James Caan, the veteran screen actor known for his work in such films as “The Godfather,” “Misery” and “Elf,” has died, his family said in a statement on his verified Twitter account. He was 82. They did not disclose a cause of death.
Caan first found fame playing Chicago Bears halfback Brian Piccolo in “Brian’s Song,” a widely seen 1971 TV movie. The tearjerking film chronicled Piccolo’s real-life battle with terminal cancer and drew praise for its treatment of the interracial friendship between Piccolo and a Black teammate, Gale Sayers.
His next film, 1972’s “The Godfather,” made Caan a star. Although not Italian, Caan was cast as hotheaded Sonny Corleone, oldest of mobster Vito Corleone’s three sons, who rival gangsters memorably gun down at a tollbooth.
Who is Actress Dee Jay Mathis?
Dee Jay Mathis is an American actress and also the ex-wife of James Caan. Dee Jay Mathis’s ex-husband, Caan is an American actor. After early roles in Howard Hawk’s El Dorado, Robert Altman’s Countdown, and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rain People, he came to prominence in the 1970s with significant roles in films such as Brian’s Song, Cinderella Liberty, The Gambler, Rollerball, A Bridge Too Far and Alan J. Pakula’s Comes a Horseman.