]

Recent years[]

Caan had a role in the TV movie Wisegal (2008), played the President of the United States in the 2008 film Get Smart, and had a part in the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) as the voice of the father of the lead character, Flint.[citation needed]

Caan was one of many stars in New York, I Love You (2008) and had a support role in Middle Men (2009). He did Mercy (2009), starring and written by his son Scott.

Caan could be seen in Henry's Crime (2010), Detachment (2011), Small Apartments (2012), That's My Boy (2012) with Sandler, For the Love of Money(2012) and Blood Ties (2013).

In 2012, Caan was a guest star on the re-imagined Hawaii Five-0 TV series, playing opposite his son, Scott Caan who plays Danny "Danno" Williams. As of 2010 Caan is the chairman of an Internet company, Openfilm, intended to help up-and-coming filmmakers.[45]

In 2013, Caan portrayed Chicago mob kingpin Sy Berman in the Starz TV dramaMagic City. The series was not renewed for a third season, and Caan's character was apparently killed by "the Butcher" Ben Diamond, his erstwhile protege, portrayed by Danny Huston.[citation needed]

He tried another regular series, the sitcom Back in the Game (2013) with Maggie Lawson, but it only lasted 13 episodes.

Caan returned to film work with A Fighting Man (2013) and The Outsider (2014).

In 2014, Caan appeared in the dramatic comedy Preggoland, playing a father who is disappointed with his daughter's lack of ambition, but who becomes overjoyed when she (falsely) announces that she is pregnant. The film premiered in the Special Presentations section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival[46] The film had its US premiere on January 28, 2015 at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Crackle premiered The Throwaways on January 30, 2015. Caan plays Lt. Col. Christopher Holden, who leads a team fighting a cyberterrorist.[47]

More recent films include The Wrong Boyfriend (2015), Sicilian Vampire (2015), JL Ranch (2016) and Good Enough (2016). He had the lead in The Good Neighbor (2016), The Red Maple Leaf (2016) and Undercover Grandpa (2017).[48]

Other work[]

Caan was a practicing martial artist. He has trained with Takayuki Kubota for nearly thirty years, earning various ranks.[49] He is a Master (Rank = 6 Dan) of Gosoku Ryu Karate and was granted the title of Soke Dai by the International Karate Association.[5]

Personal life[]

Caan was married four times. In 1961,[50] he married Dee Jay Mathis; they divorced in 1966. They had a daughter, Tara (born 1964). Caan's second marriage to Sheila Marie Ryan (a former girlfriend of Elvis Presley's) in 1976 was short-lived; they divorced the following year.[51] Their son, Scott Caan, who also is an actor, was born August 23, 1976.

Caan was married to Ingrid Hajek from September 1990 to March 1994; they had a son, Alexander James Caan, born 1991. He married Linda Stokes on October 7, 1995, they have two sons, James Arthur Caan (born 1995) and Jacob Nicholas Caan (born 1998). They divorced in 2009, citing irreconcilable differences.

In 1993, a 25-year-old West Hollywood man apparently lost his footing and tumbled to his death outside a Westwood apartment where Caan was staying. Caan said in an interview that he slept through the incident.[52]

In 1994 he was arrested after being accused by a Los Angeles rap artist of pulling a gun on him.[53]

According to a Fortune Magazine profile of Barry Minkow, during the production of the biopic based on the investor's life, Caan socialized with Minkow and was made aware by him that the financing of the film involved illegally obtained funds. However, nothing suggests Caan had any involvement with any illegalities.[54]

James Caan has five children and four grandchildren, three from his eldest daughter Tara and one from his son Scott.[55]

On July 6, 2022, Caan died at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles from a heart attack caused by coronary artery disease; he was 82. At the time of his death, he also had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure. He was buried at Eden Memorial Park Cemetery.

Tributes to Caan were paid by Rob Reiner, Francis Ford Coppola, Barbra Streisand, Al Pacino, Roberto De Niro, Talia Shire, Robert Duvall, and Will Ferrell among others.

Filmography[]

Film[]

Title Year Role Notes
Irma la Douce 1963 Soldier with Radio Uncredited[citation needed]
Lady in a Cage 1964 Randall Simpson O'Connell
The Glory Guys 1965 Pvt. Anthony Dugan Nominated – Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor
Red Line 7000 1965 Mike Marsh
El Dorado 1966 Alan Bourdillion "Mississippi" Traherne
Bonnie and Clyde 1967 Jimmy
Games 1967 Paul Montgomery
Cool Hand Luke 1967 Big Mike
Submarine X-1 1968 Cmdr. Richard Bolton
Countdown 1968 Lee Stegler
Journey to Shiloh 1968 Buck Burnett
The Rain People 1969 Jimmy Kilgannon
Rabbit, Run 1970 Rabbit Angstrom
T.R. Baskin 1971 Larry Moore
The Godfather 1972 Santino "Sonny" Corleone Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture

