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Al Pacino
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Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
Actor. (b. Apr. 25, 1940, New York City.) He first galvanized movie audiences as quiet Mafia scion Michael Corleone in Francis Coppola's 1972 The Godfather (for which he was Oscarnominated). He returned to the character twice more, playing it in The Godfather, Part II (1974, nominated again) as a steely, paranoid, implacably heartless don, and then in The Godfather, Part III (1990) as an aging, infirm, and tragic figure. For these three films, if for nothing else, Pacino will always be remembered. Debuting on film in 1969's Me, Natalie (the same year he won a Tony Award for Broadway's "Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?"), Pacino brought unique integrity to many roles, from a sexually confused would-be bank robber in Dog Day Afternoon (1975) to an incorruptible maverick cop in Serpico (1973). He had a way of commanding the screen, whether as a junkie in The Panic in Needle Park (1971) or a quiet drifter in Scarecrow (1973). He virtually defined screen intensity, and brought it with him even to projects that were unworthy, like Bobby Deerfield (1977) and a controversial look at the gay netherworld, Cruising (1980). He fared better as an idealistic lawyer in EB>. And Justice For All (1979, earning another Oscar nomination) and was quite likable in the critically savaged comedy Author! Author! (1982). His explosive performance as Cuban drug kingpin Tony Montana in Brian De Palma's Scarface (1983, a latterday cult favorite) was followed by a deadly costume drama, Revolution (1985), in which his Colonial Noo Yawk accent prompted widespread derision.
Pacino took a layoff from Hollywood, going back to his first love, the stage, and working for a long time (as both actor and producer) on an independent film adaptation of British playwright Heathcote Williams' The Local Stigmatic His excellent work as a hard-drinking, emotionally disconnected detective in 1989's Sea of Love heralded a triumphant return to the screen, and his hammy, often improvised antics under heavy makeup in Warren Beatty's 1990 Dick Tracy revealed a heretofore unseen comedic talent (and netted him a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination). In 1991 he reteamed with Scarface costar Michelle Pfeiffer in Frankie and Johnny in his warmest and most appealing screen role in years. The following year he had an unbeatable parlay, as shark-like real estate salesman Ricky Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross which earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, and in a bravura turn as the blind, blustery former lieutenant colonel in Scent of a Woman which won him a Best Actor Oscar, at last. His stardom reconfirmed, Pacino has kept busy both on stage (in such unexpected projects as "Richard III" and "Salome") and screen, where he reteamed with Brian De Palma for another riveting performance in Carlito's Way (1993), as a streetwise Puerto Rican ex-con trying to go straight. In 1995, he played a corrupt New York mayor in City Hall. In the wake of The Local Stigmatic he has been working on a documentary about Shakespeare. |  |
