Santino 'Sonny' Corleone
Sonny Corleone played by James Caan
Born	December 31, 1916(1916-12-31) New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	August 7, 1948 (aged 31) Long Island, New York, U.S.

Santino 'Sonny' Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather and its 1972 film adaptation. Image File history File links Santino_corleone_2. ... James Langston Edmund Caan (born March 26, 1940) is an American Academy Award, Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated American film, stage and television actor. ... is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... This article is about the state. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... is the 219th day of the year (220th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the island in New York State. ... This article is about the state. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... Alice, a fictional character based on a real character from the work of Lewis Carroll. ... Mario Gianluigi Puzo (October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999) was an American author known for his novels about the Mafia, especially The Godfather (1969). ... The Godfather is a novel written by American author Mario Puzo originally published in 1969 by G. P. Putnams Sons. ... This article is about the 1972 film. ...

In the novel and film, he is the oldest son of New York Mafia Don Vito Corleone and Carmella Corleone. He has two brothers, Michael and Fredo, an adoptive brother, Tom Hagen, and a sister, Connie. Sonny was portrayed by James Caan in the film. This article is about the state. ... This article is about the criminal society. ... Vito Corleone (December 7, 1891 – June 25, 1955), born Vito Andolini, aka The Godfather or The Don, is a character in Mario Puzos novel The Godfather, as well as Francis Ford Coppolas trilogy of films based on it. ... Carmella Mama Corleone (December 8, 1897 – January 27, 1959) is a fictional character in Mario Puzos The Godfather. ... Michael Corleone (December 25, 1920 – December 29, 1997) is a fictional character in Mario Puzos novels, The Godfather and The Sicilian. ... Frederico Fredo Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzos novel The Godfather. ... Thomas Tom Feargal Hagen is a fictional character in the Godfather books and films. ... Constanzia Connie Corleone Rizzi (1927–2001) is a fictional character from The Godfather by Mario Puzo. ... James Langston Edmund Caan (born March 26, 1940) is an American Academy Award, Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated American film, stage and television actor. ...

Role in the Godfather saga

Sonny is the most impulsive and violent of Vito's children and, before Michael's rise to power, the most involved in the Corleone crime family. Sonny is not without a softer side, however; at the age of 11, he meets a homeless boy, Tom Hagen, who thereafter lives with the family. He also acts as a protector to his younger siblings, especially Connie. The Corleone family is a fictional Mafia family of Mario Puzos The Godfather. ... A homeless man pushes a cart down the street. ... Thomas Tom Feargal Hagen is a fictional character in the Godfather books and films. ...

The normal course of events in Sonny’s life is upturned when Virgil 'The Turk' Sollozzo comes to Don Vito with an offer of entering the drug business, backed by the Tattaglia family. Vito rejects the deal, although Sonny shows slight interest. Sollozzo makes an assassination attempt on Vito, in hopes that Sonny will take over the Family and go into the drug business. Virgil The Turk Sollozzo (March 2, 1899 - January 12, 1946) is a fictional character in Mario Puzos The Godfather. ... Assassin and Assassins redirect here. ...

The assassination attempt fails but leaves Vito near death, although he eventually recovers. Sonny, now acting as the Corleone Family's Don, prepares for an all-out war against the Tattaglias and Sollozzo. Michael, who had previously distanced himself from the family's criminal enterprise, volunteers to kill Sollozzo and his ally, police Captain McCluskey. Sonny is initially against the idea, but Michael talks him into it. Michael kills Sollozzo and McClusky, and is sent immediately to Sicily to wait out the inevitable crackdown on the Five Families. Bruno Tattaglia, Don Philip Tattaglia's son, is also killed in his nightclub. Captain Mark McCluskey was a corrupt police officer. ... Sicily ( in Italian and Sicilian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,708 km² (9,926 sq. ... Bruno Tattaglia (1913-1947) is a fictional character appearing in Mario Puzos novel The Godfather and the first installment of the The Godfather trilogy of films. ... Philip Gustapay Tattaglia(1891-1955) is a fictional character appearing in Mario Puzos novel The Godfather, the first installment of The Godfather film trilogy and The Godfather video game. ...

