Mafioso Overachiever Played by Al Pacino, Michael Corleone is the biggest kahuna in this movie. Yeah, Vito Corleone is a pretty big kahuna as well—but Michael ends up taking the cake. He's the on...

Big Poppa Critics and audiences consider Marlon Brando to be one of the greatest actors of all time, and Don Vito Corleone proved to be one of his greatest roles—maybe the greatest. It roped him...

Bad Boy Don Corleone's eldest son, Santino (called Sonny), is kind of a slob. (The part is played by James Caan.) He's not inhuman or a total moron or anything, but he's a less-than-ideal Don. He c...

Clemenza (Richard S. Castellano) is one of Don Corleone's main capos, or under-bosses, along with Tessio. He's a helpful mentor-figure to Michael, and a killer at the same time. He shows Michael th...

Kay Adams (Diane Keaton) plays an even bigger role in The Godfather Part II. But she's still pretty important in the first movie—she becomes Michael's second wife, after all. While she's in love...

Hagen (Robert Duvall) is the Godfather's adopted son, and unlike all the Corleones, he's of German-Irish descent. Since he isn't blood, he's not in line to become the next Don, though he considers...

Connie isn't quite a major character—but she's not quite minor either. She's fairly important. The story begins at her wedding after all. However, that initial pleasant experience quickly descend...

Captain McCluskey is a totally corrupt cop—tied up with drugs and rackets and, in this case, a murder attempt on Vito. Michael shoots him through the skull after they sit down to dinner at a rest...

Sore Loser Jack Woltz (played by John Marley) is a big-shot movie producer. He's also kind of prejudiced against Italians, spitting out derogatory terms like "guinea" when Tom Hagen tries to make a...

There's a great deal of irony in the way the film portrays Luca Brasi (Lenny Montana). We immediately hear what a tough guy he is, as Michael tells Kay about how Brasi held a gun to a bandleader's...

Bonasera (Salvatore Corsitto) appears at the very beginning of the movie, in the first scene. He's essentially a man who's become disillusioned with the American Dream—although, as he admits, for...

Don Barzini (played by Richard Conte) is the Corleone family's main rival. However, they don't realize this until late in the movie, when he's revealed as the power behind Sollozzo's and the Tattag...

While he's in Sicily, Michael Corleone starts a new life, marrying Apollonia Vitelli (Simonetta Stefanelli). He falls in love instantly, as if struck by a bolt of lightning. He courts her in the ol...

Carlo, played by Gianni Russo, is a thoroughly detestable character. Not only does he brutally beat his wife, Connie, and cheat on her, but he also helps plot Sonny's murder. He attacks Connie with...

Johnny Fontane is a singer, loosely based on Frank Sinatra. He wants to get a part in a hit movie, graduating from famous crooner to mega-celebrity (kind of like Sinatra did with From Here to Etern...

Sonny is wild and unruly, Michael is smart and business-like, and Fredo (John Cazale) is weak. (This becomes more obvious in The Godfather Part II.) The Corleones send Fredo off to Vegas, where he...

Sollozzo (Al Lettieri) is one of the main villains in the movie. He represents the future wave of criminal activity—drugs. He's the worst kind of pusher, dealing with poppy growers in Turkey in o...

Tessio (Abe Vigoda), along with Clemenza, is one of the Don's two main henchman (capos or under-bosses). Unfortunately, he turns traitor, scheming with Barzini to overturn the Corleones. Thanks to...

Moe Greene (Alex Rocco) is a casino magnate, a gangster who fashions himself as a self-made man even though he actually attained his success largely with help from the Corleones. He makes the mista...

Played by Victor Rendina, Don Tattaglia is one of the Corleone family's main rivals. His family launches war against the Corleones after they refuse to lend their political clout to the Tattaglias'...

Fabrizio, played by Angelo Infanti, is one of Michael's bodyguards in Sicily (the other is Calo). Unfortunately, he turns traitor, planting a car bomb that's intended to kill Michael, but results i...

Saro Urzi plays the role of Vitelli. He's the father of Apollonia, the woman who becomes Michael's first wife. When they first meet, Michael and Vitelli have an awkward interaction: Michael describ...

Sandra (Julie Gregg) is Sonny's wife. She doesn't play a huge role in the movie, but based on the way she and Sonny interact at the wedding, she seems pretty displeased with the fact that he's chea...

Mama Corleone (Morgana King) doesn't play a huge role in the movie. She dances with Vito and sings during the opening wedding sequence, and appears a few other times, but she's not really a factor...

Played by John Martino, Paulie is a mobster who sells out Don Corleone, helping to arrange the assassination attempt against him. The Corleones organize his murder, which occurs during a leisurely...

Cuneo is a rival Don, played by Rudy Bond. He sides with Barzini against the Corleones, but falls victim to Michael's purge at the end of the movie: An assassin traps him in a revolving door and sh...

This guy, the son of the Tattaglia family's Don, appears for about a second: He's the crafty-looking dude behind the bar who pours Luca Brasi a drink before Brasi gets killed by an assassin. Later,...

Nazorine, played by Vito Scotti, is the guy who asks Don Corleone for help in keeping Enzo, a baker and possible future son-in-law, in America. Don Corleone obliges. (Later, Enzo helps Michael scar...

Played by Gabriele Torrei, Enzo is a baker whom Don Corleone helps avoid deportation. When he goes to give flowers to the ailing Godfather recovering from an assassination attempt, Enzo runs into M...

Played by Jeannie Linero, Lucy Mancini is Sonny's mistress. He sneaks away from his wife to cheat with her at the beginning of the movie, during the wedding sequence, though she appears later on too.

Played by Tere Livrano, this is Tom Hagen's wife. She appears in the movie but doesn't really play much of a role in the proceedings.

Played by Louis Guss, Zaluchi is the Don who gives a racist speech at the meeting between all the Dons regarding the drug trade, saying that he wants to sell heroin to black people, but not anyone...

Don Tommassino is an ally of Don Corleone's in Sicily. He helps shelter Michael after Michael flees America, having murdered Sollozzo and Captain McCluskey. The role is played by Corrado Gaipa.

This is Michael's toddler son, who appears momentarily. Don Corleone dies while playing with him in the garden.