Carmine Caridi, known for roles in The Godfather franchise, has died at the age of 85.
The actor, who played Carmine Rosato in The Godfather: Part II and Albert Volpe in The Godfather: Part III, died on Tuesday, according to his representative Tim Jordan. Caridi had reportedly been in hospital since 25 April after suffering a fall and contracted pneumonia last week.
“From Broadway, to film and television, Carmine spent over six decades entertaining audiences, and nothing made him happier,” his manager said in a statement to TMZ. “His talent, wit, warmth and charm will be missed. Carmine passed peacefully, surrounded by friends and family.”
In 2004, Caridi was expelled from the Academy after sharing screeners. He was found to be making VCR copies and was ordered to pay $300,000, plus attorney’s fees, to two studios. “I sent [them] to people, besides my brother and sister, who couldn’t afford them,” he told the Hollywood Reporter in 2017. “I made a lot of people happy.”
In his manager’s statement after his death, he claimed that this remained Caridi’s “biggest regret” and was “always deeply saddened” by what happened.
Caridi was originally set to play Sonny Corleone in The Godfather but despite being close to production, Robert Evans, who was the head of Paramount at the time, ordered a change and the role went to James Caan, as Caridi was deemed too tall. “I was kind of numb,” he said to the Hollywood Reporter. “All my relatives and friends were crying. I was going with a girl up in Hudson, and I went up there and just cried my eyes out.”
As well as Caridi’s roles in The Godfather franchise, he was known for big-screen turns in The Gambler, Sidney Lumet’s crime drama Prince of the City, 80s comedies The Money Pit and Brewster’s Millions and Barry Levinson’s fact-based Bugsy. His small-screen appearances includes Fame and NYPD Blue.