Oscar-winning actor Al Pacino talks with Terry Gross about growing up in the South Bronx with a single mother, getting his start in Greenwich Village performing in avant-garde theater, nearly dying of COVID, and his life today. We'll also talk about The Godfather, and why he almost passed on Part II. His new memoir is Sonny Boy.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: What does Al Pacino reflect on from his childhood?
This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. My guest today is Al Pacino.
Don't ask me about my business, Kate. Is it true? Don't ask me about my business. No!
Well, I'm going to ask Pacino about his business, by which I mean his art.
It sounded like a shot to me.
It did, I know. It's you slamming the table.
Oh, all right. As long as it's not a gun. I've had enough of those.
So I'm going to talk to Pacino about his remarkable performance in the Godfather films and other films. We'll also talk about his life. He's written a new memoir called Sunny Boy, which is the name his mother used to call him. It spans his life from the days he grew up in the South Bronx, raised by a single mother with little money.
to falling in love with the language of the great playwrights Strindberg, Chekhov, and Shakespeare, getting his start in avant-garde theater in Greenwich Village, surprising himself by becoming a movie star, nearly dying from COVID, and all the ups and downs along the way. Thank you very much.
He won an Emmy for his performance in the HBO adaptation of the play Angels in America, playing Roy Cohn. He starred in the film adaptation of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Glengarry Glen Ross, and later starred in a Broadway revival of the show, but in a different role. Al Pacino, welcome to Fresh Air. So exciting to have you here.
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Chapter 2: How did Al Pacino's mother influence his life?
How old were you?
I was about six.
Chapter 3: What key moments defined Al Pacino's career?
Did it register on you what had happened? Did you comprehend it?
I couldn't quite. At six, I knew something was up. And I lived with my grandmother and grandfather and my mother. And I remember them all sitting at a table. I think this was after the war, so my uncle would be there, my aunt would be there. Everybody was talking about what to do. And I remember sitting there, and they let me sit there.
So I didn't quite understand what they were saying, but I knew it was a serious thing. But, you know, she came back. That must have been traumatizing, too. But seeing her in the streets, somebody said to me as I'm running to see the ambulance. We rarely saw ambulances coming on our block, and I saw it. And there she was on a stretcher going into the ambulance.
And I thought, because I couldn't believe it was my mother. These things don't happen to my mother, you know. And it was her, because they said, hey, I hear it's your mother, Sonny. It's your mother. My mother? I said, no, nothing happens to my mother. And I remember that feeling. And then the shock of seeing her in that situation. It was, as they say, surreal, but it's clear in my memory.
Yeah. She must have loved movies because she took you to the movies when you were... Oh, she loved everything.
My mother was very smart. She read and played the piano. I mean, very poor, of course, but she was very... Very intelligent. And my mother decided to go to the theater and take me to Broadway shows, among other things. But she loved Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and those kind of shows. She was very into...
She took you to see, when you were five, she took you to see The Lost Weekend starring Ray Moland as this raging alcoholic. It's a great film, but he gets very self-destructive. And I don't know, you were five and then you started acting out those scenes at home? Yeah, I started acting out the scenes. Because you were so into it?
Yeah, I would act all the time. When Mom took me to the movies, I'd come back. Because we lived alone and there was nobody there to play with. So I'd act out all the parts in the films I saw. And I acted out The Lost Weekend and I showed it to my mother. My mother said, oh, what is this? And she started laughing. And then she'd show it to the families.
Or when I was somewhere, they'd say, Sonny, do The Lost Weekend. And I would do The Lost Weekend. And I never understood why they would laugh at someone in this predicament because it's where he's searching for a bottle of booze that he hid somewhere when he was sober and now he couldn't find it when he was drunk. And now he can't find it. And he goes crazy opening drawers and so on.
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Chapter 4: What insights does Al Pacino share about his role in The Godfather?
Chapter 5: How did Al Pacino feel about nearly dying from COVID?
Chapter 6: What are the themes explored in Al Pacino's memoir 'Sunny Boy'?
Also in the scene is Michael's older brother, but not very bright brother, Fredo, played by John Cazale, and the family lawyer, Tom, played by Robert Duvall. Mo Green is played by Alex Rocco. You speak first.
The Corleone family wants to buy you out. The Corleone family wants to buy me out. No, I buy you out. You don't buy me out. Your casino loses money. Maybe we can do better. You think I'm skimming off the top, Mike? You're unlucky.
You damn guineas really make me laugh. I do you a favor and take Freddie in when you're having a bad time, and then you try to push me out.
Wait a minute. You took Freddy in because the Corleone family bankrolled your casino because the Molinari family on the coast guaranteed his safety. Now, we're talking business. Let's talk business.
Yeah, let's talk business, mate. First of all, you're all done. The Corleone family don't even have that kind of muscle anymore. The Godfather is sick, right? You're getting chased out of New York by Barzini and the other families. What do you think is going on here? You think you can come to my hotel and take over? I talked to Barzini. I can make a deal with him and still keep my hotel.
Is that why you slapped my brother around in public?
Oh, no, that was nothing, Mike. Now, Mo didn't mean nothing by that. Sure, he flies off the handle once in a while, but Mo and me were good friends, right, Mo?
I got a business to run. I gotta kick asses sometimes to make it run right. We had a little argument, Freddie and I, so I had to straighten him out. You straightened my brother out? He was banging cocktail waitresses two at a time. Players couldn't get a drink at the table. What's wrong with you?
I leave for New York tomorrow. Think about a price.
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Chapter 8: What is the significance of Al Pacino's performances in iconic films?
How old was she when she died? Did she get to see you be successful?
No. My grandfather and all my mother saw me. They both died before I became successful. Yep.
Your parents divorced before you were two. When you were around eight months old, you were taken away from your mother. No.
I think I was a year and a half, and I stayed with them for eight months.
Stayed with your grandparents.
Yeah. My father's mother and father.
And you say at least you were placed with family and not a foster home. Why were you taken away from your mother?
I would imagine. Of course, I'm not very clear on that. I learned that after my mother had died from relatives that came to see me on Broadway. And it was just a revelation. And then a bulb went off in my head, and I thought, uh-oh, there it is. That's why I do some of the things I do.
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