Of course I haven't been on this BB for very long, but I've noticed that since I've been here, I haven't read anything about Richard Castellano (I hope that was his correct name!)--the guy who played Clemenza. I thought he was absolutely terrific! He was, in my opinion, what I consider one of the characters/actors who made GFI so excellent. He looked like a couple of my own uncles! He spoke like them, made gestures like him, and just overall did his part as a mafioso to perfection. What is the correct Italian term for the position he held in the Family? I read somewhere that the woman who played his wife in the movie was his real wife, too! Now, she looked the part perfectly, too! In contrast to the glamor gals on Goodfellas, she looked much more what my aunts looked like!

Why didn't they extend his character to GFII? I think having him on GFII would have perhaps lent it a little more credibility than it did--which was ZERO! LOL!! I know he died. Really a great loss. Was he in any of the other gangster movies?

Also, I thought Abe Vigoda was excellent, too. I thought Tessio and Clemenza made a good pair together. They seemed to be together from the beginning of Vito's rise in New York, right? That's why I said in one of my former posts that I didn't understand why Clemenza didn't feel bad about Tessio's whack. Whoever answered me said it was because they just happened to rule certain areas together and that they didn't spend much time together. But if they were doing their work from almosst the get-go, I'm sure they would have had to develop some kind of friendship between them. NO?

~~ Lollie

Both Clemenza and Tessio were known as caporegimes, or "captains."

I agree with your assessments on Abe Vigoda and Richard Castellano. Clemenza was one of my 3 favorite characters from The Godfather. He made it look so easy.

As it's explained on the commentary and bonus disks of the dvd, Richard wanted too much money to bring his character back for II. That's why Pentangelli is in Clemenza's place. Clemenza was supposed to have betrayed Michael, but was written out when FFC & the studio couldn't agree on the money with Castellano.

How do you know Clemenza didn't feel badly about Tessio's execution? IF he did, though, Clemenza knew it had to be done (kill Tessio).

The novel explains the relationship between the two capos. It describes how Don Vito didn't want the two of them socializing too much (as a preventative measure against the possibility of them conspiring against him).

Castellano played the part (pretty well, too) of Joe "The Boss" Masseria in "The Gangster Chronicles", a mini series on tv in the late 70's. Among his other roles was a tv series called "The Super" in which he played a superintendent of an apartment building. It was none other than Bruno Kirby who played his son in that series, and it was Kirby who played young Clemenza in Part II.

One of his earliest roles was in a wonderful comedy called "Lovers and Other Strangers". Castellano was absolutely hilarious as the father of two sons and the husband of Bea Arthur. It was mainly due to this role that Castellano received such a relatively high salary for "The Godfather".

Can you hear him SC? :

"LOU-CHEE-ANNO!"

and....

" So What's the Story Richie!"

Yes SC, my father used to LOVE "THE SUPER" I remember it very well and I always remembered that young Clemenza ( Kirby) in GFII played Older Clemenza from GFI's son in that show!


Don Cardi