Next Tuesday 12th March, marks thirty five years since the passing of one of Hollywood's most intriguing character actors. John Cazale appeared in only five feature films but each of them was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, a remarkable distinction.
He is best remembered for his role as Fredo Corleone, Michael's sadly misguided brother in the first two instalments of The Godfather series. However his performances in The Conversation, Dog Day Afternoon and The Deerhunter, are of a similarly high calibre and showcase his unique combination of intensity, pathos and humour.
Born in Revere, Massachusetts in 1935, Cazale studied drama at Boston University. He worked as a photographer, taxi driver and messenger before his career took off. It was while working as a messenger at Standard Oil, that he first met his long time collaborator, Al Pacino. The two Italian-American actors became close friends as they struggled to make themselves known on the stages of New York. Cazale worked extensively in off-Broadway productions, particularly in the works of Israel Horovitz.
It was while working on a production of Horovitz’s Line, alongside Richard Dreyfuss, that Cazale was discovered by Francis Ford Coppola and cast in The Godfather.
The success of Coppolas’s portrait of the Corleone family needs no embellishment with Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall and Pacino particularly resonant. Cazale’s understated performance as Fredo, the most sensitive sibling, didn’t receive the same acclaim as his co-stars but still impressed Coppola to such an extent that he wrote a part for him in his next picture, The Conversation.
This oft-overlooked gem stars Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert that becomes obsessed with a sinister assignment. Cazale plays his assistant Stan, who becomes disillusioned with Hackman’s compulsive secrecy.
Cazale, Coppola and Pacino reunited for The Godfather: Part II in 1974, in which Fredo is given a much larger role in proceedings. Cazale superbly portrays the brother who, fuelled by inadequacy, ultimately betrays his family and himself. Pacino and Cazale teamed up for the final time on screen in Sidney Lumet’s extraordinary Dog Day Afternoon, released in 1975.
While Pacino gives the role of Sonny, a completely overwhelmed bank robber, a manic energy, Cazale gives a steely performance as his sidekick Sal.
For once Cazale was recognised for his film work and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. It was around this time that two life changing events occurred in Cazale life.
The first was joyous; he fell in love with a young actress named Meryl Streep while performing in a production of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. Sadly, this new found personal happiness was curtailed when he was diagnosed with lung cancer shortly before The Deerhunter began shooting.
With the unflinching support of Streep and Robert De Niro, Cazale fought his illness long enough to finish his scenes before succumbing on March 12th 1978 (nine months before its premiere). John Cazale left us with five extraordinary characters in a career of tragic brevity and uniform excellence.
*Quote taken from the documentary I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale (2009)
