Carmine Caridi

Carmine Caridi (January 23, 1934 – May 28, 2019) was an American film, television and stage actor. He is best known for his roles in the films The Godfather Part II (1974) and The Godfather Part III (1990). In 2004, Caridi became the first person to be expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Life and career Caridi's most notable film roles are Carmine Rosato in The Godfather Part II (1974) and Albert Volpe in The Godfather Part III (1990). He is one of three actors to play two different roles in the Godfather films; the others being Frank Sivero (who played a young Genco Abbandando in Godfather Part II and a bystander to the fight between Sonny Corleone and Carlo Rizzi in The Godfather), and Sofia Coppola (who played Mary Corleone in Godfather Part III and the infant son of Carlo and Connie baptized in the final scenes of The Godfather as well as a child on the ship at the beginning of Godfather Part II). According to studio executive Robert Evans in his 1994 memoir The Kid Stays in the Picture, Caridi was director Francis Ford Coppola's first choice for the role of Sonny Corleone, but Evans insisted on James Caan because Caridi was too tall to play opposite Al Pacino. However, according to author Mark Seal in his 2022 book Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli, Caan had been Coppola's choice from the start, who had major battles with Evans over this and other major casting decisions for The Godfather. In Mark Seal's account, Coppola attended theatre arts school with Caan and directed him, along with actor Robert Duvall, in the film The Rain People.