Eventually, the pair began dating with the blessing of her family and wed shortly after in a grand celebration. After their love story unraveled on screen, Michael was left devastated when Apollonia was killed by a car bomb that was initially intended for him.
What happened to Michael's first wife in Godfather?
When she started the car to drive towards him, she unknowingly ignited a bomb planted in the car, intended for Michael, the subsequent explosion killed her instantly. The attack was orchestrated by Michael's trusted bodyguard, Fabrizio, who was paid off by the Barzini family from New York.
Michael has become a true Corleone (embracing both Italian culture and mob affiliation), and his marriage to Apollonia signifies Michael's official acceptance of this change and what it means for his future. When Michael marries Apollonia, he is wedding himself not just to her, but to Sicily and his father's values.
The Godfather's Michael Corleone may have loved many things, but his first wife Apollonia wasn't one of them. The pair were wed in Sicily in the mid-stages of the groundbreaking 1972 Francis Ford Coppola film, not long after Michael took refuge there after murdering police captain McCluskey and Virgil Sollozzo.
Why Did Fabrizio Betray Michael Corleone? Did Michael Get Revenge?
Did Michael truly love Kay?
lisbethblom said: Al Pacino in 1990: “Michael loved Kay when he met her and he loved her throughout his life and he loves her to this day. He not only loves her but he also admires her.”
An interesting side note is that there is no indication in the novel or the first and second movies that Michael or anyone ever tells Kay that Michael had been married in Sicily let alone how his first wife died.
They would have been married for almost a year. She would have been pregnant with his child and would have learned how to drive. Sadly once she was killed, Michael was never the same after that.
However, Mario only used the word "love" for Michael twice--that he "loved" Kay and "loved his father". Kay was his dream girl. Al Pacino said that Michael loved Kay from the beginning.
After Michael and Kay are dancing in the communion party, we see Fabrizio ("Fred Vincent"), leaving his pizzeria in Buffalo, New York, and starting his car, at which point a previously planted car bomb explodes. He stumbles out of the car, then dies. This was Michael's vengeance upon Fabrizio for killing Apollonia.
Toward the end of the film, Michael names Vincent as his successor, on condition that he break off his relationship with Mary. After her brother's debut concert, the assassin Mosca tries to kill Michael. One bullet grazes Michael's shoulder, but the other accidentally hits Mary in the chest, fatally wounding her.
He then flees to Sicily, where he falls in love with Simonetta Stefanelli's Apollonia. Tragically, she's later killed in a car bomb planted by Michael's bodyguard Fabrizio (Angelo Infanti), who betrayed him to his enemies. While Michael gets revenge on those who ordered the hit, Fabrizio is never seen again.
Of course Michael had good reasons to lie. The biggest was to protect Kay. What Kay did not know could not hurt her. Because Michael left her out of the Family business, nobody had reason to kidnap her or toture her to extract information.
His daughter, much to Michael's horror, fell in love with her first cousin, Vincent Mancini (Sonny's illegitimate son by his mistress, Lucy Mancini), and shortly afterwards was killed having been caught in the crossfire of an attempt on her father's life while in Sicily attending an opera in which her brother was ...
“He made me promise I wouldn't date anyone publicly during promotion of (Purple Rain).” Though she acquiesced to the stipulation and broke up with Roth, the actress didn't jump from one music icon to another. Apollonia has always insisted that she and Prince were "never in a relationship."
During his stay in Sicily, Michael married a local girl named Apollonia Vitelli (Simonetta Stefanelli) and, after her death, he returned to America where he married Kay Adams (Diane Keaton). He and Kay went on to have two children, Anthony (Anthony Gounaris, James Gounaris, and Franc D'Ambrosio) and Mary.
His place of birth is listed as Hell's Kitchen, New York. And even though his death comes in the third installment (which was released in 1990), the closing events take place in 1997. This means Michael is 77 years old at the time of his death.
He is also mentioned many times throughout the film; the dialogue makes it clear that Michael is tormented with guilt over ordering his brother's death, and that it has alienated him from his ex-wife, Kay (Diane Keaton), and his son, Anthony (Franc D'Ambrosio), both of whom know the truth about Fredo's death.
Fredo's decision is most likely a result of resentment toward Michael, by whom he felt he had been passed over. Michael was Fredo's "kid brother," and the fact that their father chose for Michael to take over the "family business" came as a great insult to Fredo, who was neither as intelligent nor as strong.
When Michael is brought over for a family picture, he insists Kay join in, perhaps subconsciously to associate himself more closely with her than with the Corleone family. Kay is an independent, outspoken American woman—the opposite of the submissive female Corleones, most notably the delicate and powerless Connie.
By The Godfather Part II, Kay has decided that Michael is a cold, distant, inattentive husband and father, but only after an attempt is made on his life in the family home does she resolve to rebel against him. At first, Kay's rebellion is silent and private: she aborts the child she is carrying.
The third and final film in the Godfather saga, The Godfather: Part III, set in 1979, explains that Hagen had died a few years earlier. His son, Andrew, is ordained to the priesthood, and is assigned to the Vatican on Michael's recommendation. While talking with Andrew, Michael remembers Hagen fondly as a great lawyer.
Enraged, Sonny speeds towards Connie's apartment in Hell's Kitchen ahead of his bodyguards. At the Long Beach Causeway toll plaza, Barzini's men trap Sonny and shoot him to death. During a meeting with the other crime family dons to establish peace, Vito realizes that Barzini masterminded Sonny's murder.
