Oscar-winning actor Al Pacino talks with Terry Gross about growing up in the South Bronx with a single mother, getting his start in Greenwich Village performing in avant-garde theater, nearly dying of COVID, and his life today. We'll also talk about The Godfather, and why he almost passed on Part II. His new memoir is Sonny Boy.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. My guest today is Al Pacino.
Don't ask me about my business, Kate. Is it true? Don't ask me about my business. No!
Well, I'm going to ask Pacino about his business, by which I mean his art.
It sounded like a shot to me.
It did, I know. It's you slamming the table.
Oh, all right. As long as it's not a gun. I've had enough of those.
So I'm going to talk to Pacino about his remarkable performance in the Godfather films and other films. We'll also talk about his life. He's written a new memoir called Sunny Boy, which is the name his mother used to call him. It spans his life from the days he grew up in the South Bronx, raised by a single mother with little money.
to falling in love with the language of the great playwrights Strindberg, Chekhov, and Shakespeare, getting his start in avant-garde theater in Greenwich Village, surprising himself by becoming a movie star, nearly dying from COVID, and all the ups and downs along the way. Thank you very much.
He won an Emmy for his performance in the HBO adaptation of the play Angels in America, playing Roy Cohn. He starred in the film adaptation of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Glengarry Glen Ross, and later starred in a Broadway revival of the show, but in a different role. Al Pacino, welcome to Fresh Air. So exciting to have you here.
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