‘Godfather’ Actor Carmine Caridi Has Passed Away at the Age of 85

In some very sad news, Carmine Caridi has died after falling into a coma, according to TMZ.

Carmine, most know for playing Carmine Rosato in The Godfather Part II, was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles, where he slipped into a comatose state, and passed away on Wednesday, May 29. Fellow actor Chazz Palminteri has confirmed the news. He was 85-years-old.

Aside from his incredible role in the classic Francis Ford Coppola film, Carmine also made numerous appearances on very popular TV shows, including Taxi, Fame, Starsky and Hutch, Simon & Simon and most recently, Curb Your Enthusiasm. In fact, the latter was his final role on the small screen.

The star was also in The Godfather Part III, but this time around he played the role of Albert Volpe, the boss of the Chicago Outfit in the 1970s. His appearance in the sequel as another character made Carmine only the third actor to ever play two different roles in the film franchise (Frank Sivero and Sofia Coppola were the others).

Carmine didn’t only complete rare feats in films — he was also known as one of the few people to have ever been expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for sharing movie screeners in 2004. It all kicked off when MPAA chief Jack Valenti imposed a ban on all screeners, in behalf of the studios — all in an effort to stop piracy. Jack agreed to exempt Academy members if they signed an agreement not to share the videos.

Well, Carmine didn’t follow through. “I was doing a guy a favor and he screwed me,” he told once told The Hollywood Reporter of the incident. Quite the character!

We are certainly going to miss Carmine, but we will always have his wonderful films and his TV shows as a reminder of his great work.