Celebrity Biographies
Al Martino
Italian-American Al Martino was a celebrity in the 1950s and 1960s. Moviegoers will remember him for the movie The Godfather , where he was the singer Johnny Fontane. Martino died on Tuesday, October 13, 2009, in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), for reasons that have not been specified. Apparently he died in his house, and he was in good health, because in fact the day before he had been having dinner with his wife and some of his friends.
Born on October 7, 1927 in the aforementioned Philadelphia – where he lived all his life – Alfred Cini began working as a bricklayer, just before running away from home and enlisting in the Navy at the age of 15. Although he later returned to work as a bricklayer with his family, due to his prodigious voice he began to combine his work with performances in small nightclubs. His childhood friend of him Mario Lanza encouraged him to try dedicating himself to music, and gave him a song that he was going to record, “Here in My Heart”, so that Martino could sing it. Finally, it managed to be number one on the American charts, and also in Great Britain.
Many songs covered by Al Martino became popular, such as “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and “Daddy’s Little Girl.” His biggest hit was “Spanish Eyes” from 1965, considered one of the most widely played songs in history. His popularity was multiplied by his participation in the film The Godfather , by Francis Ford Coppola , in 1972. There he played Johnny Fontane, a singer with many points in common with Frank Sinatra , who asked Vito Corleone for help to get him a role in a movie He assigned the matter to one of his men, who ended up solving it thanks to a horse’s head. In addition, Martino performed the song from the film “Speak Softly Love”, which won the Oscar. Many years later he reprized the role inThe Godfather III . Apart from that, his career as an actor is reduced to the short Cutout and some television production.
Martino continued singing all these years, although his followers were rather nostalgic for the past. “I don’t have access to the younger audiences,” he declared shortly before his death.