(Jewish Group) James Caan, Jewish movie star known for tough guy roles, dead at 82
In 2009, James Caan, one of the leading movie stars of the 1970s, told Vanity Fair that he was twice honored as New York City’s “Italian of the Year.” The kicker: He’s not Italian.
Caan, who died Wednesday at 82, according to a post from his family to his Twitter account, staked out rare ground in Hollywood as a Jew known for blockbuster tough guy roles — and for almost always being considered anything but Jewish.
The Italian reputation dogged him after what was arguably his most famous role, as mafioso Sonny Corleone in “The Godfather,” which he reprised briefly in “The Godfather Part II.” (In that same Vanity Fair profile, Caan said that people often approached him in public to see if was a hot-tempered as his Corleone character.)
One of his earliest roles, in the 1966 Howard Hawks classic western “El Dorado,” also gave him a longtime cowboy moniker. Caan said in an interview earlier this year that he worked as a professional rodeo performer for years before becoming famous, and that Steve Wynn, the disgraced Jewish casino magnate, used to introduce him to people in Las Vegas as “the best Jewish cowboy” he had ever met.
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