Al Pacino
ALL ABOUT AL PACINO
Full Name: Alfredo James Pacino
Date of Birth: 25 April 1940
Place of Birth: South Bronx, New York, New York, USA
Bio:
Al Pacino was born in New York on April 25th, 1940. He was the only child of Salvatore and Rose Pacino, who divorced when Al was just two years old. After that he lived with his mother and grandparents in the Bronx. At school, he enjoyed appearing in school plays but did not consider acting as a profession until, at age 14, he saw Chekov’s “The Seagull” performed at the Elsmere Theatre in the South Bronx. This led to him enrolling at the prestigious High School of the Performing Arts but, flunking everything but English, he eventually, at 17, dropped out.He drifted through a variety of odd jobs but saved his money and eventually had enough to enroll at the Herbert Berghof Studio. There he trained under legendary acting genius Charles Laughton. Pacino’s mother died a premature death in 1962. He was terribly hurt by this and buried his sorrow in hard work to improve his acting skills. Sometimes hard work pays off, and in this case, it did. Pacino landed a spot in the prestigious Actors Studio in 1966.
He appeared opposite James Earl Jones in “The Peace Creeps”. His work earned him the Off-Broadway community’s Obie for Best Actor for the ‘67-’68 season.1969 was the breakthrough year for Al Pacino, he finally appeared on Broadway, winning a Tony award for his role as a psychotic junkie in “Does The Tiger Wear A Necktie?”. The young actor felt ready for a try at a film career.It was his ability to convincingly portray addiction that brought him into movies. He played a junkie in his first film, 1969’s ME, NATALIE and again in 1971’s THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK. Then Pacino was able to take his career to the next level. His performance in the latter film brought him to the attention of Francis Ford Coppola who cast him as Michael Corleone in THE GODFATHER. This was not a popular choice, as most of the production team wanted Jack Nicholson to play that part. At first Pacino was not comfortable with the situation, he thought that he was going to be fired. But he is very good as Marlon Brando’s initially reluctant heir, charged with the task of legitimising an ugly business. So good, in fact, that he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.
Pacino would continue to perform at the highest possible level. He was excellent as the incorruptible cop in Sidney Lumet’s gritty SERPICO, Oscar nominated for Best Actor. Then he repeated as Corleone in the masterful THE GODFATHER, PART II. The film won four Academy Awards. Pacino was nominated once again for Best Actor and lost again, this time to Art Carney. Then there was 1975’s DOG DAY AFTERNOON, again with Lumet as director. He played a bi-sexual, horribly botching a bank robbery he’d hoped would pay for his lover’s sex-change operation. Another Oscar nomination, but still no cigar. Watch Pacino’s films from the first half of the 70’s and be impressed. Pacino was offered the lead in KRAMER VS KRAMER but turned it down, and it went to Dustin Hoffman. Pacino was offered to play the part of Luke Skywalker in STAR WARS, but turned it down and it went to Mark Hamill. What did Pacino do instead?
Following this incredible spate of success, Pacino returned to his first love - the stage. He won his second Tony for “The Basic Training Of Pavlo Hummel”, then brushed up his Shakespeare with “Mark Anthony”, “Hamlet” and “Othello”. Over the years he would return to Shakespeare many times, becoming one of the most perfected Shakespearean actors in America. He performed in “Richard III” to great acclaim and played the powerful role of King Herod in Oscar Wilde’s “Salome”. When Pacino returned to work in Hollywood he chose intense and controversial parts, which defenitely did not guarantee box office success. Coppola wanted Pacino to work with him again in APOCALYPSE NOW, but Pacino declined. Instead he turned in another Oscar nominated performance as the struggling attorney in Norman Jewison’s AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. In 1983, he was a blistering Tony Montana in Brian De Palma’s, SCARFACE. The public liked the film, and especially Pacino’s energetic performance. It might be the best performance of his career, which is saying a lot. However, the critics did not appreciate the superabundance of foul language and detailed violence.
