Michael Corleone

Michael Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novel, The Godfather. He is also the main character of the film trilogy that was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, portrayed by Al Pacino.

Family

Michael is the youngest son of Don Vito Corleone (played by Marlon Brando in The Godfather and by Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II.) Michael becomes the new Godfather of the Corleone crime family towards the end of Part I, when his father passes away.

Related Topics:
Vito Corleone - Marlon Brando - The Godfather - Robert De Niro - The Godfather Part II

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Born in 1920, Michael initially wanted nothing to do with the Corleone "family business," enlisting in World War II and returning a decorated war hero. Upon his discharge from the Marines, he enrolled at Dartmouth College, but, when his father was nearly assassinated in 1946, he volunteered to murder the men responsible (against the wishes of his brother Sonny.) He then fled to Sicily and stayed in hiding for two years. While in Sicily, he was briefly married to a young woman named Apollonia, but she was murdered by a rival.

Related Topics:
1920 - World War II - Marines - Dartmouth College - Assassinated - 1946 - Murder - Sonny - Sicily - Apollonia

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Upon returning to New York in 1949, he learned that Sonny had been murdered the year before, and so he reluctantly became involved in his family's criminal enterprises. He married his longtime girlfriend, Kay Adams, in 1950. After his father's death in 1954, he assumed control of the Corleone crime family, and arranged the murders of the leaders of the Mafia's five ruling families.

Related Topics:
New York - 1949 - Kay Adams - 1950 - 1954 - Mafia

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Over the next decade, Michael tried to remove all criminal ties to his family, but his many enemies (as well as his own arrogance) kept him involved in the crime underworld. He ordered many murders, but without doubt the worst was that of his own brother, Fredo, in 1959 as revenge for unintentionally providing his enemy, Hyman Roth, with information Roth used to try to assassinate him. Having his brother killed haunted him for the rest of his life, and worsened his estrangement from Adams, whom he banned from the Corleone family for aborting his unborn son.

Related Topics:
Criminal - Fredo - 1959 - Revenge - Aborting

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By the late 1970s, Michael had made the family business legitimate, funneling all the money from his years of crime into a world bank, Immobiliare. He also began to rekindle his relationship with Adams. He found himself pulled back into the underworld, however, when he took Vincent 'Vinnie' Mancini-Corleone, Sonny's illegitimate son, under his wing; the hotheaded Vinnie responded to all threats against the family with brutal violence, reigniting old grudges. Vinnie also began dating Michael's daughter, Mary, a romance Michael strongly disapproved of.

Related Topics:
1970s - Vincent 'Vinnie' Mancini-Corleone - Mary

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Nevertheless, Michael appointed Vinnie as his successor in 1980; weary of the bloody, lonely life of a Don, he retired and made his nephew the new Don Corleone (but only after Vinnie agreed to break off the relationship with Mary.) That same night, however, Mary was killed in an assassination attempt meant for him. After losing his favorite child, Michael lost all interest in the Family business and, indeed, life itself. He retired to Sicily and died there in 1997.

Related Topics:
1980 - Retire - 1997

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Family

• Vito Corleone — Father; played by Marlon Brando
• Santino 'Sonny' Corleone — Eldest brother; played by James Caan
• Constanzia 'Connie' Corleone-Rizzi — Sister; played by Talia Shire
• Fredo Corleone — Elder brother; played by John Cazale
• Mary Corleone — Daughter; played by Sofia Coppola
• Mama Corleone
• Vincent 'Vinnie' Mancini-Corleone — Nephew and succeeding 'Don'; played by Andy Garcia.