Who is michael corleone based on

The final straw came when Paramount executive Robert Evans received a phone call at his home, threatening his wife and newborn son. Al Ruddy called a meeting with Colombo himself to discuss terms, and Colombo said he would back off if the word "Mafia" was struck from the script -- easy to do, since the word only appeared in it once.

Get all the news and exclusives first. Sign up for the AMC Weekly. AMC Talk. Read on to find out: 1. Mobsters flee to Italy when the going gets rough. Latest Videos. June and John Sr. Read More. November 4, Sebastian by the Catholic Church for his good works. Michael's new connection to the Church gave him the opportunity to pursue his biggest deal ever—taking over the real estate company, Immobiliare. Michael is already the company's largest shareholder, and reaches an agreement in principle to acquire controlling interest by buying the Vatican's 25 percent stake.

He also began to rekindle his relationship with Kay, as well as taking Sonny's illegitimate son, Vincent Mancini , under his wing, after the headstrong youth attacked Michael's subversive New York boss, Joey Zasa , at a party. Zasa later wiped out most the Commission , yet Michael and his old friend Don Altobello escaped. Michael had a diabetic stroke, and whilst incapacitated, Connie gave Vincent and Al Neri the go-ahead to kill Zasa.

Michael soon discovered that the Immobiliare deal is actually an elaborate swindle concocted by company chairman Licio Lucchesi and corrupt Vatican officials Archbishop Gilday and Frederick Keinszig to cover up their looting of the Vatican Bank. Hoping to salvage the deal, he sought the assistance of Don Tommasino.

Tommasino directed him to the honest Cardinal Lamberto , who persuades him to make his first confession in 30 years.

Michael tearfully confesses his many crimes, including the murder of Fredo. Michael later returned to Sicily to watch Anthony perform at the Teatro Massimo. However, he soon became aware of two assassins, Mosca and Spara , whom Don Altobello, in league with the plotters, had hired to kill him.

Mosca killed Tommasino, and Michael vowed before his dead friend's coffin to sin no more. Following this vow, Vincent, who had been spying on Altobello, revealed that Lucchesi was behind the plot against Michael's life.

He asked for permission to strike back. Weary of the bloody, lonely life of a Don, Michael retired and made his nephew the new head of the family, on condition that he end his relationship with Mary. That night, Michael, reconciled with Kay and Anthony, watched his son perform in the opera Cavalleria rusticana. That same night, Vincent, with Michael's tacit blessing, wipes out Lucchesi, Gilday and Keinszig in a bloody wave of murders.

However, Mary was inadvertently killed in an assassination attempt on her father, being shot to death in front of her family.

Devastated by this loss, Michael retired to Sicily and and lived in Don Tommasino's old villa, where he once lived with his first wife Apollonia. He died there in , distraught and alone, of a stroke while sitting in a chair in front of the villa. Michael was the strongest of the Corleone family, though originally he wanted nothing to do with the family business, but he was quickly pulled in after the assassination attempt on his father. When Michael volunteered to assassinate Sollozzo, everyone, especially Sonny, was surprised.

While he was experienced in handling guns from his time in the Marines, Clemenza taught him how to use a handgun and dispose of it. Once ensconced in the family business, Michael quickly established a reputation for ruthlessness to a far greater degree than his father. This behaviour was caused by the traumatic experience of having to watch his first wife Apollonia die in an assassination attempt, in which he was the intended target.

He preferred to wipe out all of his enemies in one fell swoop, as it happened with his slaughter of the other Dons and his killing of Hyman Roth and his associates. However, where Michael truly shone was in business. He spent most of his tenure as Don trying to legitimize the family and remove his ties to the Mafia.

He moved to Nevada and quickly turned the family into a successful business venture. He would only deal with people that had reasonable business connections and more or less knew his father. He despised hotshot businessmen like Moe Greene for not showing him or at least his family some respect. Michael loved his family but his thirst for revenge and his ambition were stronger, which led him to kill Carlo, the husband of Connie and later his brother Fredo.

Michael deeply loved his first wife Apollonia, despite their short marriage. Her assassination which was meant for him ultimately transformed him into the hardened man he was.

This thirst for revenge also led him to even use his own family for these murders. His marriage to Kay was for selfish reasons, despite telling himself he loved her, it was mostly to continue the family line. He also had a selfish reason for having Anthony, as he wanted him to follow in his footsteps. When he showed no interest in the business, Michael chose to have another son. This dream was cut short, however, as the boy Kay was to have was aborted. This was seen as one of the few times Michael ever showed anger at her.

His behavior led him to betray his own family in the end, which led to their rejection of him. In Michael's final days as the Don of the Corleone family, he largely succeeded in his quarter-century drive to make the family legitimate. He finally swore off the mob life forever and turned over leadership of the family to his nephew Vincent.

Just as he had finally shaken off his ties to the Mafia, he was stricken by grief when his only daughter, Mary, was killed in an assassination attempt on his life.

Afterward, Michael was a completely broken man, who died alone and fully damned. The reason for this is because Al Pacino signed a likeness agreement to another company for the video game Scarface: The World Is Yours. In the first video game, main protagonist Aldo Trapani helped Michael through many jobs. Michael went to the hospital, after his father Don Vito Corleone was shot five times, where Aldo helped him escape and later had Aldo put a gun in the toilet.

Aldo also drives Michael away from the scene, while in the book it was Tessio. He is cold and calculating here, even before returning from Sicily, and is voiced by Joseph May.

He also encourages Dominic to ally himself with Samuele Mangano and is furious when Mangano betrays him. He eventually allows Dominic to prove himself by eliminating all threats to the Corleones.

Here, he is voiced by Carlos Ferro and is a cruel, distant character. The Godfather Wiki Explore. Films Books Games. The Godfather. Cuneo crime family Tattaglia crime family Barzini crime family Chicago Outfit Molinari crime family Greco crime family Falcone crime family.

Explore Wikis Community Central. And even though his death comes in the third installment which was released in , the closing events take place in This means Michael is 77 years old at the time of his death. Though Michael isn't too old at the time of his death, he lives a little longer than his father Vito who is 67 at the time of his death in Since most mobsters get whacked and die young, Michael's age at the time of his death is impressive.

However, he has no bragging rights, especially when compared with a few real-life mobsters. One of Michael Corleone's best traits is his religious nature. Thanks to his efforts, he's named Commander of the Order of St. In real life, Colombo Crime Family founder Joe Profaci also sought papal approval, pushing a group of Italian-American priests to lobby for him.

Since Profaci was a well-known violent criminal, the Pope refused to be associated with him. In the movies, it's clear that Michael goes this route because of guilt for the numerous sins he had committed. It's unclear if this was Profaci's motivation too. In the first two movies, there are hints that Michael Corleone is concerned about a certain aspect of his health since he insists on drinking only water. In the third movie, it's confirmed that the Don has Diabetes.

Mario Puzzo, the writer of the novel The Godfather as well as the screenplays of the trilogy, was himself diabetic. Authors often incorporate some of the things in their personal lives into the fictional characters in their works hence it makes sense for Puzzo to describe Michael as a person diagnosed with Diabetes. The Godfather fans who tried the games for the first time must have been disappointed to find out that Michael doesn't look or sound the same as he does in the movies.

There's an explanation for that. Popular figures that are portrayed in video games often have to sign likeness agreements. His voice could thus not be used for The Godfather games even though EA and Paramount held the rights to all of the characters in the trilogy, including Michael. Michael Corleone is held in higher regard than most movie characters and his legacy remains intact to date. The American Film Institute ranks him the 11th most iconic villain in film history.