James Caan
James Langston Edmund Caan (born
March 26,
1940 in
The Bronx,
New York) is an
Academy Award-nominated
American film,
stage and
television actor. Caan's parents were
Jewish refugees from
Nazi Germany. He currently stars as "Big Ed Deline" on the
NBC hit series,
Las Vegas.
A graduate of
New York City's
Neighborhood Playhouse where one of his instructors was teaching legend
Sanford Meisner, Caan began acting in
television in such
series as
The Untouchables,
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,
"Kraft Suspense Theatre",
"Combat!",
Ben Casey,
Dr. Kildare, "The Wide Country", "Alcoa Premiere", "Route 66", and "Naked City". His first substantial
film role was as a menacing
villain in the
1964 thriller Lady In A Cage. In
1967, Caan appeared in
El Dorado with
John Wayne. Caan first won praise for his role as a brain-damaged
football player in
The Rain People (
1969),
directed by
Francis Ford Coppola. In
1971, Caan won even greater acclaim as dying football player
Brian Piccolo in the
television movie Brian's Song. The following year Coppola cast Caan as
mobster Sonny Corleone in
The Godfather, which also helped launch
Al Pacino's career. For his role Caan was nominated for an
Academy Award.
From
1973 to
1982, Caan appeared in many
Hollywood films. He played a wide variety of roles and refused to be typecast as a mobster. His many films include
Cinderella Liberty,
Rollerball,
Harry And Walter Go To New York,
A Bridge Too Far,
Comes A Horseman and
Chapter Two (a play screenplay conversion by
Neil Simon).
In
1980, Caan directed
Hide In Plain Sight a film about a father searching for his children lost in the
Witness Protection Program. Despite critical praise, the film was not a hit.
The following year, Caan appeared in
Thief, directed by
Michael Mann, where he played a professional safe cracker. This film is today regarded as a
film noir classic and Caan has often said it is the role he is proudest of next to
The Godfather. In
The Godfather, Caan played
Sonny Corleone, who was
underboss of the Corleone family.
From
1982 to
1987, Caan did not act in any films. He was suffering from
depression over his sister's death, a growing problem with
cocaine, and what he described as "Hollywood burnout". He made a return to film in 1987 when his old friend Francis Ford Coppola cast him as an Army Sergeant in
Gardens Of Stone, a film that dealt with the effect of the
Vietnam War on the homefront.
In
1988 and
1990, Caan starred in the popular films
Alien Nation,
Dick Tracy and
Misery (co-star
Kathy Bates won a
Best Actress Oscar).In
1992, Caan made the hit
Honeymoon in Vegas. He co-starred with
Sarah Jessica Parker and
Nicolas Cage and
spoofed his "Sonny Corleone" character from
The Godfather.
In
1996 he appeared in the indie hit
Bottle Rocket and pursued
Arnold Schwarzenegger in
Eraser.
In
1999, Caan joined the ranks of
Humphrey Bogart,
Robert Mitchum and
Powers Boothe when he portrayed
Philip Marlowe in the
HBO film
Poodle Springs.
Some of his most recent appearances have been in
The Yards (
2000),
City of Ghosts (
2002),
Dogville (
2003) and
Elf (
2003).
Caan has been
married four times. In
1960 he married Dee Jay Mathis; they divorced in
1966 and had one child. His second marriage with Sheila Ryan (
1976) was short lived, and they divorced the next year. His son
Scott was born in 1976. Between September 1990 and March
1995 Caan was married to Ingrid Hajek; they also had one child. He married Linda Stokes in October
1995, but got recently divorced from her in
April 2005. They have two children.
James Caan was a
Turnberry Island regular. He was friendly with
marijuana smugglers
Joey Ippolito and Ben Kramer. In 1994, Caan offered his home as collateral toward the $2-million bail and appeared as a character witness for his "dear friend", Joey Ippolito, who was on trial for cocaine distribution.
As a result of his excellent portrayal of Sonny Corleone, Caan is often mistaken for being of
Italian ancestry, and has even received recognition from a few Italian-American organizations. However, Caan is of
German Jewish descent.
The popular TV series
Family Guy makes a reference to Caan in the episode "
He's Too Sexy for His Fat".
Caan is also featured in the "
All's Fair in Oven War" episode of
The Simpsons, playing himself in
Bart's treehouse grotto.
He also made an appearance as himself in the TV series "
Newsradio", episode 308 ("Movie Star"). The episode deals with him visiting the radio station to research a role, but being sidetracked by Matthew, who in Caan's words is "the strangest sonnavabitch I ever saw".