Slither 1973 Dick Kanipsia
Cinderella Liberty 1973 John Baggs Jr.
The Gambler 1974 Axel Freed Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
The Godfather Part II 1974 Santino "Sonny" Corleone Uncredited cameo
Freebie and the Bean 1974 Freebie
Funny Lady 1975 Billy Rose Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Rollerball 1975 Jonathan E. Saturn Award for Best Actor

(tied with Don Johnson for A Boy and His Dog)

Gone with the West 1975 Jud McGraw
The Killer Elite 1975 Mike Locken
Harry and Walter Go to New York 1976 Harry Dighby
Silent Movie 1976 Himself
A Bridge Too Far 1977 Sgt. Eddie Dohun
Another Man, Another Chance 1977 David Williams
Comes a Horseman 1978 Frank "Buck" Athearn
1941 1979 Sailor in Fight Uncredited[citation needed]
Chapter Two 1979 George Schneider
Hide in Plain Sight 1980 Thomas Hacklin Also director
Thief 1981 Frank
Kiss Me Goodbye 1982 Jolly Villano
Gardens of Stone 1987 SFC Clell Hazard
Alien Nation 1988 Det. Sgt. Matthew Sykes
Dick Tracy 1990 Spud Spaldoni
Misery 1990 Paul Sheldon Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Actor
The Dark Backward 1991 Doctor Scurvy
For the Boys 1991 Eddie Sparks
Honeymoon in Vegas 1992 Tommy Korman
The Program 1993 Coach Sam Winters
Flesh and Bone 1993 Roy Sweeney
A Boy Called Hate 1994 Jim
North Star 1996 Sean McLennon
Bottle Rocket 1996 Mr. Abe Henry
Eraser 1996 U.S. Marshal Robert Deguerin
Bulletproof 1996 Frank Colton
This Is My Father 1998 Kieran Johnson
Mickey Blue Eyes 1999 Frank Vitale
The Yards 2000 Frank Olchin
Luckytown 2000 Charlie Doyles
The Way of the Gun 2000 Joe Sarno
Viva Las Nowhere 2001 Roy Baker
In the Shadows 2001 Lance Huston
Night at the Golden Eagle 2002 Prison Warden Uncredited[citation needed]
City of Ghosts 2002 Marvin
Jericho Mansions 2003 Leonard Grey
Dogville 2003 The Big Man
This Thing of Ours 2003 Jimmy "The Con"
Elf 2003 Walter Hobbs
Santa's Slay 2005 Darren Mason Uncredited[citation needed]
Wisegal 2008 Salvatore Palmeri
Get Smart 2008 The President
New York, I Love You 2008 Mr. Riccoli Segment: "Brett Ratner"
Middle Men 2009 Jerry Haggerty
Mercy 2009 Gerry Ryan
Something, Something, Something, Darkside 2009 Himself Voice
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2009 Tim Lockwood Voice
Henry's Crime 2010 Max Saltzman
Minkow 2010 Paul Vinsant
Detachment 2011 Mr. Charles Seaboldt
Small Apartments 2012 Mr. Allspice
That's My Boy 2012 Father McNally
Blood Ties 2013 Leon Pierzynski
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 2013 Tim Lockwood Voice
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya 2013 The Bamboo Cutter Voice, English dub
A Fighting Man 2014 Brother Albright
Preggoland 2014 Walter Huxley
The Outsider 2014 Karl Schuster
The Throwaways 2015 Lt. Col. Christopher Holden
Sicilian Vampire 2015 Professor Bernard Isaacs
The Good Neighbor 2016 Harold Grainey
The Red Maple Leaf 2016 George Lawrence Secord
Undercover Grandpa 2017 Grandpa

Television[]

Title Year Role Notes
Combat! 1964 German sergeant 1 episode 'Anatomy of a Patrol'
Get Smart 1969 Rupert of Rathskeller (uncredited) 2 episodes 'To Sire, with Love: Parts 1 and 2'
Brian's Song 1971 Brian Piccolo TV movie

Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie

Les Uns et les Autres 1981 Jack Glenn / Jason Glenn TV miniseries
NewsRadio 1996 James Caan / Himself 1 episode "Movie Star"
Poodle Springs 1998 Philip Marlowe TV movie
Warden of Red Rock 2001 John Flinders TV movie
A Glimpse of Hell 2001 Capt. Fred Moosally TV movie
Blood Crime 2002 Sheriff Morgan McKenna TV movie
Las Vegas 2003–2008 Ed Deline 88 episodes
The Annoying Orange 2010 Jalepeño Voice role, web series
Hawaii Five-0 2012 Tony Archer 1 episode
Magic City 2013 Sy Berman 5 episodes
Back in the Game 2013 Terry "The Cannon" Gannon 13 episodes
Wuthering High School 2015 Mr. Earnshaw TV movie
JL Ranch 2016 Tap Peterson TV movie
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