The son of German-Jewish immigrants, James Edmund Caan was an active youngster from the Bronx who grew up to play tough movie characters such as sailors, football players, and gangsters. He was one of the most well-known actors of his time.
According to a tweet from his official Twitter account, he passed away on July 6. No other information was available.
Caan was best known for his explosive performances as Sonny Corleone in The Godfather and a dying football player in the made-for-TV movie Brian’s Song (for which he received nominations for an Oscar and an Emmy, respectively). Caan also contributed an eminently watchable machismo to numerous other movies and television programmes. He played a famous author kept hostage by Kathy Bates in the film Misery. He played a heartbroken Vietnam veteran who was grudgingly manning the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Gardens of Stone. He portrayed an anti-type role in Elf as the father of the main character and a failed children’s book publisher.
Caan entered Hollywood like a comet after beginning in theatre and television, making appearances in movies by some of the most well-known auteurs of the time, such as Howard Hawks (El Dorado), Robert Altman (Countdown), and Francis Ford Coppola (The Rain People). After his early success burst, he experienced a challenging time on both a personal and professional level. Caan repeatedly got married and divorced, got into fights on the set, and openly battled depression and substance misuse.
Kramer vs. Kramer, Apocalypse Now, MAS*H, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest were just a few of the movies he turned down in favour of ideas that ended up being box office duds.
Desperation changed the course of events. The former athlete was bound to a bed for the most of the 1990 film. Caan also served as the film’s emotional centre. He appeared in comedies like Funny Lady and For The Boys as well as gloomy, sombre movies like Danish director Lars von Trier’s Dogville, demonstrating his wide range as an actor.
Caan continued to work steadily right up until the end of his life, appearing in animated episodes of Family Guy and The Simpsons as colonels, grandparents, and, eventually, as himself.