The biggest failure of his career was REVULOTION. After that movie Pacino would return to stage work for four years and returned with the superb thriller SEA OF LOVE co-starring Ellen Barkin. He was offered the lead in PRETTY WOMAN but turned it down and instead he played in another romantic drama; FRANKIE AND JOHNNY, opposite Michelle Pfeiffer. Then, finally, came the Oscar, for his performance as the romantic and blind Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in SCENT OF A WOMAN. He would be nominated for the eighth time the very next year, as a real-estate salesman in Mamet’s GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS. More excellence followed. Pacino would establish himself as the greatest gangster film actor of our time alongside Robert De Niro with his tremendous perfrormance as a gangster with a soft heart in De Palma’s CARLITO’S WAY. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro then co-starred in Michael Mann’s HEAT, although they shared very little screen time. His greatest performance of the decade was opposite Johnny Depp in Mike Newell’s DONNIE BRASCO.
In 1997 he was honored with a star on Hollywood’s Walk Of Fame. Pacino is one of the greatest emotional athletes of all time, but this hard process has influenced his private life. He has never married, although he lives with actress Beverly D’Angelo, with whom he has two kids. He has had shorter affairs with Penolpe Ann Miller and Diane Keaton. Pacino demands approximately $10 million per picture.
Trivia:
Ranked #4 in Empire (UK) magazine’s “The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time” list. [October 1997]
Was arrested in January 1961, charged with carrying a concealed weapon.
Son of Sal Pacino (insurance agent) and Rose Pacino (she died when Al was 22).
He has a daughter, named Julie Marie (b. 1989), with acting teacher Jan Tarrant.
Dropped out of school at the age of 17.
Turned down the role of Ted Kramer in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).
Turned down Born on the Fourth of July (1989).
Turned down Apocalypse Now (1979).
Turned down the role of Han Solo in Star Wars (1977).
Turned down Pretty Woman (1990).
Turned down Crimson Tide (1995).
Originally asked for $7 million for The Godfather: Part III (1990), a figure that so enraged director Francis Ford Coppola that he threatened to write a new script that opened with Michael Corleone’s funeral. Pacino settled for $5 million.
Father of twins Anton and Olivia (b. 25 January 2001), with Beverly D’Angelo.
His grandparents originate from Corleone, Sicily.
Was frequently refered to as “that midget Pacino” by producers of The Godfather (1972) who didn’t want him for the part of Michael Corleone.
Francis Ford Coppola asked Pacino to play Captain Willard in his film Apocalypse Now (1979). Pacino politely turned down the offer, saying he’d “do anything” for Francis but he “woudn’t go to war with him!”
Stopped a 2-pack-a-day smoking habit in 1994 to protect his voice. He now only occasionally smokes herbal cigarettes.
Al was so much into character (playing a plain-clothes NYC cop) while filming Serpico (1973) he actually pulled over and threatened to arrest a truck driver for exhaust pollution.
Is an avid fan of opera.
Once worked as an usher at Carnegie Hall.
Larry King considers Pacino’s appearance on his show “Larry King Live” (1985) in November 1996 as one of his personal all-time favorite interviews.
As of 2002, his salary was around $10 million a picture.
One of the few Hollywood stars who has never married.
Despite the fact that he starred in “The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui” for Off- Broadway scale pay (the minimum salary allowed by Actor’s Equity), the production had the highest ticket price in Off-Broadway history at $100 per ticket.
He is one of the elite ten thespians to have been nominated for both a Supporting and Lead Acting Academy Award in the same year. The other nine are Barry Fitzgerald Fay Bainter, Teresa Wright, Jessica Lange, Sigourney Weaver, Emma Thompson, Holly Hunter, Julianne Moore and Jamie Foxx. Pacino was the second male actor, after Barry Fitzgerald, to have been nominated for both a Best Supporting Actor and a Best Actor Oscar in the same year, the third is actor Jamie Foxx, who was nominated for Best Actor and Best supporting Actor in 2005.
