Vito Corleone

Vito Corleone
Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in The Godfather
First appearance	The Godfather
Last appearance	The Godfather Part II
Created by	Mario Puzo
Portrayed by	Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro
In-universe information
Alias	The Godfather, The Don, Don Corleone
Nickname	The godfather
Gender	Male
Family	Corleone family
Spouse	Carmella Corleone
Children	Sonny Corleone, Fredo Corleone, Michael Corleone, Connie Corleone, Tom Hagen

Vito Andolini Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather, as well as Francis Ford Coppola's trilogy of films based on it. In the first film, he was portrayed by Marlon Brando. He was portrayed as a younger man in The Godfather Part II by Robert De Niro. Both performances won Academy Awards. Brando and De Niro remain the only two actors to each win Oscars for playing the same character.

In Puzo's novel, Vito is the head of the Corleone crime family, one of the most powerful Mafia families in New York. He is depicted as an ambitious Italian immigrant who moves to Little Italy and builds a mafia empire, yet retains (and strictly adheres to) his own personal code of honor. His youngest son, Michael Corleone, becomes the Don upon his death at the end of the novel. He has two other sons, Santino "Sonny" Corleone and Fredo Corleone, and a daughter, Connie Corleone, all of whom play major roles in the story. He also informally adopted another son, Tom Hagen, who grew up to become the Family's consigliere.

Biography

In the chronology of the Godfather saga, Vito first appears in 1901, as a young boy in the small Sicilian town of Corleone. As documented in the novel (and in Godfather Part II) his father, Antonio Andolini, is murdered by a Sicilian mob boss named Don Ciccio because he refused to pay tribute to him. His older brother, Paolo, swears revenge, but is himself murdered soon after. Eventually, Ciccio's henchmen come to the residence of the Andolinis to take Vito away and have him killed. Desperate, Signora Andolini takes her son to see the mafia chieftain herself.

When she goes to see Don Ciccio, she begs for forgiveness, but Ciccio refuses, reasoning that Vito would also seek revenge as an adult. Upon Ciccio's refusal, Signora Andolini puts a knife to his throat, allowing her son to escape, but is shot herself. Later that night, he is smuggled away, fleeing Sicily to seek refuge in America on a cargo ship full of immigrants. In the novel, he deliberately changes his name to Corleone, after his home town. The movie, however, plays that he is renamed "Vito Corleone" because the immigration workers at Ellis Island mistake the name of his town for his last name. According to The Godfather: Part III, he later adopted the middle name "Andolino" to acknowledge his heritage, though this could have been done posthumously by his family.

Corleone is later adopted by the Abbandando family in New York City's Little Italy, and he befriends their son, Genco, who becomes like a brother to him. Corleone begins making an honest living at Abbandando's grocery store, but loses the job, as an intimidated Abbandando is forced to employ the nephew of Don Fanucci, a blackhander and the local neighborhood padrone.

Corleone soon learns to survive and prosper through petty crime and performing favors in return for loyalty. During this time, he also befriends two other low-level hoods, Peter Clemenza and Salvatore Tessio. In 1919, he commits his first murder, killing Fanucci, who had tried to extort money from him. Corleone chooses the day of a major festival to spy on Fanucci from the rooftops as Fanucci goes home, and surprises him at the door to his apartment. He shoots Fanucci three times, as the din from the festival drowns out the noise from the gunshots.

As a young man, Corleone starts an olive oil business, Genco Pura (known as simply Genco Olive Oil in the films) with his friend Genco Abbandando. The company eventually becomes the biggest olive oil importer in the nation. Over the years he uses it as a legal front for his organized crime syndicate, while amassing a fortune with his illegal operations. In 1925, he returns to Sicily for the first time since leaving 24 years earlier and is reunited with his mother, who survived despite being gunned down by Ciccio's men. He and his partner, Don Tommasino then set up a meeting with the aging Don Ciccio, where he kills him by carving his stomach open--thus avenging his murdered father and brother.

By the early 1930's, Vito Corleone has organized his illegal operations as the Corleone crime family. Genco Abbandando becomes his consigliere, or advisor, with Clemenza and Tessio as caporegimes. Later, his son Sonny becomes a capo as well, and eventually his underboss. While he oversees a business founded on gambling, bootlegging, and union corruption, he is known as a kind, generous man who lives by a strict moral code of loyalty to friends and, above all, family. At the same time, he is known as a traditionalist who demands respect commensurate with his status. Even his three closest friends--Genco, Clemenza and Tessio--never call him "Vito," but either "Godfather" or "Don Corleone." In both the book and the first scene of the first Godfather, he chastises his old friend, undertaker Bonasera, for not coming to him first after his daughter is beaten up instead of going to the police. Although he has a reputation for ruthlessness, he disagrees with many of the vicious crimes carried out by gangs and so seeks to control crime in New York by either consuming or eliminating rival gangs.

By this time, he has four children--Sonny, Fredo, Connie and Michael. While he loves all of them, he is most proud of Michael, a college student who had to drop out due to his decision to join the Marines and wishes for him a life away from the "family business."

In 1945, Corleone is nearly assassinated when he refuses the request of Virgil Sollozzo to invest in a drug operation and use his political contacts for the operation's protection. His near death sparks a chain of events that results in Sonny's murder and Michael's eventual ascension to the head of the family. Corleone then acts as unofficial consigliere to his son.

At the end of the novel and in the movie, he dies of a heart attack while playing with his grandson Anthony in his garden. His last words in the novel are, "Life is so beautiful."

Family

Main article: Corleone family

• Carmella Corleone — Wife, played by Morgana King
• Santino 'Sonny' Corleone — Eldest son; played by James Caan
• Tom Hagen — informally adopted son, played by Robert Duvall
• Frederico "Fredo" Corleone — Middle son; played by John Cazale
• Michael Corleone — Youngest son; played by Al Pacino
• Constanzia 'Connie' Corleone — Daughter; played by Talia Shire
• Vincent Mancini-Corleone — Illegitimate grandson; played by Andy Garcia
• Anthony Corleone — Grandson; played by Franc D'Ambrosio
• Mary Corleone — Granddaughter; played by Sofia Coppola