In "The Godfather Papers and Other Confessions," Mario Puzo describes an encounter that he once had with Frank Sinatra.

According to Puzo there was an incident that took place at a restaurant in Los Angeles. Puzo was in the restaurant at the same time as Frank Sinatra was. Sinatra refused to meet Puzo and made a scene in the restaurant, shouting at Puzo, calling him a pimp. Sinatra had been linked on many occassions as having ties to the Mafia. Obviously Puzo's creation of Johnny Fontaine in The Godfather seemed to imply that his character was based on Sinatra and his connections to organized crime. Sinatra felt that Puzo's creating the Johnny Fontaine character based on Sinatra had no real basis of truth to it.


Sinatra as Vito? Nah, I couldn't see him in that role. If I had to pick a role that I thought he could play in The Godfather, it would be the role of Sonny.


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