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Trivia
Birth name: Alfredo James Pacino
Date of birth: 25 April 1940
Place of birth: South Bronx, New York, New York, USA
Nickname: Sonny
Height: 5' 7" (1.70 m)
Spouse: He has never been married, Pacino has three children. The first, Julie Marie, is his daughter with acting coach Jan Tarrant. He also has twins, Anton and Olivia, with ex - girlfriend Beverly D'Angelo.
Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame. [16 October 1997]
Ranked #4 in Empire (UK) magazine's
"The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
Was arrested in January 1961, charged with
carrying a concealed weapon.
Son of Salvatore Pacino (insurance agent)
and Rose Pacino (she died when Al was 22).
He has a daughter, named Julie Marie, with
acting teacher Jan Tarrant.
Dropped out of school at the age of 17.
Turned down Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).
Turned down Born on the Fourth of July
(1989).
Turned down Apocalypse Now (1979).
Turned down the role of Han Solo in Star
Wars (1977).
Turned down Pretty Woman (1990).
Turned down Crimson Tide (1995).
Originally asked for $7 million for The
Godfather: Part III (1990), a figure that so enraged director Francis
Ford Coppola that he threatened to write a new script that opened with
Michael Corleone's funeral. Pacino settled for $5 million.
Father of twins Anton and Olivia, with
Beverly D'Angelo.
His grandparents originate from Corleone,
Sicily.
Was frequently refered to as "that
midget Pacino" by producers of The Godfather (1972) who didn't want
him for the part of Michael Corleone.
Francis Ford Coppola asked Pacino to play
Captain Willard in his film Apocalypse Now (1979). Pacino politely
turned down the offer, saying he'd "do anything" for Francis
but he "woudn't go to war with him!"
Stopped a 2-pack-a-day smoking habit in 1994
to protect his voice. He now only occasionally smokes herbal cigarettes.
Al was so much into character (playing a
plain-clothes NYC cop) while filming Serpico (1973) he actually pulled
over and threatened to arrest a truck driver for exhaust pollution.
Is an avid fan of opera.
Once worked as an usher at Carnegie Hall.
Larry King considers Pacino's appearance on
his show "Larry King Live" (1985) in November 1996 as one of
his personal all-time favorite interviews.
As of 2002, his salary was around $10
million a picture.
One of the few Hollywood stars who has never
married.
Despite the fact that he starred in
"The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui" for Off- Broadway scale pay
(the minimum salary allowed by Actor's Equity), the production had the
highest ticket price in Off-Broadway history at $100 per ticket.
He is one of the elite nine thespians to
have been nominated for both a Supporting and Lead Acting Academy Award
in the same year. The other seven are Fay Bainter, Teresa Wright,
Jessica Lange, Sigourney Weaver, Emma Thompson, Holly Hunter, Julianne
Moore and Jamie
Foxx. Pacino was the first male actor to have ever been nominated
for both a Best Supporting Actor and a Best Actor Oscar in the same
year, the second is actor Jamie
Foxx, who was nominated for Best Actor and Best supporting Actor in
2005. I wanted to add Barry Fitzgerald to the list of actors who were
nominated for Best and Supporting Actor in the same year. He is the only
actor ever nominated for both categories for the same movie, Going My
Way in which he won for Supporting Actor. That was the last time it
happened because the Academy changed the rules after that.
Won two Tony Awards: in 1969 as Best
Supporting or Featured Actor (Dramatic) for "Does a Tiger Wear a
Necktie?" and in 1977 as Best. Actor (Play) for "The Basic
Training of Pavlo Hummel."
Won his first Oscar twenty-one years after
his first nomination.
He and Chris Sarandon improvised their scene
on the phone in the film Dog Day Afternoon (1975).
Studied acting under Charles Laughton.
He is an avid Shakespeare fan.
Was voted the Number 1 greatest movie star
of all time in a Channel 4 (UK) poll.
In a "Playboy magazine interview, he
claimed that he was fired from his job as a movie theater usher while
walking down the staircase and admiring himself in the mirrored wall.
He was voted the 41st Greatest Movie Star of
all time by Entertainment Weekly.
Portrayed crime bosses in The Godfather
Trilogy, Scarface (1983) and Dick Tracy (1990).
In 2004 he became the eighteenth performer
to win the Triple Crown of Acting. Oscar: Best Actor, Scent of a Woman
(1992); Tonys: Best Supporting Actor-Play "Does a Tiger Wear a
Necktie?: (1969) and Best Actor-Play "The Basic Training of Pavlo
Hummel" (1977); and Emmy: Best Actor-Miniseries/Movie, "Angels
in America" (2003) (mini).
