• James Caan played Sonny Corleone, the loose-fingered son of Marlon Brando’s Don.
• He often played violent characters.
• Caan also had major roles in Misery, “Elf”, “Thief”, “Godfather Part II”, “Brian’s Song”, and “The Gambler”.

James Caan one of the film’s many unforgettable actors, died on Wednesday. His family announced it on Twitter.

The actor was 82 when he died. He was best known for playing Sonny Corleone, the hotheaded, loose-fingered son of Marlon Brando’s Don.

Asper media: “It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Jimmy on the evening of July 6.” The actor also had major roles in Misery, “Elf”, “Thief”, “Godfather Part II”, “Brian’s Song”, and “The Gambler”.

According to the media, he was auditioned for the role of Michael, the college-educated war-hero son who would become Don, and Paramount supported this casting for a time, but Al Pacino was cast as Michael and James Caan as Sonny “as part of a complex compromise between Paramount and Coppola.”

The actor and Coppola were Hofstra University classmates after he graduated from Michigan State (he played American football for the university team).

He worked until 2013 and voiced ‘The Godfather’ video games, often playing violent characters, as per the media. The 1970s were his best.

In Mark Rydell’s “Cinderella Liberty” (1973), he played a sailor who falls in love with a hooker. In Karel Reisz’s “The Gambler” (1974), he played a dice addict. He also starred in a Sam Peckinpah action movie and others.

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