John Cazale Trivia Quiz

Answer: Massachusetts

John Holland Cazale was born in August 12, 1935, in Revere, Massachusetts, to an Irish-American mother and Italian-American father.

Answer: messenger

After graduating from college, Cazale moved to New York to become an actor. In the 1960s, Cazale was a messenger for Standard Oil in New York and met a then-unknown Al Pacino.

Answer: The Indian Wants the Bronx

Cazale was in the one-act play "The Indian Wants the Bronx". Cazale won an Obie Award for his role as Gupta, a man who arrived in New York City to visit his son. Gupta spoke little English and was stabbed by two punks while waiting for a bus. Cazale won the Obie in 1967 and 1968. The Obie is like the Tony for off-Broadway plays.

Answer: Fredo

Fredo was the middle son of the Corleone family. He was considered the weakest of the brothers. "The Godfather" won three Oscars for best actor (Marlon Brando), Best Writing, and Best Picture.

Answer: Stan

"The Conversation" centered around a surveillance expert and his morals when he records a potential murder. Cazale's character worked in the same surveillance company of Harry Caul, played by Gene Hackman. Stan helped bug the conversation of a couple in San Francisco's Union Square whose entire conversation is the subject of the movie. "The Conversation" was nominated for Best Picture, but lost to another Francis Ford Coppola film, "The Godfather Part II".

Answer: Bank robbery

Sidney Lumet directed "Dog Day Afternoon", which centered around a bank robbery and the attention it received. Casale played Salvatore Naturale, a friend of bank robber Sonny (Al Pacino). "Dog Day Afternoon" was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, but lost to "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

The movie was based on a 1972 bank robbery in Brooklyn.

Answer: True

At the demand of Cazale's girlfriend, Meryl Streep, who threatened to walk off the set, director Michael Cimino had to accommodate the terminally-ill Cazale.

Answer: Stosh

"The Deer Hunter" was the highlight of Michael Cimino's career. The movie would win five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Robert DeNiro), Best Editing, and Best Sound. Cimino won Best Director, but his subsequent career was basically a string of flops, including the 1980 disaster "Heaven's Gate".

Cazale played Stanley, also known as Stosh, a steelworker during the Vietnam War. He is a member of a party that goes for one last deer hunt before one of his coworkers gets married.

Answer: 42

Cazale died March 12, 1978, unable to see "The Deer Hunter". Cazale appeared in 1990's "The Godfather Part III" through archival footage. Unlike the first two films in the trilogy, "The Godfather Part III" was not as well received and did not win an Oscar despite seven nominations.

Answer: No

In his short career, Casale appeared in six films that were nominated in the Best Picture category, including three winners.

Though never nominated for an Oscar, Cazale was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1975 for his role as Salvatore in "Dog Day Afternoon", where he lost to Richard Benjamin.

Cazale was the subject of a Richard Shepherd documentary, "I Knew It Was You". The documentary featured interviews with Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, and Robert DeNiro. The film premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.