To buy a ticket for The Godfather in 1972 meant that you would see not only the death of Don Corleone but also Marlon Brando’s passing of the Method torch to a new generation. Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, and James Caan, who played Kay, Tom Hagen, and Sonny Corleone, respectively, all studied with Sanford Meisner. John Cazale, who played Fredo, studied with Clifford Odets protégé Peter Meyer Kass at Boston University. And playing Michael Corleone, the anchor and protagonist of the family saga, was Al Pacino, one of Strasberg’s favorite finds.
