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Liotta's acting career spanned more than four decades he often played tough guys thanks to his sinister laugh and hard-to-miss New Jersey accent.
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In 1966 he starred opposite John Wayne in the Howard Hawks classic Western "El Dorado." He followed that by starring in Robert Altman's "Countdown" (1967) and Coppola's "The Rain People" (1969).Ī year before "The Godfather," Caan became a star when he starred opposite Billy Dee Williams in the TV movie "Brian's Song," which earned Caan an Emmy nomination for his performance as the real-life cancer-stricken NFL player Brian Piccolo.īut Caan's raw performance in "The Godfather" made him an instant legend, and he solidified it over the decades with other memorable performances in "Misery," "Honeymoon in Vegas," and "Elf."Ĭaan died July 6, according to his official Twitter account. The Bronx-born actor will forever be known for playing the hot-tempered Sonny Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's classic 1972 Mafia epic "The Godfather." Caan received an Oscar nomination for the role and reprised the part in the final scene of 1974's "The Godfather Part II."īefore "The Godfather" Caan found recognition in Hollywood in a variety of roles.
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