Won two Tony Awards: in 1969 as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Dramatic) for “Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?” and in 1977 as
Best. Actor (Play) for “The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel.”
Won his first Oscar twenty-one years after his first nomination.
He and Chris Sarandon improvised their scene on the phone in the film Dog Day Afternoon (1975).
Studied acting under his friend Charles Laughton.
He is an avid Shakespeare fan.
Was voted the Number 1 greatest movie star of all time in a Channel 4 (UK) poll.
For a short while, he was the only actor to be in the #1 Best and Worst Movie on IMDb: The Godfather (1972) and Gigli (2003).
In a “Playboy magazine interview, he claimed that he was fired from his job as a movie theater usher while walking down the staircase and admiring himself in the mirrored wall.
He was voted the 41st Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
Portrayed crime bosses in The Godfather Trilogy, Scarface (1983) and Dick Tracy (1990).
In 2004 he became the eighteenth performer to win the Triple Crown of Acting. Oscar: Best Actor, Scent of a Woman (1992);
Tonys: Best Supporting Actor-Play “Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?: (1969) and Best Actor-Play “The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel” (1977); and Emmy: Best Actor-Miniseries/Movie, _”Angels in America” (2003) (mini)_ .
Read for Chazz Palminteri’s part in The Usual Suspects (1995). Source: Director Bryan Singer, “Pursuing The Usual Suspects” documentary from UK DVD.
Pacino was rejected repeatedly by studio heads while auditioning for the role of Michael in The Godfather (1972) but Francis Ford
Coppola fought for him. This film was shot briskly because both the director and the leading actor were in constant fear of being fired. Ironically, the film turned out to be a breakthrough for both.
He is the stepson of actress and make-up artist Katherin Kovin-Pacino.
He has four sisters: Josette, a teacher, twins Roberta and Paula, and a younger sister named Desiree, whom Pacino’s father adopted whilst married to his fourth wife.
Was a longtime member of David Wheeler’s Theatre Company of Boston, for which he performed in “Richard III” in Boston from Dec 1972 to Jan 1973 and at the Cort Theater in New York City from June 10 to July 15, 1979. He also appeared in their productions of Bertolt Brecht’s “Aurturo Ui” at the Charles Theater in Boston in 1975 and later in New York and London, and in David Rabe’s “The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel” at the Longacre Theater in New York in 1977, for which Pacino won a Tony Award. Wheeler also directed Pacino in Heathcote Williams’ “The Local Stigmatic” for Joseph Papp’s Public Theater in New York City in 1976. Pacino appeared in a 1989 film of “Stigmatic” directed by Wheeler that was presented at the Cinémathèque in Los Angeles.
Was the recipient of the 2001 Cecil B. DeMille Award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for his “outstanding contribution to the entertainment field”.
Won the Best Actor Obie (awarded for the best Off-Broadway performances) for “The Indian Wants The Bronx” in 1968. Was also nominated for a Best Actor Obie for “Why Is A Crooked Letter” in 1966.
His performance in the Broadway play “Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?” won him a Tony Award for Best Dramatic Supporting Actor, and a Drama Desk Award and Theatre World Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1969.
Turned down the lead role of Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
While Paramount brass dithered over whether to cast him as “Michael Corleone”, the role that would make him a star, a frustrated Pacino signed up for the role of “Mario Trantino” in The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight (1971). When Paramount finally decided to offer him the role in The Godfather (1972), they had to buy him out of his contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ironically, the role went to Robert De Niro, whom The Godfather: Part II (1974) would make a star.
His favorite actress is Julie Christie.
Trade Mark
Volcanic tirade, smoke-burnished voice.
Frequently plays men of power and/or authority.
Quotes:
“I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
Playing Michael Corleone in The Godfather
“I don’t want to kill everyone…Just my enemies.”
Playing Michael Corleone in The Godfather
“I’m an actor, not a star. Stars are people who live in Hollywood and have heart-shaped swimming pools.”
” It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business.”