In retaliation, Tattaglia's partner, Don Emilio Barzini, enlists the help of Sonny's brother-in-law, Carlo Rizzi, in setting a trap for the impulsive new Don. Sonny had already given Carlo a savage beating upon learning that Carlo was abusing Connie, unintentionally revealing a weakness. To draw Sonny out into the open, a vengeful Rizzi inflicts a particularly vicious beating on Connie, who telephones Sonny, begging for help. In a fit of rage, Sonny leaves the family compound unaccompanied and heads for Connie's apartment to confront Rizzi. As Sonny approaches a toll plaza, a number of Barzini's men emerge from the toll booths and car ahead of Sonny's with Thompson submachine guns and viciously gun him down after spraying his car with lead. Badly wounded, Sonny manages to exit his car through the passenger door and is shot dozens of times before collapsing. One of his assassins then fires another line of bullets along Sonny's body and kicks him in the face. Don Emilio Barzini (1893-1950) is a fictional character in Mario Puzos novel The Godfather and the film based on it. ... Carlo Rizzi is a fictional a character in Mario Puzos The Godfather. ... “Domestic disturbance” redirects here. ... For the Clash song, see Tommy Gun (song). ...

Role in Godfather sequels

Sonny appears in the original Godfather and in its sequel, The Godfather Part II. In the latter film, he briefly appears in a flashback scene portraying the family dinner in which Michael announces he is volunteering to fight in World War II. He is angered by Michael's decision, and he berates his brother for risking his life "for a bunch of strangers." The flashback reveals that Sonny introduced Carlo to Connie and the rest of the family, hence their later marriage. The Godfather Part II is a 1974 motion picture directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script he co-wrote with Mario Puzo. ... In literature and film, a flashback (also called analepsis) takes the narrative back in time from the point the story has reached, to recount events that happened before and give the back-story. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

In the novel as well as the films, Sonny is portrayed as a womanizer, despite being married. His wife refuses sleep with him because his large penis makes sex painful for her. His most prominent dalliance in the saga is with Lucy Mancini, a friend of Connie's. The Godfather Part III reveals that he fathered a child with Lucy (this was invented for the film, as Lucy in the novel does not have any children by him.) That child, Vincent 'Vinnie' Mancini-Corleone, grows up to succeed Michael as Godfather. The penis (plural penises, penes) is an external male sexual organ. ... Lucy Mancini (1921-1987) is a fictional character in Mario Puzos The Godfather. ... The Godfather Part III (1990) is the third and final film in the Godfather trilogy written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, and directed by Coppola. ... Vinnie Mancini-Corleone becomes succeeding Don of the fictional Corleone Mafia family in the movie The Godfather Part III. Born the illegitimate son of Sonny Corleone in 1948, Vincent was never treated as a real member of the Corleone family and so was never given access to his the family...

Family

• Vito Corleone — Father; played by Marlon Brando; in Part II played by

Robert De Niro as young adult Vito Corleone Vito Corleone (December 7, 1891 – June 25, 1955), born Vito Andolini, aka The Godfather or The Don, is a character in Mario Puzos novel The Godfather, as well as Francis Ford Coppolas trilogy of films based on it. ... Marlon Brando, Jr. ... Robert De Niro in 1988 Robert De Niro (born August 17, 1943) is a two-time Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning American film actor, director, and producer. ...

• Carmella Corleone — Mother; played by Morgana King
• Costanza 'Connie' Corleone-Rizzi — Sister; played by Talia Shire
• Fredo Corleone — Younger brother; played by John Cazale
• Michael Corleone — Youngest brother; played by Al Pacino
• Tom Hagen — Unofficially adopted brother; played by Robert Duvall
• Mary Corleone — Niece; played by Sofia Coppola
• Anthony Vito Corleone — Nephew; played by Anthony Gounaris in Godfather I, played by James Gounaris in Godfather II, played by Franc D'Ambrosio
• Sandra Corleone — Wife; played by Julie Gregg
• Vincent 'Vinnie' Mancini-Corleone — Son; played by Andy Garcia.

