Michael Corleone is a fictional character and the protagonist of Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather, as well as the villain protagonist of the movie trilogy it launched. In the three Godfather films, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Michael was portrayed by Al Pacino, for which he was twice nominated for Academy Awards. Michael is the youngest son of Vito Corleone, a Sicilian immigrant who builds a Mafia empire. Upon his father's death, Michael succeeds him as the don of the Corleone crime family.
In June 2003, Michael Corleone was recognized as the 11th most iconic villain in film history by the American Film Institute, although some critics consider him to be a tragic hero. The British film magazine Empire selected Michael Corleone as the 11th greatest movie character, with Pacino's performance as Michael Corleone widely regarded as one of the greatest performances in cinematic history.
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Family
Born on March 23, 1920, to Mafia don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) and his wife Carmela (Morgana King), Michael has two older brothers, Santino "Sonny" Corleone (James Caan) and Frederico "Fredo" Corleone (John Cazale), and a younger sister, Constanzia "Connie" Corleone (Talia Shire). The family consigliere, Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), is their informally adopted brother.
The Godfather
In his novel The Godfather, Mario Puzo introduces Michael with the following physical description: "He did not have the heavy, Cupid-shaped face of [his siblings], and his jet black hair was straight rather than curly. His skin was a clear olive-brown that would have been called beautiful in a girl. He was handsome in a delicate way." Later in the novel, Puzo writes, "Michael was not tall or heavily built but his presence seemed to radiate danger."
Michael initially wants nothing to do with the Corleone "family business", and enrolls at Dartmouth College in order to escape any potential involvement in crime. (In truth, his father never wanted Michael to be involved in the family's criminal enterprise and actually hoped he would go into politics.) After the United States' entry into World War II in 1941, he enlists in the Marines and fights in the Pacific, even though his father had expended great effort to wrangle a deferment for him. For his bravery in battle, Michael is awarded the Navy Cross and featured in Life magazine in 1944. The next year, Michael is discharged as a Captain to recover from wounds. However, unbeknownst to Michael, the doctor treating him had been bribed by his father to exaggerate his injury in order to send him home. Michael returns home to attend his sister Connie's wedding at the end of August accompanied by Kay Adams (Diane Keaton), his college sweetheart. Michael stays for a few weeks, intending to re-enter college without telling his family.
Just before Christmas 1945, Vito is critically wounded in an assassination attempt by drug kingpin Virgil Sollozzo (Al Lettieri), pushing Michael into the Mafia world he has avoided for so long. Arriving at the hospital, he finds his bedridden father unprotected from potential attack. While awaiting Corleone reinforcements, Michael prevents a second assassination attempt on Vito by Sollozzo, then affirms his loyalty to his father. Captain Mark McCluskey (Sterling Hayden), a corrupt NYPD captain on Sollozzo's payroll, breaks Michael's jaw before more Corleone button men arrive.
As Vito Corleone recuperates, Sollozzo requests that Michael broker a truce, but acting boss Sonny, suspecting a trap, refuses and demands the other Mafia families hand over Sollozzo to the Corleone family or else face war. Michael volunteers to meet Sollozzo in a public place in order to kill him and McCluskey. Hagen warns that killing McCluskey would violate a long-standing Mafia rule not to kill police officers, and says it would incite deadly backlash from rival Mafia families and law enforcement. Michael argues that they can publicly expose McCluskey to the newspapers/media on their payroll as a corrupt cop involved in the drug trade. He also argues that since McCluskey is serving as Sollozzo's bodyguard, McCluskey has crossed into their world and is fair game. Sonny agrees and approves the hit.
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II is set in 1958 and 1959. The Corleone family has relocated to Nevada, while capo Frank Pentangeli (Michael V. Gazzo) runs the family's operations in New York, Clemenza having died a few years before. While Michael's many enemies and growing obsession with revenge keep him tethered to the criminal underworld, he still plans to finally legitimize the family by negotiating with Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg), his father's former business partner, over controlling casino operations in Cuba.
Hours after Anthony's First Communion party, assassins open fire on the Corleone house, nearly killing Michael and Kay. Michael suspects Roth ordered the hit, and believes a mole within the Corleone family aided him. To uncover Roth's involvement, Michael maintains their business relationship, and orders Pentangeli to settle a dispute with Roth's business partners, the Rosato Brothers. When Pentangeli meets with them, they try to kill him, but he survives.
Michael, Roth, and Fredo travel to Cuba to forge a partnership with Fulgencio Batista allowing them to operate casinos in Cuba without interference in exchange for generous payments to the Cuban government. Michael sends his bodyguard to eliminate Roth on New Year's Eve, but Cuban soldiers kill the bodyguard during the attempt. That same night, Fredo unintentionally reveals that he was the mole within the family; Michael confronts Fredo and gives him the Sicilian "kiss of death". During the New Year's Eve festivities, victorious rebel forces enter Havana, forcing Batista into exile and ruining Michael's plans. Fredo, afraid of his brother, runs off, while Roth escapes to Miami.
