Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep and Al Pacino have said that The person who taught them the most about acting was John Cazale. A little-known actor who only acted in five films, but they were five masterpieces: The Godfather Part One, The Godfather Part Two, The Conversation, Dog Day Afternoon and The Deer Hunter. All five were nominated for the Oscar for best picture (three won the award), but Cazale was never nominated for his performances. Although few people remember him today, John Cazale would change the lives of Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep forever.
It all started during the filming of The Godfather Part Two. Robert De Niro played the young Vito Corleone, while John Cazale returned to play his son, Fredo. The two actors became best friends. As with everyone who worked with Cazale, De Niro was impressed by his talent, especially because of the way he used to get lost within his character. Francis Ford Coppola had been so pleased by his performance in The Godfather that he wrote a role for him in his film The Conversation.
Before acting for this legendary director, Cazale had spent thirteen years doing theater in New York, while working as a taxi driver, photographer and courier. In 1971, a casting director attended a small theater in Manhattan where an actor appeared who “becomes his character.” At that moment he decided to offer John Cazale the role of Fredo Corleone.
After his stellar performance in The Godfather Part Two, Cazale collaborated with Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon, a film in which they both rob a bank. The two actors had acted side by side in several plays in New York before jumping into movies. Pacino was nominated for an Oscar for that performance, while Cazale was ignored, his friend couldn’t believe it. John Cazale’s acting style was subtle and naturalistic. His specialty was playing melancholic and reserved characters, which is why he did not usually star in great dramatic moments.. That worked against him when it came to receiving recognition for his work. Everyone recognizes him as Fredo from The Godfather, but no one remembers his name because he was a specialist in serving the needs of the film. He embodied the character so well that no one wonders which actor played him.
John Cazale and Meryl Streep fall in love
Cazale continued doing theater despite having achieved success in Hollywood. In 1976 she starred in Shakespeare’s play, Measure by Measure, at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. She thus met Meryl Streep, who she starred with, at a time in her life when she was a young aspiring actress, totally unknown. He was delighted with her, although he thought she acted without emotion..
Streep had flirted with acting during her adolescence, but upon graduating in theater at university she wanted to study law. In an act of fate, she fell asleep on the morning of her admissions interview.. Which led her to continue her theater studies, this time at the Yale School of Drama. For a long time she did not take her acting career seriously, as she considered herself ugly. In her first year in New York she managed to work in six plays, law school had been forgotten.
When they met, John Cazale was already an acclaimed 41-year-old Hollywood star, Meryl Streep a 27-year-old novice theater actress. As soon as they became boyfriends, they were already living together, planning to get married after each one got their next big role. Unfortunately, fate had other plans.
Tragedy arrives
In 1977, during the production of Agamemnon, a play in which he was starring, John Cazale began to feel unwell. Upon visiting the hospital, he received the worst possible diagnosis, He suffered from lung cancer, which had already spread to his bones.. The couple was devastated, as the doctors informed them that there was no possibility of salvation, only of postponing the inevitable.
At the time, film director Michael Cimino was trying to convince Robert De Niro to star in The Deer Hunter. Since he wanted to make a film about the Vietnam War when it was still a very controversial topic, he was looking to hire a superstar so he could sell the project more easily. De Niro accepted, but on the condition that he also hire a couple of his friends, John Cazale and Christopher Walken. When Robert De Niro went to tell his friend the good news, he rejected him, revealing his terrible diagnosis. Although he was shocked, De Niro managed to convince him to accept the role, so he could die doing what he loves.. John thought about it, and then put his own condition. He would act in the film if they gave a good role to his girlfriend, Meryl Streep. Done deal. It would be the role for which Streep would earn her first Oscar nomination.
Naturally, the producers of The Deer Hunter didn’t like the idea of hiring a terminally ill person, the insurance costs alone would be enormous. So at first they rejected Robert De Niro’s condition. Knowing they couldn’t do without him, De Niro told them that hiring Cazale was non-negotiable. Then signed a check for the enormous amount required to insure a terminally ill person and gave it to the producers.
The Deer Hunter was a success, grossing more than triple its budget at the box office and winning five Oscars, including best film. John Cazale would not live to celebrate that achievement. He died on March 13, 1978 at the age of 42, his last words dedicated to comforting his girlfriend.