Highlights
- Don Vito Corleone's character was once impressed through real-life mob bosses like Carlo Gambino and Joe Profaci, with similarities in backstory and careers.
- Marlon Brando studied Frank Costello to prepare for his position as the principled mafioso in The Godfather, portraying his distaste for violence.
- Other characters in The Godfather, together with Johnny Fontane and Moe Greene, were inspired by means of real-life other folks like Frank Sinatra and Bugsy Siegel.
The Godfather is thought of as one of the easiest films ever made. When it was released in 1972, the Francis Ford Coppola movie used to be straight away praised and became the very best grossing movie of the 12 months.
The Godfather's patriarch Don Vito Corleone, played by Marlon Brando and later by Robert DeNiro and Oreste Baldini, was a fictional mafioso devised by way of Italian American creator Mario Puzo.
Although Corleone is fictional, his personality, appearance and movements are loosely in response to a spread of actual life mob bosses. The patriarch's backstory strains up with Carlo Gambino, who additionally emigrated from Sicily to upward push to the top of the American mafia. Joe Profaci also impressed Don's career in the olive oil industry.
The greatest inspiration for the on-screen version of Don Vito Coreleone was Frank Costello. Marlon Brandon even studied Costello when making ready for his Oscar-winning efficiency.
In the following, we glance extra at how Frank Costello impressed Marlon Brando's character from The Godfather and how The Godfather, in some way, predicted Frank Costello's death. We additionally discuss which different characters from The Godfather were impressed through real-life people.
Real-Life Mob Boss Frank Costello Inspired Marlon Brando's Godfather Character, Don Corleone
Frank Costello is the mafia boss regarded as the biggest inspiration for Don Vito Coreleone. Marlon Brando studied recordings of Costello's testimony at the Kefauver Senate hearings on organized crime.
Frank Costello stood out from his mafia opposite numbers for his distaste for violence. He used to be referred to as “The Prime Minister” for his diplomatic abilities, together with graft and blackmail. His legal professional, George Wolfe as soon as said that his consumer used to be unlike other mob bosses as a result of "...he was civilized, he spurned the bloody violence in which previous bosses had reveled."
These principles had been reflected by means of Brando in his performance as the principled mafioso.
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Frank Costello, like Vito Corleone, was born in Italy at the end of the 19th century, however didn't spend much time there. Both had Italian names (Vito Andolini and Francesco Castiglia) and both have been born into communities rife with criminal gangs. Unlike Corleone, Frank Costello made the move along his folks.
Frank Costello, just like Corleone, lived in a predominantly Italian group however didn't straight away immerse himself in a existence of crime. He initially labored in his oldsters' grocery store however soon discovered the life of selling greens wasn't for him.
Pulitzer Prize–successful scribe and noted Mafia historian Anthony M. DeStefano revealed why Costello was once much less widely known than different mafia bosses and why Brando used him as inspiration: "He was not a tough guy. He was more of a politician, a facilitat, a diplomat of sorts."
"Costello was not a killer. He was not a tough guy. He was more of a politician, a facilitat, a diplomat of sorts. Gotti and Capone got more publicity because Capone was [portrayed] in The Untouchables. He was a really major gangster in the mid part of the 20th century. Gotti wanted to be a gangster and he sort of filled a need in the 1980s and early 90s to have some sort of mob [figure] like they had in the old days for the press and public."
Frank Costello Died Of A Heart Attack, Just Like Marlon Brando's Godfather Character
In 1973, Frank Costello died of a middle assault at his home, aged 82. He is one of the few mob bosses to reside a long life and die peacefully at his home in old age.
In 1972's The Godfather, a year before Frank Costello's actual life death, Vito died of a middle assault in his lawn while along with his grandson. Unlike Costello, Don Vito used to be moderately younger, passing away at 68. In the novel, his remaining words are, "Life is so beautiful." His middle assault in the movie predicted the actual life death of Frank Costello.
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Although there is some controversy behind Costello's death. In his ultimate months, he was speaking to crime author Peter Maas for a proposed biography. The e-book was never completed as Costello kicked the bucket simply weeks after the recorded interviews started. There are rumors that Costello watched an early screening of The Godfather, which induced him to move public with his memoirs.
Other Characters From The Godfather Based On Real People
Don Vito Corleone wasn't the simplest character from The Godfather who used to be in line with an actual person. In fact, some of Puzo's inspirations was indignant over his use of their tales.
Vito Corleone's godson, Johnny Fontane, was once inspired by Frank Sinatra, which the singer hated .In Coppola's movie, Fontane begs for Corleone's assist him land a task in a conflict movie to lend a hand resurrect his suffering career. It's rumored that that is how Sinatra landed a role in 1953's From Here to Eternity.
Frank Sinatra was once deeply angry about being the inspiration for the determined crooner with mob ties. Despite publicly denying his connection to the mob, he has social connections to organized crime. A scene in The Offer, a drama in keeping with the making of The Godfather, recreates the infamous war of words between Sinatra and creator Mario Puzo. The display additionally presentations how Sinatra makes use of his affect to pressure actors to show down the function of Johnny Fontaine (Al Martino ultimately played Fontaine on the giant display).
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Another The Godfather character inspired by an actual life person is Moe Greene. Greene was once a Jewish mobster inspired through Bugsy Siegel. He is shot in the eye, something that mirrors Siegel's own death when he used to be shot more than one occasions in the head.
Lenny Montana, who played Luca Brasi, had labored for the real-life Colombo family earlier than he was solid in The Godfather. Puzo had based totally Brasi's tale of the real-life tale of Willie Moretti, the muscle in the back of Frank Costello. Moretti is alleged to have negotiated the dissolution of Frank Sinatra's contrast, one thing this is reflected in The Godfather.
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