John Cazale (August 12, 1935 – March 12 1978) was a distinguished American film actor whose career was tragically brief. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and died March 12 1978 from bone cancer.

After his award-winning work as a stage actor, Cazale's big screen debut, alongside his old friend Al Pacino, was as Fredo Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. The film broke box office records and made Pacino, Cazale and several of their previously unknown co-stars famous. Cazale would again star alongside Pacino in Sidney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon (for which he received a Golden Globe nomination), as well as reprising his role as Fredo in The Godfather Part II.

Despite being diagnosed with cancer, Cazale continued to work, his final appearance being alongside his then fianceé Meryl Streep in his fifth film The Deer Hunter. Cazale never lived to see the release of the film and thus never learned that every single feature in which he had starred had received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. He is the only actor of those with multiple films to their credit who has such a distinction.

Filmography

• The Godfather (1972)
• The Conversation (1974)
• The Godfather Part II (1974)
• Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
• The Deer Hunter (1978)

External link

• The IMDb entry for John Cazale