Meanwhile, Pentangeli, believing Michael had ordered a hit on him, prepares to testify against him in the Senate's investigation of organized crime. However, Michael has Pentangeli's brother Vincenzo (Salvatore Po) brought from Sicily. Just prior to the hearing, Vincenzo and Frank exchange glances. Understanding the threat, Pentangeli recants his earlier sworn statements, throwing the hearings into chaos and effectively destroying the government's case against Michael.
Fredo confesses to Michael that Roth's right-hand man, Johnny Ola (Dominic Chianese), had promised to reward him for information about Michael. Fredo also says that he resents being "passed over" to head the family in favor of Michael, and that he withheld key information about the Senate investigation. Michael disowns Fredo and tells his personal assassin Al Neri (Richard Bright) that nothing is to happen to his brother while their mother is alive — the implication being that Neri is to kill Fredo after she dies.
The Godfather Part III
The Godfather Part III is set from 1978–1980. Michael has moved back to New York, abandoned the Nevada estate, and taken great strides to remove the family from crime.
He turns over his New York criminal interests to longtime enforcer Joey Zasa (Joe Mantegna). Ridden with guilt over his ruthless rise to power, particularly his order to kill Fredo, Michael uses his great wealth to rehabilitate his reputation through numerous acts of charity, administered by a foundation named after his father.
A decade earlier, he had given custody of his two children to Kay, who has since remarried. He sells his gambling interests to other Mafia families and reorganizes his vast legitimate business holdings as the "Corleone Group".
The Holy See has named him a Commander of the Order of Saint Sebastian for his charitable works and large donations to Catholic institutions.
At the ceremony, Michael and Kay have an uneasy reunion after nine years. Kay supports their son Anthony's (Franc D'Ambrosio) ambition to reject the "family business" and become an opera singer, and tells Michael that both she and Anthony know the truth about Fredo's death. Michael had previously wanted Anthony to either finish law school or join the family business, but now consents to Anthony going his own way.
Michael's new connection to the Church provides an opportunity to take over the large property company Immobiliare. He is already its largest shareholder, and offers to buy the Vatican's 25 percent share, which will give him a controlling interest. He also takes in Sonny's illegitimate son Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia), a soldier in Zasa's crew, as his protégé. Nevertheless, Michael is distressed by Vincent's fiery temper, and disapproves of his romance with Michael's daughter Mary (Sofia Coppola).
On the night Michael announces he is dissolving his gambling empire, Zasa wipes out most of The Commission in a helicopter attack in Atlantic City. Michael escapes with help from Vincent and Neri. Michael realizes that his old friend Don Altobello (Eli Wallach) is the brains behind the attempt on his life. Traumatized by the attack, Michael suffers a diabetic stroke, briefly incapacitating him. (Francis Ford Coppola reveals in his audio commentary that Michael is frequently seen drinking water in the first two films—subtle hints that he is a diabetic.)
The Sicilian
Michael is a secondary character in Puzo's novel The Sicilian, which takes place during his first exile in Sicily. He learns from Clemenza about the legendary exploits of the novel's main character, Salvatore Guiliano (In the novel, the spelling of Salvatore Giuliano's name was intentionally changed by Puzo to "Guiliano".), and is eager to meet him, but Giuliano is murdered before the meeting can take place.
Sequel novels
Michael appears in Mark Winegardner's sequel novels The Godfather Returns and The Godfather's Revenge. In Godfather Returns, set roughly during the time of Godfather Part II, Michael battles with a new rival, disgruntled Corleone capo Nick Geraci, while attempting to legitimize the family. In The Godfather's Revenge, set a few years after the second film, he moves to protect his criminal empire against Geraci and the machinations of a powerful political dynasty, while dealing with the collapse of his marriage and his guilt over having Fredo murdered. In the latter novel, he has a relationship with actress Marguerite "Rita" Duvall in the early 1960s, but he ends it upon realizing that he is still in love with Kay.
Family members
Vito Corleone – Michael's father and head of the Corleone crime family, played by Marlon Brando in The Godfather, and by Robert De Niro in flashback scenes in Part II
Carmela Corleone – Mother, played by Morgana King in The Godfather Part I and Part II, and by Francesca De Sapio in flashback scenes in Part II
Tom Hagen – Adopted brother and consigliere, played by Robert Duvall
Santino "Sonny" Corleone – Eldest brother, underboss to Vito, played by James Caan in The Godfather Part I, and by Roman Coppola in flashback scenes from Part II
Constanzia "Connie" Corleone – Younger sister, played by Talia Shire
Frederico "Fredo" Corleone – Elder brother, underboss to Michael; played by John Cazale
Apollonia Vitelli-Corleone – First wife, played by Simonetta Stefanelli
Kay Adams-Corleone – Second wife, played by Diane Keaton
Anthony Corleone – Son, played by Anthony Gounaris in The Godfather, by James Gounaris in Part II, and by Franc D'Ambrosio in Part III
Mary Corleone – Daughter, played by an uncredited actress in Part II, and by Sofia Coppola in Part III
Vincent Corleone – Nephew and succeeding Don, played by Andy García
