The Godfather Fun Features

This is the section for all our "FUN" The Godfather information - please enjoy!

The Corleone Family Tree
The Godfather Character Guide
Recurring Characters in The Godfather Trilogy
The Mystery of the Godfather Oranges
The Godfather Pose
Coppola Family Cameos
Behind-the-Scenes with Francis Ford Coppola
Mario Puzo - the author of The Godfather
The Godfather Spoofs and Homages
Marlon Brando, Littlefeather and the Best Actor Oscar
The Godfather Part III: Good, Bad or Misunderstood?
Godfather Characters Ripped from the Headlines
Bada Bing - The Sopranos and The Godfather

Did You Know?

… Francis Ford Coppola was the one who insisted that novelist Mario Puzo's name appear above the title in all the Godfather movies. As a writer himself, he thought that novelists deserved to be spotlighted in this way. This is something he would do in other movies, like Bram Stoker's Dracula and John Grisham's The Rainmaker.

… that The Godfather Part II is one of only two sequels to ever win a Best Picture Oscar (the other was The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King.)

… Robert De Niro (who played the young Don Corleone in The Godfather Part II) is only one of three actors (Robert Benigni & Sophia Loren are the other two) to win an acting Oscar for a role primarily performed in a language other than English. Learn more about him in our Tribute to Robert De Niro.

… that they used a real horse head in that infamous scene from The Godfather. The production designer made arrangements with a dog food manufacturer that used old horses to give them the head of a horse that had been scheduled to be killed. One day it arrived packed in dry ice and they had to scramble to film the scene.

… Francis Ford Coppola asked a friend of his to film some insert shots he didn't have time to do. That friend, out of work director George Lucas was happy to help and filmed a series of shot of newspapers article about the aftermath of Don Corleone's shooting. Learn more about him in our Tribute to George Lucas.

... in The Godfather II, Michael Corleone's son Anthony leaves his father this picture on his pillow. This story plot point was lifted straight from Francis Ford Coppola's own life and the picture used in the movie was the one that his real-life son drew for him. This picture would re-appear again in The Godfather Part III.

... the character actor Harry Dean Stanton had a small role in The Godfather Part II. He played one of the FBI agents guarding Frankie Pentangeli.

... that Francis Ford Coppola's and Mario Puzo wanted to call the third Godfather movie "The Death of Michael Corleone". They saw the trilogy as a movie, a sequel and an epilogue. Paramount Pictures strenuously objected and the movie was released as The Godfather Part III.

... The Godfather Part IV? Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo were working on the outline for a story for a fourth movie but a script was not completed before Puzo's death in 1999. Coppola says that the format of the movie would have been more like The Godfather Part II (two stories in different timelines). One would show the rise of the Corleone Family in the Pre-World War II era with Sonny Corleone working closely with his father Vito Corleone to take control of the New York Mafia Families. The second story would follow the decline of the Corleone crime family under the direction of Sonny Corelone's illegitimate son, Vincent Mancini in the year's following the timeline shown in The Godfather III. It sounds interesting. Maybe someday ...

... that Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro are the only two actors to have won Oscars for portraying the same character in different movies.



... actor Carmine Caridi was on Francis Ford Coppola's short list for the role of Sonny Corleone in The Godfather. When the role went to James Caan, Coppola put Caridi in the film as an extra in the street scene where Sonny beats up Carlo. Caridi would go on to play additional roles in The Godfather Part II and III. He appeared as one of the Rosato Brothers in Part II and Mafia Boss Albert Volpe in Part III.

The Godfather On Location

Grauman's/Mann's Chinese Theater Footprints
Al Pacino is just one of the many legendary celebrities to leave hand and footprints outside the famous Grauman's (now Mann's) Chinese Theater.

Al Pacino Prints
Mann's Chinese Theater
6925 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood, CA
SEE MAP


Hollywood Walk of Fame Star
In the early 1960's, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce developed the idea of the "Hollywood Walk of Fame." The sidewalks of the most famous streets in the heart of Hollywood were lined with "stars" recognizing celebrities' life-long contributions to the entertainment industry. Receiving a star is still to this day considered a huge honor. Here's where you can find stars of Marlon Brando and James Caan:

Marlon Brando
Walk of Fame Star
(Motion Pictures)
1765 Vine St.
Hollywood, CA

James Caan
Walk of Fame Star
(Motion Pictures)
6648 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood, CA


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