Carmella Mama Corleone (December 8, 1897 – January 27, 1959) is a fictional character in Mario Puzos The Godfather. ... Morgana King (born Maria Grazia Morgana Messina DeBernardinis on July 4, 1930 in Pleasantville, New York) is an American actress of Portugese and Italian ancestry, most famous for playing the role of Mama Corleone in The Godfather (1972). ... Constanzia Connie Corleone Rizzi (1927–2001) is a fictional character from The Godfather by Mario Puzo. ... Talia Shire (born April 25, 1946), is an Academy Award-nominated American actress. ... Frederico Fredo Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzos novel The Godfather. ... John Frank Charles Cazale (August 12, 1935 – March 12, 1978) was a distinguished Golden Globe Award nominated American film and stage actor whose brief career spanned several acclaimed films of the 1970s. ... Michael Corleone (December 25, 1920 – December 29, 1997) is a fictional character in Mario Puzos novels, The Godfather and The Sicilian. ... Alfredo James Pacino (born April 25, 1940) is an Academy, Golden Globe, Tony, BAFTA, Emmy, and SAG award winning American actor who is best known for playing the roles of Tony Montana in the 1983 film Scarface and Michael Corleone in The Godfather Trilogy . ... Thomas Tom Feargal Hagen is a fictional character in the Godfather books and films. ... Robert Selden Duvall (born January 5, 1931) is an Academy Award-, two-time Emmy Award-, and four-time Golden Globe Award-winning American film actor and director. ... Information Gender Female Date of birth 1954 Date of death 1980 Family Corleone family Relatives Michael Corleone (father) Kay Adams (mother) Portrayed by Sofia Coppola Created by Mario Puzo Mary Corleone (1954–1980) is a fictional character in the Godfather saga, portrayed by Sofia Coppola. ... Sofia Carmina Coppola (born May 14, 1971) is an American film director, actress, producer and Academy Award-winning screenwriter. ... Anthony Vito Corleone is the fictional son of Don Michael Corleone and Kay Adams and grandson of Vito Corleone in the Godfather trilogy of films. ... Sandra Corleone is a fictional character appearing in Mario Puzos novel The Godfather, the Godfather film trilogy, and the Godfather video game. ... Julie Gregg (born Niagara Falls, January 24, 1944) is an American actress. ... Vinnie Mancini-Corleone becomes succeeding Don of the fictional Corleone Mafia family in the movie The Godfather Part III. Born the illegitimate son of Sonny Corleone in 1948, Vincent was never treated as a real member of the Corleone family and so was never given access to his the family... Andy Garcia at the Incirlik hospital, Incirlik Air Base, December 7, 2001 Andy García (born April 12, 1956) is a Cuban-American actor. ...

Trivia

• Although in the movie, Sonny is born in 1916, the novel places Sonny's birth in 1910

• Coppola staged Sonny's death scene in The Godfather to be reminiscent of the final death scene of Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) and Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) in Bonnie and Clyde.

• Coppola had the car radio play the broadcast of the baseball playoff game won by Bobby Thomson hitting the Shot Heard Round the World. This would place Sonny's death on October 3, 1951, contradicting the novel by three years.

• Among the actors auditioning for the role of Michael during casting for The Godfather, one unknown off-Broadway actor named Robert De Niro also read for Sonny's part, as well as Michael's, without success. Raw footage of him in the scene where Paulie Gatto offers to kill Rizzi can be seen on the DVD. Eventually, Coppola cast Caan in the role and gave De Niro the part of Paulie, but "traded" him to the film The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight for Al Pacino, who soon got the part of Michael. Anthony Perkins not only auditioned for Sonny, but also for Tom Hagen.

