As the epic saga of a crime family that spans most of a century, theGodfathertrilogy inevitably portrays many of its characters at various stages of their lives. The movie somehow fashions coherent portrayals of some of the most iconic figures in American cinema out of multiple performances by different actors. The convincing way in whichThe Godfather Part IIrenders its prequel narrative, in particular, provides a breathtakingly authentic backdrop to the events of the first movie.
The performance ofRobert De Niro as a 30-year-old Vito Corleone inThe Godfather Part IIis so in keeping with Marlon Brando’s version of the character in the first movie that Don Corleone became the first acting part to win two Oscars. Yet Vito isn’t the only Corleone to have been played by more than one actor intheGodfathertrilogy. Four of his relatives also provided significant roles for multiple actors in the movie saga, as well as five of his gangster associates. Overall,10Godfatherparts have been credited in some form to at least two actors.
10Vito Corleone
Marlon Brando, Oreste Baldini & Robert De Niro
AlthoughMarlon Brando only appeared in oneGodfathermovie, his performance as Vito Corleone remains perhaps the most iconic in the history of the crime genre. Brando’s portrayal was quite something for Robert De Niro to live up to inThe Godfather’s first sequel, but he wasn’t the only one.
Robert De Niro originally auditioned for the role of Sonny Corleone inThe Godfather.
As well as De Niro, 12-year-old Italian actor Oreste Baldini played the young Vito Corleone, who was known by the surname Andolini during most of his childhood, inThe Godfather Part II.Baldini’s scenes include some of the most challenging for any actor in the movie, such as the murder of Andolini’s mother in Sicily and his arrival to New York’s Ellis Island on a boat.
9Carmela Corleone
Morgana King & Francesca De Sapio
Alongside De Niro, Francesca De Sapio played the younger version of Corleone family matriarch Carmela, in what was arguably a more significant role than the older version of Carmela played by Morgana King.De Sapio depicts Carmela raising each of the Corleone children from their earliest years, including a moving scene in which she and a nurse treat a baby Fredo Corleone for a high fever while Vito watches empathetically.
In addition to the two actors who played Carmela Corleone in credited roles,she’s also played by Italia Coppola, the mother ofThe Godfather’s writer-director Francis Ford Coppola. During the open-casket wake scene following Carmela’s death inThe Godfather Part II, it’s Italia Coppola who plays her dead body.
8Sonny Corleone
James Caan & Roman Coppola
While James Caan will always be synonymous with the role of Vito’s Corleone’s eldest son, Santino “Sonny” Corleone, he wasn’t the only actor to play the character. Sonny as a young child wasportrayed inThe Godfather Part IIby Francis Ford Coppola’s younger son, Roman.
Roman Coppola is now a celebrated filmmaker in his own right, having collaborated withWes Anderson on several of his best movies, includingMoonrise KingdomandIsle of Dogs. Nevertheless, his introduction to the cinema industry came in the form of bit-part roles in his father’s movies, beginning with his portrayal of a baby in the 1966 comedyYou’re a Big Boy Now.
7Michael Corleone
Al Pacino & Louis Marino
Al Pacino is one of the fewactors who starred in all three movies of theGodfathertrilogy. In fact, he’s the only actor to have played a leading role in each of the three movies, since the saga is ultimately the story of how his character, Michael Corleone, transforms from family outsider to mob kingpin to tyrannical villain and finally into a victim of the mob. Even so,Pacino isn’t the only actor to play Michael Corleonein theGodfathermovies.
Al Pacino was 31 years old when portraying a 25-year-old Michael Corleone at the start ofThe Godfather, and was 49 years old when playing a 59-year-old Michael inThe Godfather Part III.
In a performance that initially went uncredited, Louis Marino plays an infant Michael Corleone inThe Godfather Part II. Most famously, an image that the older Michael recalls at the end of the movie, having ostracized his entire family, showsVito holding his son as a boy while the two of them wave goodbyeto their Sicilian relatives from the window of a train.
6Salvatore Tessio
Abe Vigoda & John Aprea
Salvatore Tessio is one of Vito Corleone’s closest childhood friends and confidantes, which makes it all the more galling when he betrays the Corleone family at the end of the first movie. We don’t seehow Tessio dies inThe Godfather, but we do see how he got to know Vito in its sequel, as the pair of them become small-time criminals on the streets of New York’s Little Italy during their teenage years.
