He is portrayed by Anthony Gounaris. The character was given the name Anthony because it was thought that the three-year-old Gounaris would respond best if his own name was used. The Godfather is Gounaris' only role to date.
Oreste Baldini is an Italian actor born on July 8, in Italy. At age 12, he landed the role of young Vito Andolini in the Oscar winning classic The Godfather Part II (1974). Andolini later on becomes Vito Corleone where he was played in adult years by Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando in Oscar winning performances.
Anthony "Tony" Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather and Francis Ford Coppola's film trilogy. He is the son of Michael Corleone and Kay Adams-Corleone. He is portrayed by Franc D'Ambrosio.
Sophia Coppola was actually in all three Godfather movies! Sophia, who was born in 1971, played the role of Michael Francis Rizzi (son of Connie Corleone) in the baptism scene at the end of The Godfather (1972). She also played the little girl on the steamboat in The Godfather: Part II (1974).
Santino Corleone Jr. He is the eldest son of the mafia boss don Vito Corleone and Carmela Corleone. He has two brothers, Fredo and Michael, and a sister, Connie. In the film, Sonny was portrayed by James Caan, who briefly reprised his role for a flashback scene in The Godfather Part II.
The Real Stories Behind The Godfather (THE GODFATHER VS REAL LIFE)
Did Michael regret killing Fredo?
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.
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.
Victor Rizzi was the son of Connie Corleone and Carlo Rizzi. He was at Anthony Corleone's first communion and seen with his brother Michael Rizzi coming in the door at Carmela Corleone's funeral. Victor was arrested in Reno for theft some time shortly before Anthony's first communion.
Mary watched her brother Anthony perform the lead role in Cavalleria rusticana in Palermo, Sicily, after which, she pleaded with her father to allow her to see Vincent. Shortly after, she was accidentally killed after being shot in the chest by the assassin Mosca of Montelepre, who had been trying to kill Michael.
He and his wife Carmela have four children: Sons, Santino ("Sonny"), Frederico ("Fredo") and Michael ("Mike"), and one daughter, Constanzia ("Connie"). Vito informally adopts Sonny's friend, Tom Hagen, who becomes his lawyer and consigliere. Upon Vito's death, Michael succeeds him as Don of the Corleone crime family.
As Fredo prays the Hail Mary (which he claimed brought him luck whilst fishing), Neri shoots him in the back of the head, not knowing that Anthony was watching from his bedroom window.
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.
Michael's pursuit of Kay was partly motivated by the fact that she was free-spirited, she was the humanity in Michael in which he lacked. Michael was desperate to have a white-Americanized life Ironically, Michael himself would be used in the same way, when he married Apollonia Vitelli.
De Niro had a pivotal role in Francis Ford Coppola's crime epic The Godfather Part II (1974), playing the young Vito Corleone. De Niro had previously auditioned for the first installment, The Godfather (1972), but quit the project in favor of doing The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight.
And Vito Corleone's iconic scene where he listens to requests during his daughter's wedding is one that has been replicated in many series and films. As authentic as The Godfather films may have felt to critics and fans, however, they were not based on a true story or a specific crime family.
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.
Rizzi hates how his in-laws treat him, and regularly abuses and cheats on Connie to assert his own power over the Corleone family. When Connie complains to her parents, Vito refuses to intervene, presumably to punish her for her poor choice in a husband.
Connie (who was unaware of her husband's role in Sonny's murder), hysterical after Carlo's death, blames Michael, denouncing him in front of his wife, Kay. In the novel, Connie quickly recovers from Carlo's demise, apparently relieved to be rid of an abusive, philandering husband.
He would do this because he wouldn't want it to look like he was at all involved in Fredo's death. Fredo drowned while fishing and his body was never recovered.
Michael Corleone was a tragic hero and his tragic flaw was his hunger for power. He wanted to make his family business legitimate and that quest became a paradox, because he was committing crimes so he would not have to commit them in the future.
The punch to Michael's face broke his cheek bone which gave him a permanent black eye (and caused his sinuses to continually run - hence the use of a handkerchief all the time) until he got back to America and had surgery to fix it (Freddie says, "that doctor did a good job.")
