Vito Corleone
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| Vito Corleone | |
|---|---|
| Image:Godfather15.jpg Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in The Godfather | |
| First appearance | The Godfather |
| Last appearance | The Godfather Part II |
| Created by | Mario Puzo |
| Portrayed by | Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Oreste Baldini |
| Information | |
| Aliases | The Godfather, The Don, Don Corleone |
| Gender | Male |
| Date of birth | December 7[1], 1891[2] |
| Date of death | August 1955 (aged 64)[2] |
| Family | Corleone family |
| Spouse(s) | Carmella Corleone |
| Children | Sonny Corleone, Fredo Corleone, Michael Corleone, Connie Corleone, Tom Hagen (adopted) |
Vito Andolini Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather, as well as Francis Ford Coppola's trilogy of films based on it. In the first film, he was portrayed by Marlon Brando. He was portrayed as a younger man in The Godfather Part II by Robert De Niro. Both performances won Academy Awards. Brando and De Niro remain the only two actors to each win Oscars for playing the same character.
In Puzo's novel, Vito is the head of the Corleone crime family, one of the most powerful Mafia families in New York. He is depicted as an ambitious Italian immigrant who moves to Little Italy and builds a mafia empire, yet retains (and strictly adheres to) his own personal code of honor. His youngest son, Michael Corleone, becomes the Don upon his death at the end of the novel. He has two other sons, Santino "Sonny" Corleone and Fredo Corleone, and a daughter, Connie Corleone, all of whom play major roles in the story. He also informally adopted another son, Tom Hagen, who grew up to become the Family's consigliere.
[edit] Biography
In the chronology of the Godfather saga, Vito first appears in 1901, as a young boy in the small Sicilian town of Corleone. As documented in the novel (and in Godfather Part II) his father, Antonio Andolini, is murdered by a Sicilian mob boss named Don Ciccio because he refused to pay tribute to him. His older brother, Paolo, swears revenge, but is himself murdered soon after. Eventually, Ciccio's henchmen come to the residence of the Andolinis to take Vito away and have him killed. Desperate, Signora Andolini takes her son to see the mafia chieftain herself.
When she goes to see Don Ciccio, she begs for forgiveness, but Ciccio refuses, reasoning that Vito would also seek revenge as an adult. Upon Ciccio's refusal, Signora Andolini puts a knife to his throat, allowing her son to escape at the expense of her own life. Later that night, he is smuggled away, fleeing Sicily to seek refuge in America on a cargo ship full of immigrants. In the novel, he deliberately changes his name to Corleone, after his home town. The movie, however, plays that he is renamed "Vito Corleone" because the immigration workers at Ellis Island mistake the name of his town for his last name. According to The Godfather: Part III, he later adopted the middle name "Andolino" to acknowledge his heritage.
Corleone is later adopted by the Abbandando family in New York City's Little Italy, and he befriends their son, Genco, who becomes like a brother to him. Corleone begins making an honest living at Abbandando's grocery store, but loses the job, as an intimidated Abbandando is forced to employ the nephew of Don Fanucci, the local neighborhood padrone.
Corleone soon learns to survive and prosper through petty crime and performing favors in return for loyalty. During this time, he also befriends two other low-level hoods, Peter Clemenza and Salvatore Tessio. In 1919, he commits his first murder, killing Fanucci, who had tried to extort money from him. Corleone chooses the day of a major festival to spy on Fanucci from the rooftops as Fanucci goes home, and surprises him at the door to his apartment. He shoots Fanucci three times, as the din from the festival drowns out the noise from the gunshots.
As a young man, Corleone starts an olive oil business, Genco Pura (known as simply Genco Olive Oil in the films) with his friend Genco Abbandando. Over the years he uses it as a legal front for his organized crime syndicate, while amassing a fortune with his illegal operations. During a journey with his family to his native Sicily in 1925, he avenges his murdered parents and brother by killing the aged Don Ciccio with a knife to the stomach.
By the early 1930's, Vito Corleone has organized his illegal operations as the Corleone crime family. Genco Abbandando becomes his consigliere, or advisor, with Clemenza and Tessio as caporegimes. Later, his son Sonny becomes a capo as well, and eventually his underboss. While he oversees a business founded on gambling, bootlegging, and union corruption, he is known as a kind, generous man who lives by a strict moral code of loyalty to friends and, above all, family. At the same time, he is known as a traditionalist who demands respect commensurate with his status. Even his three closest friends--Genco, Clemenza and Tessio--never call him "Vito," but either "Godfather" or "Don Corleone." In both the book and the first scene of the first Godfather, he chastises his old friend, undertaker Bonasera, for not coming to him first after his daughter is beaten up instead of going to the police. Although he has a reputation for ruthlessness, he disagrees with many of the vicious crimes carried out by gangs and so seeks to control crime in New York by either consuming or eliminating rival gangs.
By this time, he has four children--Sonny, Fredo, Connie and Michael. While he loves all of them, he is most proud of Michael, a college student who had to drop out due to his decision of joining the marines, and wishes for him a life away from the "family business."
In 1945, Corleone is badly injured in an assassination attempt, provoked when he refuses the request of Virgil Sollozzo to invest in a drug operation and use his political contacts for the operation's protection. His near death sparks a chain of events that results in Sonny's murder and Michael's eventual ascension to the head of the family. Corleone then acts an unofficial consigliere to his son.
At the end of the novel, he dies of a heart attack while playing with his grandson Anthony in his garden. His last words in the novel are, "Life is so beautiful."
[edit] Family
- Carmella Corleone — Wife, played by Morgana King
- Santino 'Sonny' Corleone — Eldest son; played by James Caan
- Tom Hagen — informally adopted son, played by Robert Duvall
- Frederico "Fredo" Corleone — Middle son; played by John Cazale
- Michael Corleone — Youngest son; played by Al Pacino
- Constanzia 'Connie' Corleone — Daughter; played by Talia Shire
- Vincent Mancini-Corleone — Illegitimate grandson; played by Andy Garcia
- Anthony Corleone — Grandson; played by Franc D'Ambrosio
- Mary Corleone — Granddaughter; played by Sofia Coppola
| Preceded by None | Head of the Corleone Crime Family The Godfather ca. 1930 - 1945 | Succeeded by Sonny Corleone |
| Preceded by Sonny Corleone | Head of the Corleone Crime Family The Godfather ca. 1948 - 1955 | Succeeded by Michael Corleone |
[edit] References
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