John Aprea’s portrayal of the young Tessio inThe Godfather Part IIis arguably even more important to the story of the Corleone crime family.
Even though Abe Vigoda’s performance as Tessio inThe Godfatheris more famous, John Aprea’s portrayal of the young Tessio inThe Godfather Part IIis arguably even more important to the story of the Corleone crime family. It’sVigoda who we see playing the role onscreen last, however, in a cameo appearance at the end ofThe Godfather’s sequel.
5Peter Clemenza
Richard Castellano & Bruno Kirby
Along with Salvatore Tessio, Peter Clemenza assumes the role of one of Vito Corleone’s two caporegimes inThe Godfather.Clemenza was written out ofThe Godfather Part II’s contemporary narrative because actor Richard Castellano refused to return for the movie over a contractual disagreement.
Nevertheless, the character does feature in the film, within the prequel narrative about Vito Corleone’s rise through the ranks of New York’s criminal underworld.The young Clemenza is played by Bruno Kirby, as part of a teenage gang formed by Vito and his young friend, Genco Abbandando.
4Anthony Corleone
Anthony Gounaris, James Gounaris & Franc D’Ambrosio
Anthony Corleone is one of just three characters in the Godfather trilogy to have been played by more than two different actors.Michael Corleone’s son only really plays a major role inThe Godfather Part III, in which he abandons his father’s crime business to become an opera singer.
Anthony does appear in the first twoGodfathermovies, however, first as an infant and then as an older child. The character was actually portrayed as a child by two brothers, with Anthony Gounaris playing him inThe Godfatherand his older brother James Gounaris playing him inThe Godfather Part II.
3Don Tommasino
Corrado Gaipa, Mario Cotone & Vittorio Duse
Don Tommasino may only be a minor character inThe Godfatherand its sequels, but he’s distinguished by being the only mobster other than Michael Corleone and Al Neri to appear in all three movies at three different ages.Tommasino is an old friend of the Corleone familywhose relationship goes back to his hand in Vito’s assassination of Don Ciccio in Sicily. He then becomes the local mafia boss of the town of Corleone, and later hosts Michael Corleone while he’s in exile from the United States inThe Godfather.
Across thetimelines of Vito and Michael Corleone in theGodfathertrilogy, we see Don Tommasino played by three different actors. When he welcomes Michael to Corleone inThe Godfather, and informs him of his first wife’s death by a car bomb, the middle-aged Tommasino is played by Corrado Gaipa. The younger version who helps Vito Corleone kill Ciccio inThe Godfather Part IIis played by Mario Cotone. Finally, the older Tommasino who gets killed off himself inThe Godfather Part IIIis portrayed by Vittorio Duse.
2Hyman Roth
Lee Strasberg & John Megna (In A Deleted Scene)
According to the final cut of the movies, legendaryGodfathervillainHyman Roth is played by one actor alone inThe Godfather Part II. Lee Strasberg’s performance as Michael Corleone’s nemesis in the drug trade is as slippery as it is wonderfully subtle.
Still, for those who consider scenes removed from the trilogy’s theatrical releases as part of theGodfathercanon, there was a second actor who played a young Hyman Roth. A short scene in which Peter Clemenza found Roth on the street and brought him to Vito Corleone was cut fromThe Godfather Part II, but itexplains how the Corleone family introduced Roth to organized crimeand gave him his name.
1Genco Abbandando
Franco Corsaro (In A Deleted Scene) & Frank Sivero
Genco Abbandando is one of the most important characters never to appear inThe Godfather. Vito Corleone’s original consigliere,Genco’s only scene in the firstGodfathermovie was deleted, meaning that we only really see the younger version of the character played by Frank Sivero inThe Godfather Part II.
Franco Corsaro’s deleted scene is a powerful one, however, which shows Vito Corleone comforting his old friend on his deathbed, before his last breath passes through his lips. Genco demonstrates the extent of Vito’s power inThe Godfatherby asking him to “pull a few strings” with God for him. It’s understandable why this scene was cut, as it’s superfluous to the plot of the movie, but it’s a brilliant insight into Vito’s oldest friendship, nonetheless.
