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Show Brady's Bils J James Caan was in the Oscar-winning 1972 film The Godfather. | asked him what it was like to work with Francis Ford Coppola and Marlon Brando. “Francis was so great,” said Caan, “and Marion was a lot of fun then We did a lot of laughing.” Caan also worked with John Wayne in El Dorado. “| was about 23,” Caan said, “and here | was, in a movie with the Duke and Robert Mitchum. | thought | was really tough— a semi-stunt man, really. The Duke liked to ride a new guy, so you had to fight back. The director kept telling me how to play a scene, and Wayne would tell me the opposite. Finally | got so ticked off, | almost slugged the Duke Mitchum grabbed me from behind, and I'm glad he did. After that,it was OK between Wayne and me.” E WORKED IN movies with Marlon Brando and John Wayne, and now he’s about to embark on his first-ever TV series, for Steven Spielberg's stu dio. When I called James Caan just after 8 o’ clock one Saturday morning, his wite Linda answered “My wife is makingthe bed around me,’ Caan said when he took the phone. “I think she wants me to getup.” The family had been living in Park City, Utah, but Caan has been working so steadily in I A. tor the past two years, they found a housethere with a good school nearby. (They have two sons, ages 7 and 6, Caan also has a | 2-year-old and two grown Born March 26, 1940,in the Bronx, N.Y. Married to Dee Jay Mathis, 1960-66 (one daughter, Tara, 39); to Sheila Ryan, 1976-77 (one son, Scott, 27); to ingrid Hayjek, 1990-94 (one son, Alex, 12); to Linda Stokes since 1995 (two sons, Jimmy, 7, and Jake, 6). Includes The Untouchables, 1962; Get Smart, 1965; Brian's Song, 1971; Las Vegas, 2003. AAT kids from previous marniages. ) His new show, Las Vegas. 1s a joint venture between NBC and DreamWorks felevision, the Spielberg/Katzenberg/ Geffen powerhouse. It stars Jimmy as Big Ed Deline, the chief of surveillance and security at a Vegas casino, and it’s on Monday nights, which means it’s up against ABC’s Monday Night Football But competition doesn’t seem to inimi date the guy who played Sonny Corleone in The Godfathe “They've leased two hugestudios in Culver City, duplicating a big casino, he told me. “Overlooking the gambling floor is a George Orwell surveillance room, and my character 1s the eye behind the hidden cameras.” He seemed so knowledgeable Was Caan much of a gambler himself? “I’m not he said. “The only time I’ve ever gambled seriously was when [ couldn't aftord it—-when I James Caan—whom we remember best as Sonny Corleone in The Godfather —talks about his first-ever TV series, las Vegas, and his showdown with John Wayne. was 23 and had no money.” Caan grew up in Queens, N.Y., and gave up both football (at MichiganState) and then law school in favor of acting classes. In 1961, he landed arolein an off-Broadway play called La Ronde and then had some guest shots on ‘60s TV shows such as The Untouchables and Get Smart be fore going on to along film career. Since he said he was a complete neophyte to weekly television, | asked Caan why he took this starring role in Las Vegas. “One, it's DreamWorks.” he told me. “Two, they spent, | dunno, maybe five and a half million doing the pilot. And three, I did three or four movies last year, and it afforded me no time with my kids. This way, I get to see them all the time. “T took it on thinking I could have some fun with the part.” he said. “They've committed to 13 episodes. With Spielberg behindit, and NBC in—God only knows. It looks good. The entire cast looks good. Andthe writer [The Fast and the Furious” Gary Scott Thompson] is terrific.” Now, if only Monday Night Football cooperates with some lousy games... If For more on James Caan, visit www. parade .com and click on “In Step With.” ' www .parade.com eget Include Irma la Douce, 1963; El Dorado, 1967; The Rain People, 1969; The Godfather, 1972; The Gambler, 1974; Funny Lady, 1975; Thief, 1981; Alien Nation, 1988; Misery, 1990; Dick Tracy, 1990; For the Boys, 1991; Honeymoon in Vegas, 1992; Flesh and Bone, 1993; Bottle Rocket, 1996; Eraser, 1996; Bulletproof, 1996; The Yards, 2000; The Wayof the Gun, 2000; Eif, 2003; Dogville, 2003; Dallas 362, 2003. Theater: Includes La Ronde, 1961; Blood, Sweat, and Stanley Poole, 1961. PAGE 14 + OCTOBER 12, 2003 » PARADE MAGAZINE |