• Sonny's death scene has been parodied several times on The Simpsons, including in the final scene of "All's Fair in Oven War," an episode in which Caan lent his voice. In that episode, the tollbooth death scene is re-enacted as part of Cletus Spuckler's revenge on Caan for "stealing" his wife Brandine's heart. The scene where Sonny beats Carlo Rizzi has also been parodied, in the episode "Strong Arms of the Ma".

• The tollbooth scene was parodied along with the execution montage in the final scene of the "Dabba Don" episode of the series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. In this scene the Ant Hill Mob from Wacky Races gun down Judge Mightor from their car.

• Sonny's car is riddled with bullets and the windshield is blown out. Later, as Sonny lies next to it, the car is seen with its windshield in perfect condition; completely unshattered.

• Sonny's car is the source of another continuity error: It is his bullet-riddled car that Michael's girlfriend Kay Adams (Diane Keaton) asks Tom about when she visits the compound. However, at that point in the film Sonny hadn't been killed yet. (This is incorrect. The destroyed car was from a bombing mentioned in the book but omitted from the movie).

• Caan ad-libbed the scene at the beginning of The Godfather, where Sonny accosts a photographer, destroys his camera, then pays for it. The camera he wrecked was a vintage model from the 1930s.

Bonnie and Clyde clowning. ... Henry Warren Beatty (born March 30, 1937), better known as Warren Beatty, is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning American actor, producer, screenwriter, and director. ... Bonnie and Clyde clowning. ... Faye Dunaway (born January 14, 1941, in Bascom, Florida) is an Academy Award-winning American actress. ... Bonnie and Clyde (1967) is a film about Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, bank robbers who roamed the central United States during the Great Depression. ... Robert Brown Bobby Thomson (born October 25, 1923 in Glasgow, Scotland), nicknamed The Staten Island Scot, is a Scottish-American former Major League Baseball outfielder and right-handed batter who played for the New York Giants (1946-53, 1957), Milwaukee Braves (1954-57), Chicago Cubs (1958-59), Boston Red Sox... The Shot Heard Round the World In baseball, the Shot Heard Round the World is the term given to the walk-off home run hit by New York Giants outfielder Bobby Thomson off Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca at the Polo Grounds to win the National League pennant at 3... is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Off-Broadway plays or musicals are performed in New York City in smaller theatres than Broadway, but larger than Off-Off-Broadway, productions. ... Robert De Niro in 1988 Robert De Niro (born August 17, 1943) is a two-time Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning American film actor, director, and producer. ... DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is a popular optical disc storage media format. ... The Gang That Couldnt Shoot Straight is a film released in 1971, directed by James Goldstone. ... Alfredo James Pacino (born April 25, 1940) is an Academy, Golden Globe, Tony, BAFTA, Emmy, and SAG award winning American actor who is best known for playing the roles of Tony Montana in the 1983 film Scarface and Michael Corleone in The Godfather Trilogy . ... Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an Academy Award-nominated American stage and screen actor best known for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho and its three sequels, Psycho II, Psycho III and Psycho IV: The Beginning. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Cletus Del Roy Spuckler (voiced by Hank Azaria), also known as Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel, is a fictional character on the long-running animated television show The Simpsons. ... Strong Arms of The Ma is the true 300th episode of The Simpsons. ... Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law was a comedic American animated television series created by Williams Street that airs on Cartoon Network during its Adult Swim late night programming block. ... Dick Dastardly and Muttley, the villains of Wacky Races, in their car, the Mean Machine. ... In fiction, continuity is consistency of the characteristics of persons, objects, places and events seen by the reader or viewer. ... Information Gender Female Date of birth 1922 Date of death 1988 Family Corleone family Relationships Michael Corleone Children Mary Corleone, Anthony Corleone Portrayed by Diane Keaton Created by Mario Puzo For similar names, see Kaye Adams (disambiguation) Kay Adams Corleone(1922-1988) is a fictional character in Mario Puzos... Diane Keaton (born Diane Hall on January 5, 1946) is an Academy Award-winning American film actress, director and producer. ...

References

• Plot Summary - The Godfather