1. Michael Corleone is a fictional character and the protagonist of Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather.
48 Facts About Michael Corleone
1. 2.
In June 2003, Michael Corleone was recognized as the 11th most iconic villain in film history by the American Film Institute, although some critics consider him to be a tragic hero.
3.
Michael Corleone's skin was a clear olive-brown that would have been called beautiful in a girl.
4.
In truth, his father never wanted Michael Corleone to be involved in the family's criminal enterprise and actually hoped he'd go into politics.
5.
Michael Corleone was discharged as a Captain to recover from wounds- along with friend Hank Vogelsong in 1945.
6.
Michael Corleone stays for a few weeks, intending to re-enter college without telling his family.
7.
Michael Corleone argues they can publicly expose McCluskey as a corrupt cop involved in the drug trade and serving as Sollozzo's bodyguard, contending that McCluskey has crossed into their world and is fair game.
8.
Michael Corleone retrieves a handgun that Corleone caporegime Peter Clemenza had planted beforehand in the bathroom and kills Sollozzo, with one shot to the forehead, and then McCluskey, one in the neck followed by one in the forehead, all at point-blank range.
9.
Michael Corleone falls in love with and marries a young local woman named Apollonia Vitelli.
10.
Meanwhile, Michael Corleone convinces his father that it is time to remove the family from crime.
11.
Vito semi-retires in 1954, and Michael Corleone becomes operating head of the family.
12.
Michael Corleone offers to buy out casino owner Moe Greene's stake in the Las Vegas casino that the Corleones bankrolled, intending to move the family to Nevada as part of his effort to legitimize the Corleone interests; Greene refuses to sell.
13.
Michael Corleone begins working out a deal with Hyman Roth, a longtime business partner of the family as well as a rival, over control of casino operations.
14.
Unknown to Michael Corleone, Roth was actually maneuvering to have Michael Corleone killed in revenge for the death of Moe Greene, his longtime friend.
15.
Roth attempted to murder Pentangeli, while making him think that Michael Corleone was to blame.
16.
The plot unfolds on the same day Michael Corleone stands as godfather to Connie's newborn son, Michael Corleone Francis Rizzi.
17.
When challenged by Kay, Michael Corleone denies having ordered Carlo's murder.
18.
Kay, initially believing Michael Corleone, later observes him receiving his capos.
19.
Kay realizes Connie's accusations were true, and that Michael Corleone has become a powerful Don becoming his father's successor in every way.
20.
The Corleone family has relocated to Nevada, while capo Frank Pentangeli runs the family's operations in New York, Clemenza having died a few years before.
21.
Michael suspects Roth ordered the hit, and believes a mole within the Corleone family aided him.
22.
Michael Corleone sends his bodyguard to eliminate Roth on New Year's Eve, but Cuban soldiers kill the bodyguard during the attempt.
23.
That same night, Fredo unintentionally reveals that he was the mole within the family; Michael Corleone confronts Fredo and gives him the Sicilian "kiss of death".
24.
Meanwhile, Pentangeli, believing Michael Corleone had ordered a hit on him, prepares to testify against him in the Senate's investigation of organized crime.
25.
However, Michael Corleone has Pentangeli's brother Vincenzo brought from Sicily.
26.
Meanwhile, Kay decides to leave Michael Corleone and take their children with her, believing Michael Corleone will always live in a world of crime and violence.
27.
Michael Corleone asks her to reconsider, but Kay reveals she aborted their unborn son because she refused to bring another of his children into the world.
28.
The film ends as Michael Corleone recalls a surprise birthday party for his father on December 7,1941.
29.
When Vito arrives off-screen, everyone goes to greet him except Michael Corleone, who sits alone.
30.
The film closes with Michael sitting alone in the Corleones' Lake Tahoe compound.
31.
Michael Corleone has moved back to New York, abandoned the Nevada estate, and taken great strides to remove the family from crime.
32.
Michael Corleone turns over his New York criminal interests to longtime enforcer Joey Zasa.
33.
Michael Corleone sells his gambling interests to other Mafia families and reorganizes his vast legitimate business holdings as the "Corleone Group".
34.
Michael Corleone had previously wanted Anthony to either finish law school or join the family business, but now consents to Anthony going his own way.
35.
Michael Corleone is already its largest shareholder, and offers to buy the Vatican's 25 percent share, which will give him controlling interest.
36.
Michael Corleone takes in Sonny's illegitimate son Vincent Mancini, a soldier in Zasa's crew, as his protege.
37.
Nevertheless, Michael Corleone is distressed by Vincent's fiery temper, and disapproves of his romance with Michael Corleone's daughter, Mary.
38.
Michael Corleone realizes that his old friend Don Altobello is the brains behind the attempt on his life.
39.
Traumatized by the attack, Michael Corleone suffers a diabetic stroke, briefly incapacitating him.
40.
Michael Corleone is infuriated upon learning of the hit, and demands that no similar orders be issued while he is alive.
41.
Michael Corleone learns that the Immobiliare deal is an elaborate swindle concocted by Immobiliare chairman Licio Lucchesi, who schemed with Vatican Bank head Archbishop Gilday and accountant Frederick Keinszig to embezzle a fortune from the Vatican Bank, using Michael Corleone's "investment" to cover their tracks.
42.
Michael Corleone directs Michael to Cardinal Lamberto, the future Pope John Paul I With Lamberto's prodding, Michael makes his first confession in 30 years, tearfully breaking down as he admits to ordering Fredo's murder.
43.
Lamberto tells Michael Corleone he deserves to suffer for his terrible sins, but that there is hope for his redemption.
44.
Michael Corleone learns that Altobello has hired an assassin named Mosca to kill him.
45.
Weary of the bloody, lonely life of a Don, Michael Corleone retires, making Vincent his successor, but not before giving him permission to retaliate.
46.
That night, Michael Corleone, reconciled with Kay and Anthony, watches his son's performance in the opera Cavalleria Rusticana.
47.
Michael Corleone is a secondary character in Puzo's novel The Sicilian, which takes place during his first exile in Sicily.
48.
Michael Corleone appears in Mark Winegardner's sequel novels The Godfather Returns and The Godfather's Revenge.