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One of the finest films ever-made, AFI* has rated "The Godfather"(1972) as the 2nd greatest film in World Cinema. Based on Mario Puzo's 1969 novel of the same name, was an influential Gangster genre saga based on a NYC Crime family of Sicilian descent led by the patriarch "Don Vito Corleone" played by Marlon Brando.Though Brando ultimately got the role, Paramount studio executives were unhappy over the director Francis Ford Coppola's initial choice of Brandoplaying the patriarch, since his reputation for being difficult and his moody nature had gained notoriety sullying his career, delaying production on a number of films.

On Coppola's persistent pleading, Paramount chief Stanley Jaffe said that he will yield only if Brando would agree to a pay-packet lesser than his usual fee, agree to a screen-test, and sign a bond insuring he wouldn't delay production. Coppola chose Brando based on the Screen-Test in which Ernest Borgnine too had appeared.

Other main contenders or choice for this role were Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles, Danny Thomas, Richard Conte, and Anthony Quinn but it was Brando who played it earning an Oscar for Best Actor in a leading role.

*AFI- American Film Institute.

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12y ago

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