Vito Corleone
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| Vito Corleone | |
|---|---|
 Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in The Godfather |
|
| First appearance | The Godfather |
| Information | |
| Aliases | The Godfather, The Don |
| Gender | Male |
| Year of birth | April 28, 1891 |
| Year of death | June 25, 1955 |
| Family | Corleone family |
| Relationships | Carmella Corleone |
| Children | Sonny Corleone, Fredo Corleone, Michael Corleone, Connie Corleone, Tom Hagen (adopted) |
| Portrayed by | Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro |
| Created by | Mario Puzo |
Vito Corleone (December 7, 1891 – June 25, 1955), born Vito Andolini, aka 'The Godfather' or The Don, is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather, as well as Francis Ford Coppola's trilogy of films based on it. In the first film, he was portrayed by Marlon Brando. He was portrayed as a younger man in The Godfather Part II by Robert De Niro. Both performances won Academy Awards.
In Puzo's novel, Vito is the head of the Corleone crime family, one of the most powerful Mafia families in New York. He is depicted as an ambitious Italian immigrant to Little Italy who builds a mafia empire, yet retains (and strictly adheres to) his own personal code of honor. His youngest son, Michael Corleone becomes the Don upon his death at the end of the novel. He has two other sons, Santino "Sonny" Corleone and Fredo Corleone, and a daughter, Connie Corleone, all of whom play major roles in the story. He also informally adopted another son, Tom Hagen, who grew up to become the Family's consigliere.
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[edit] Birth time
According to the headstone in The Godfather Vito was born on April 28, 1891 and not December 7, 1891. The only time that December is mentioned is during Michael's final flashback of the second film where Sonny makes a comment about Pearl Harbor being bombed on Pop's birthday. Yet, being in New York, and Tessio saying that he heard thousands of men enlisted this morning means that New York would have not known about the attack until after 1:00pm EST and that the information of thousands of men enlisting in the morning would have been unavailable at the time.
[edit] Biography
In the chronology of the Godfather saga, Vito first appears in 1901, as a young boy in the small Sicilian town of Corleone. As documented in the novel (and in Godfather Part II) his father, Antonio Andolini, was murdered by a Sicilian mob boss called Don Ciccio because he refused to pay tribute, considered an insult by the don. His older brother, Paolo, swore revenge, but was himself murdered soon after; in the film Paolo's murder was timed with the ultimate insult: during the funeral procession for his father. Eventually, Ciccio's henchmen came to the residence of the Andolinis to take Vito away and have him killed. Desperate, Signora Andolini took her son to see the mafia chieftain herself.
When she went to see Don Ciccio, she begged for forgiveness, but Ciccio refused, reasoning that the boy would seek revenge as an adult. Upon Ciccio's refusal, Signora Andolini put a knife to his throat, allowing her son to escape at the expense of her own life. Later that night, he was smuggled away, fleeing Sicily to seek refuge in America on a cargo ship full of immigrants. Unable to speak English, he was renamed on Ellis Island as Vito Corleone when the immigration clerks saw the tag pinned to his clothes labelled "Vito Andolini from Corleone" (in the book, he chose the name himself.)
Corleone was later adopted by the Abbandando family in New York, and he befriended Genco Abbandando, who later became like a brother to him. In the years to come, Corleone married and started a family. Corleone began working at Abbandando's grocery store, but lost the job, as an intimidated Abbandando was forced to employ the nephew of Don Fanucci, the local neighborhood padrone.
Corleone soon learned to survive and prosper through petty crime and performing favors in return for loyalty. In 1919, he committed his first murder, killing Don Fanucci, who had tried to extort money from him. Vito had chosen the day of a major festival to spy on Fanucci from the rooftops as Fanucci went home, and surprised him at the door to his apartment. He shot Fanucci three times, as the din from the festival drowned out the noise from the gunshots.
As a young man, Corleone started an olive oil business, Genco Importers, with his friend Genco Abbandando. Over the years he used it as a legal front for his organized crime syndicate, while amassing a fortune with its illegal operations. During a journey with his family to his native Sicily in 1925, he avenged his murdered parents and brother by killing the aged Don Ciccio with a knife to the belly.
By the early 1930's, Vito Corleone had established the Corleone Family along with old friends Peter Clemenza and Salvatore Tessio, who would become his Caporegimes. Genco Abbandando would become the first consigliere of the family.
While he oversaw a business founded on gambling, bootlegging, and murder, he was known as a kind, generous man who lived by a strict moral code of loyalty to friends and, above all, family. He tried to spread these values throughout the New York crime world; he disagreed with many of the vicious crimes carried out by gangs and so sought to control crime in New York by either consuming or eliminating rival gangs. He also disapproved of hard drugs.
By this time, he was married with four children. While he loved all of them, he was most proud of Michael, a college graduate and decorated World War II veteran, and wished for him a life away from the "family business."
In 1945, Corleone was badly injured in an assassination attempt, provoked when he refused the request of Virgil Sollozzo to invest in a drug operation and use his political contacts for the operation's protection. His near death sparked a chain of events that resulted in Sonny's murder and Michael's eventual ascension to the head of the family.
At the end of the novel and near the end of the film, he died of a heart attack while playing with his grandson, Anthony in his garden. His character's last words were "You run in there — run in there..." (speaking to Anthony in regard to the game they were playing). His last words in the novel were, "Life is so beautiful."
Vito Corleone is said to be a composite based on real mafia dons Joseph Bonanno, Nicanor Fulgencio, Frank Costello, Vito Genovese, and perhaps more than any Carlo Gambino, who lived a very peaceful life.[citation needed] Puzo claimed to have used his own mother as a model for the character.
[edit] Family
- Carmella Corleone — Wife, played by Morgana King
- Santino 'Sonny' Corleone — Eldest son; played by James Caan
- Tom Hagen — informally adopted son, played by Robert Duvall
- Federico "Fredo" Corleone — Middle son; played by John Cazale
- Michael Corleone — Youngest son; played by Al Pacino
- Costanza 'Connie' Corleone — Daughter; played by Talia Shire
- Vincent 'Vinnie' Mancini-Corleone — Illegitimate grandson; played by Andy Garcia.
- Anthony Corleone — Grandson; played by Franc D'Ambrosio
- Mary Corleone — Granddaughter; played by Sofia Coppola
