His film career spanned only six years and five films, but during this all too brief span John Cazale established himself as one of cinema's all-time great supporting actors. A childhood friend of Al Pacino, Cazale was a celebrated stage actor before getting his first film role as Fredo in The Godfather. His forlorn appearance and timid demeanor made him perfect for roles that required sensitivity and balance and he would appear opposite Pacino again in The Godfather Part II and Sydney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon. In The Deer Hunter he played a weak-willed friend to Robert De Niro's alpha male, but few people outside the film industry realized that Cazale was married to the film's talented and stunning lead actress, Meryl Streep. The two met while working on a play, and it was at Streep's insistence that the studio kept him on the picture despite knowing that he had been diagnosed with terminal bone cancer; he died before the film's release. Pacino referred to him as "my acting partner," and it's difficult to imagine some of cinema's most enduring moments without him there.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Great Men in History: John Cazale
His film career spanned only six years and five films, but during this all too brief span John Cazale established himself as one of cinema's all-time great supporting actors. A childhood friend of Al Pacino, Cazale was a celebrated stage actor before getting his first film role as Fredo in The Godfather. His forlorn appearance and timid demeanor made him perfect for roles that required sensitivity and balance and he would appear opposite Pacino again in The Godfather Part II and Sydney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon. In The Deer Hunter he played a weak-willed friend to Robert De Niro's alpha male, but few people outside the film industry realized that Cazale was married to the film's talented and stunning lead actress, Meryl Streep. The two met while working on a play, and it was at Streep's insistence that the studio kept him on the picture despite knowing that he had been diagnosed with terminal bone cancer; he died before the film's release. Pacino referred to him as "my acting partner," and it's difficult to imagine some of cinema's most enduring moments without him there.
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4 comments:
last night goff had the gall to question Cazale's worthiness of great men in history status and I'd like to point out the fact that every movie he appeared in (including his posthumous part in Godfather III) went on to be nominated for best picture. Find me someone else who can claim that!
Yeah fuck you, Goff. I think that's what Josh meant to say.
i third that
I didn't intend this an anti-Goff thread (though it seems to have been taken that way). I actually think Goff made a point that upon superficial consideration of john cazale's career has some merit. His roles are never large and he usually played variations on the same character; however, closer inspection and analysis of his work clearly reveals him to have been a special talent who played an integral part in making all his films more than just another movie.
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