John Cazale was an actor who appeared in only five motion pictures. Yet every one of them was a classic. And each of his roles, especially his first, was iconic.
He was born in Massachusetts in 1935, the son of an Irish-American mother and Italian-American father. He grew up in Winchester, north of Boston, and later attended Boston University where he studied acting.
His first professional stage appearances were at the Charles Playhouse in downtown Boston in 1959. He starred in Our Town and received high acclaim for his comedic stage presence.
Cazale’s career was slow to take off. He had few stage credits in the 1960s until he appeared in a 1968 Off-Broadway production called The Indian Wants the Bronx, which teamed him up with Al Pacino.
That same year, he appeared in one episode of a short-lived TV crime show, the only television acting of his career.
Cazale spent the next three years doing stage work in New Haven, CT in various dramas.
In 1971, he was cast in his first film role - as Fredo in The Godfather. When the movie was released a year later, the portrayal made him famous for generations to come.
Naturally, he also starred in The Godfather Part II.
To this day, if people are shown an image of John Cazale, they will identify him as Fredo. Yet few can remember the actor’s true name.
Francis Ford Coppola cast Cazale in 1974’s The Conversation with Gene Hackman.
A year later, he starred opposite his friend Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon.
1978: The Deer Hunter starred Robert DeNiro, John Savage, Cazale, Christopher Walken, and Meryl Streep. But Cazale almost didn’t appear in the film because he was battling lung cancer. Director Michael Cimino arranged for all of Cazale’s scenes to be shot first in case he died during filming.
Supposedly, DeNiro wanted Cazale in the movie so badly that he personally paid the insurance costs when no company would indemnify the dying actor.
Cazale died in March 1978 before The Deer Hunter was released. He was 42.
His girlfriend stayed with him until the end.
She was Meryl Streep.
All five of Cazale’s movies were nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture. Three of them - the Godfather films and The Deer Hunter - won.
Though his career was brief, every movie he appeared in and every role was a classic.
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