Read for Chazz Palminteri's part in The
Usual Suspects (1995). Source: Director Bryan Singer, "Pursuing The
Usual Suspects" documentary from UK DVD.
Pacino was rejected repeatedly by studio
heads while auditioning for the role of Michael in The Godfather (1972)
but Francis Ford Coppola fought for him. This film was shot briskly
because both the director and the leading actor were in constant fear of
being fired. Ironically, the film turned out to be a breakthrough for
both.
He is the stepson of actress and make-up
artist Katherin Kovin-Pacino.
He has four sisters: Josette, a teacher,
twins Roberta and Paula, and a younger sister named Desiree, whom
Pacino's father adopted whilst married to his fourth wife.
Was a longtime member of David Wheeler's
Theatre Company of Boston, for which he performed in "Richard
III" in Boston from Dec 1972 to Jan 1973 and at the Cort Theater in
New York City from June 10 to July 15, 1979. He also appeared in their
productions of Bertolt Brecht's "Aurturo Ui" at the Charles
Theater in Boston in 1975 and later in New York and London, and in David
Rabe's "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel at the Longacre Theater
in New York in 1977, for which Pacino won a Tony Award. Wheeler also
directed Pacino in Heathcote Williams' "The Local Stigmatic"
for Joe Papp's Public Theater in New York City in 1976. Pacino appeared
in a 1989 film of "Stigmatic" directed by Wheeler that was
presented at the Cinémathèque in Los Angeles.
Was the recipient of the 2001 Cecil B.
DeMille Award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for his
"outstanding contribution to the entertainment field".
Won the Best Actor Obie (awarded for the
best Off-Broadway performances) for "The Indian Wants The
Bronx" in 1968. Was also nominated for a Best Actor Obie for
"Why Is A Crooked Letter" in 1966.
His performance in the Broadway play
"Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?" won him a Tony Award for Best
Dramatic Supporting Actor, and a Drama Desk Award and Theatre World
Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1969.
Turned down the lead role of Roy Neary in
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
While Paramount brass dithered over whether
to cast him as Michael Corleone, the role that would make him a star, a
frustrated Pacino signed up for the role of Mario Trantino in _The Gang
That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971)_ . When Paramount finally decided to
offer him the role in The Godfather (1972), they had to buy him out of
his contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ironically, the role went to Robert
De Niro, whom The Godfather: Part II (1974) would make a star.
His favorite actress is Julie Christie.
He and Jamie
Foxx are the only two actors to be nominated for an Academy Award
for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor in the same year. Pacino
in 1993 for Scent of a Woman (1992) and Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) /
Foxx in 2005 for Ray (2004/I) and Collateral (2004). Both men won the
Best Actor award, and they both played blind men in their roles: Pacino
as Frank Slade and Foxx as Ray Charles.
He was voted the 37th Greatest Movie Star of
all time by Premiere Magazine.
Grew up in the South Bronx, New York City
Attended The High School of the Performing
Arts until he dropped out.
Was John Schlesinger's original pick for
Marathon Man (1976) but producer Robert Evans insisted that Schlesinger
cast Dustin
Hoffman instead.
Has a production company called Chal
Productions. The "Ch" is in tribute Charles Laughton while the
"Al" is for himself.
Worked in the mail room of Commentary
magazine.
Shares a birthday with Talia Shire, his
co-star in The Godfather films.
His favorite color is black
Breifly worked as a stand-up comic early in
his career
Early in his acting career, he considered
changing his name to "Sonny Scott" to avoid being typecast by
his Italian name. "Sonny" was his childhood nickname.
Alec Baldwin, who costarred with Pacino in
"Glengarry Glen Ross" and "Looking for Richard",
wrote a 65 page final thesis on Al Pacino and method acting for his
degree at NYU.
Was friends with John Cazale since they were
teenagers. They starred together in Dog Day Afternoon (1975), The
Godfather: Part II (1974) and The Godfather (1972)
He is only one of four actors to be
nominated for an Oscar twice for playing the same role in two separate
films. He was nominated as for The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather:
Part II (1974). The others are Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson in The
Hustler (1961) and The Color of Money (1986), Bing Crosby as Father
O'Malley in Going My Way (1944) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), and
Peter O'Toole as Henry II in Becket (1964) and The Lion in Winter
(1968).
Is one of two actors (along with Peter
O'Toole) to be nominated for Academy Awards for portraying the same
person in two different movies. He portrayed Michale Corleone in The
Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974).
During the making of "The Recruit"
he met and became close friends with Colin Farrell. He went on to call
Farrell the most talented actor of his generation.
Suffers from chronic insomnia.
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