Legendary veteran actor James Caan has died, passing away on Wednesday night in Los Angeles. A cause of death has not been revealed. He was 82.
Bronx-born Caan earned an Oscar nomination for his work as the volatile Sonny, eldest son of Marlon Brando’s Don Corleone, in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather”.
Caan’s six-decade career includes many lauded performances including James Toback’s “The Gambler,” the musical comedy “Funny Lady,” Michael Mann’s early effort “Thief,” and the telemovie “Brian’s Song” about terminally ill Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo.
He became known to younger generations for various genre efforts in the 1980s and 1990s with the original “Rollerball,” the dark sci-fi immigration-themed “Alien Nation,” Rob Reiner’s acclaimed Stephen King adaptation “Misery,” Wes Anderson’s early effort “Bottle Rocket,” he was a Schwarzenegger bad guy in “Eraser,” and was in Warren Beatty’s lavish “Dick Tracy”.
By the 2000s came Jon Favreau’s “Elf,” Christopher McQuarrie’s “The Way of the Gun,” Lars von Trier’s “Dogville” and voice work in Studio Ghibli’s “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” and the “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” films.
Around this time Caan segued to television, most notably starring as the lead for four seasons and nearly 90 episodes of NBC flagship series “Las Vegas”. He also had notable turns in Starz’s “Magic City” and the sitcom “Back in the Game”.
Other film roles included Coppola’s “The Rain People,” Spielberg’s “1941,” Peckinpah’s “The Killer Elite,” Attenborough’s “A Bridge Too Far,” Pakula’s “Comes a Horseman,” Mel Brooks’ “Silent Movie,” Howard Hawks’ “El Dorado,” “Rabbit, Run,” “Freebie and the Bean,” “Harry and Walter Go to New York,” “For the Boys,” “Honeymoon in Vegas,” “Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead,” “City of Ghosts” and many more.
Caan was also famous for the roles he turned down including Hans Solo in “Star Wars,” Captain Willard in “Apocalypse Now,” Clark Kent in “Superman,” Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle in “The French Connection,” R.P. McMurphy in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” and Ted Kramer in “Kramer vs. Kramer”.
The actor was married four times and was father to “Hawaii Five-0” star Scott Caan among several children.
