JAMES CAAN

'James Langston Edmund Caan' (born March 26, 1940) is an American Academy Award, Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated American film, stage and television actor. He is known for his Academy Award nominated role of Sonny Corleone in 1972's ''The Godfather'' and for his role as Ed Deline on ''Las Vegas''.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal life

Caan in pop culture

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Caan was born to Sophie and Arthur Caan, Jewish immigrants from Germany, in The Bronx, New York City. His father was a meat dealer.^[1] Caan grew up in Sunnyside, Queens.^[2] He is a graduate of New York City's Neighborhood Playhouse where one of his instructors was teaching legend Sanford Meisner. Caan played college football at Michigan State University.

Career

Caan began acting in television in such series as ''The Untouchables'', ''The Alfred Hitchcock Hour'', ''"Kraft Suspense Theatre"'', ''"Combat!"'', ''Ben Casey'', ''Dr. Kildare'', "The Wide Country", "Alcoa Premiere", "Route 66", and "Naked City". His first substantial film role was as a villain in the 1964 thriller ''Lady In A Cage''. In 1967, Caan appeared in ''El Dorado'' with John Wayne. He first won praise for his role as a brain-damaged football player in ''The Rain People'' (1969), directed by Francis Ford Coppola. In 1971, Caan won more acclaim as dying football player Brian Piccolo in the television movie ''Brian's Song'', which was later released in theaters. The following year, Coppola cast Caan as mobster Sonny Corleone in ''The Godfather'', which also helped launch Al Pacino's career. Caan was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the film.
From 1973-82, Caan appeared in many Hollywood films. He played a wide variety of roles. His films include ''Cinderella Liberty'', ''Rollerball'', ''Harry And Walter Go To New York'', ''A Bridge Too Far'', ''Comes A Horseman'' and ''Chapter Two'' (a play screenplay conversion by Neil Simon). In 1980, Caan directed ''Hide In Plain Sight'' a film about a father searching for his children lost in the Witness Protection Program. Despite critical praise, the film was not a hit with the public. The following year, Caan appeared in ''Thief'', directed by Michael Mann, where he played a professional safe cracker. This film is today regarded as a neo-noir classic and Caan has often said it is the role of which he is proudest next to ''The Godfather''.
From 1982-87, Caan suffered from depression over his sister's death, a growing problem with cocaine, and what he described as "Hollywood burnout," did not act in any films. He returned to film in 1987 when Coppola cast him as an army platoon sergeant for the "Old Guard" in ''Gardens of Stone'', a film that dealt with the effect of the Vietnam War on the homefront. In 1988 and 1990, Caan starred in the films ''Alien Nation'', ''Dick Tracy'' and ''Misery'' (co-star Kathy Bates won a Best Actress Oscar).
In 1992, Caan made the hit ''Honeymoon in Vegas''. He co-starred with Sarah Jessica Parker and Nicolas Cage and spoofed his "Sonny Corleone" character from ''The Godfather''.
In 1996, he appeared in the indie hit ''Bottle Rocket'' and pursued Arnold Schwarzenegger in ''Eraser''. In 1999, Caan followed Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, Powers Boothe and Danny Glover when he portrayed Philip Marlowe in the HBO film ''Poodle Springs''. Some of his most recent appearances have been in ''The Yards'' (2000), ''City of Ghosts'' (2002), ''Dogville'' (2003), and ''Elf'' (2003).
In 2003, he auditioned and won the role of the head security officer 'Big Ed' Deline in ''Las Vegas''. On February 27, 2007, Caan announced that he would not return to ''Las Vegas'' for the show's fifth season in order to return to film work. That same year, he was replaced by Tom Selleck.
Rumor has it that Caan will be playing director Raoul Walsh in an upcoming film about his life.

Personal life

Caan has been married four times. In 1960, he married Dee Jay Mathis; they had one child and divorced in 1966. His second marriage to the 1973 Playmate of the Year, and former girlfriend and live-in of music legend Elvis Presley, Sheila Ryan (1976) was short lived: they divorced the next year. His son Scott was born in 1976. Between September 1990 and March 1995, Caan was married to Ingrid Hajek; they also had one child. He married Linda Stokes in October 1996, and they divorced in April 2005. They have two children.
Caan is a practicing martial artist. He has trained with karate master Tak Kubota for nearly thirty years, earning various ranks.^[3] He trained the Culver City Police department in martial arts use.²

Caan in pop culture

The popular TV series ''Family Guy'' makes a reference to Caan in the episode "He's Too Sexy for His Fat." Caan is also featured in the "All's Fair in Oven War" episode of ''The Simpsons,'' playing himself in Bart's treehouse grotto. He is gunned down in a manner similar to Sonny Corleone in the episode's coda (by Cletus Spuckler variants, in revenge for Caan "stealing" Brandine's heart). He also made an appearance as himself in the TV series "Newsradio," episode 308 ("Movie Star"). The episode deals with his visiting the radio station to research a role, but being sidetracked by Matthew, who in Caan's words is "the strangest sonuvabitch I ever saw/"
In the ''Seinfeld'' episode "The Letter," Jerry receives a letter from the girl he is seeing, Nina, telling him that he doesn't "opt for happiness", a direct line she copied out of ''Chapter Two''. Later, when Jerry discovers the "stunning similarity," he exclaims "I opt for happiness! James Caan doesn't opt for happiness!"
"From Chunk to Hunk," an episode of the animated TV series ''The Critic'', portrays William Shatner hosting an episode of "Celebrity 911" that is entirely dedicated to police calls involving James Caan. He then twitches and shouts, "CAAAAAAN!," a reference to his famous line from ''.
As a result of his portrayal of Sonny Corleone, Caan is often mistaken for being of Italian ancestry, and has even received recognition from a few Italian-American organizations. However, Caan is of German Jewish descent.² In the episode of ''The Sopranos'' entitled "Christopher", this is made fun of when Caan is compared to Iron Eyes Cody.
The band Grace Gail has a song entitled "James Caan Make Yourself at Home".
Caan is mentioned in the first verse of Adam Sandler's "The Hanukkah Song": "David Lee Roth lights the menorah; so do James Caan, Kirk Douglas, and the the late Dinah Shore-ah."

References

1. http://www.filmreference.com/film/74/James-Caan.html
2. The Ultimate Caan
3. "The History of Karate in America" The American Black Belt Society, Retrieved November 1, 2006

External links

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