Playing Michael Corleone in The Godfather
“My father is no different than any powerful man, any man with power, like a President or a senator.”
Playing Michael Corleone in The Godfather, referring to his mafia boss father Don Vito Corleone
“My first language was shy. It’s only by having been thrust into the limelight that I have learned to cope with my shyness.”
“Make way for the bad guy.”
Playing Tony Montana in Scarface
“No one ever asked me to play Hamlet. I don’t think I’m right for the part, but it would have been nice to be asked.”
” The actor becomes an emotional athlete. The process is painful–my personal life suffers.”
” You wanna fuck with me? Okay. You wannna play rough? Okay. Say hello to my little friend.”
Playing Tony Montana in Scarface
Filmography:
Al Pacino Filmography as an Actor:
2008 Righteous Kill
2008 Dali & I: The Surreal Story
2008 88 Minutes
2007 Brando
2007 Babbleonia
2007 Ocean’s Thirteen
2007 Salomaybe?
2005 Two for the Money
2004 Void Moon
2004 The Merchant of Venice
2003 Angels in America
2003 Gigli
2003 The Recruit
2002 Simone
2002 People I Know
2002 Insomnia
2000 Chinese Coffee
1999 Any Given Sunday
1999 The Insider
1997 Pitch
1997 Donnie Brasco
1997 The Devil’s Advocate
1996 Looking for Richard
1996 City Hall
1995 Heat
1994 Two Bits
1994 Jonas in the Desert
1993 Carlito’s Way
1992 Glengarry Glen Ross
1992 Scent of a Woman
1991 Truth or Dare
1991 Frankie and Johnny
1990 Dick Tracy
1990 The Godfather Part III
1989 Sea of Love
1985 Revolution
1983 Scarface
1982 Author! Author!
1980 Cruising
1979 … And Justice for All
1977 The Godfather Saga
1977 Bobby Deerfield
1976 America at the Movies
1975 Dog Day Afternoon
1974 The Godfather: Part II
1973 Scarecrow
1973 Serpico
1972 The Godfather
1971 The Panic in Needle Park
1969 Me, Natalie
Al Pacino Filmography as a Director:
2007 Salomaybe?
2000 Chinese Coffee
1996 Looking for Richard
Al Pacino Filmography as a Producer:
1996 Looking for Richard
Al Pacino Filmography as a Screenwriter:
1996 Looking for Richard
Al Pacino Awards:
Academy
1992 Best Actor Scent Of A Woman
1992 Best Supporting Actor Glengarry Glen Ross
1990 Best Supporting Actor Dick Tracy
1979 Best Actor And Justice For All
1975 Best Actor Dog Day Afternoon
1974 Best Actor Godfather, Part 2
1973 Best Actor Serpico
1972 Best Supporting Actor Godfather
British Academy Awards
1975 Best Actor Dog Day Afternoon
1975 Best Actor Godfather, Part 2
Golden Globe
2003 Best Actor - Miniseries or TV Movie Angels in America
2000 Cecil B. DeMille Award
1992 Best Actor (Drama) Scent of a Woman
1992 Best Supporting Actor Glengarry Glen Ross
1990 Best Actor (Drama) Godfather Part III
1990 Best Supporting Actor Dick Tracy
1989 Best Actor (Drama) Sea of Love
1983 Best Actor - Drama Scarface
1982 Best Actor - Musical or Comedy Author! Author!
1979 Best Actor - Drama And Justice For All
1977 Best Actor - Drama Bobby Deerfield
1975 Best Actor - Drama Dog Day Afternoon
1974 Best Actor - Drama Godfather Part II
1973 Best Actor - Drama Serpico
1972 Best Actor - Drama Godfather
Independent Spirit Award
1996 Truer Than Fiction Award Looking for Richard
L.A. Film Critics Association
1975 Best Actor Dog Day Afternoon
National Board of Review
1973 Best Actor Serpico
1972 Best Supporting Actor Godfather
Venice International Film Festival
1994 Golden Lion for Career
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