James Caan has died at the age of 82.
The acclaimed actor’s passing was confirmed in a statement shared to his official Twitter account on Thursday.
“It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Jimmy on the evening of July 6,” the statement read. “The family appreciates the outpouring of love and heartfelt condolences and asks that you continue to respect their privacy during this difficult time.”
The statement fittingly closed with Caan’s signature sign-off, “End of tweet.”
Throughout his decades-long career, Caan received multiple awards nominations for his routinely intense and uniquely unforgettable performances, including a Best Supporting Actor nod for his performance as Sonny Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 masterpiece The Godfather. He reprised the role in cameo form for The Godfather Part II.
A versatile performer, Caan’s filmography spanned successful entries across multiple genres. In the 2003 family comedy Elf, for example, he played the father of Will Ferrell’s character Buddy, a human elf who travels from the North Pole to New York City to track him down. The film has become a holiday standard over the years, and for good reason: Caan, like Ferrell, is hilarious in it.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Rob Reiner’s 1990 adaptation of Stephen King’s novel Misery, which saw Caan playing Paul Sheldon, a writer who is harrowingly forced to square off against a mentally unstable fan played by Kathy Bates.
Other Caan performances of note include Honeymoon in Vegas, Brian’s Song, The Gambler, Dogville, Bottle Rocket, A Bridge Too Far, The Rain People, and more.
In recent years, Caan’s social media presence had also been celebrated as a prolific source of archival photos and brief musings. Last May, Caan jumped into the “Mount Rushmore of the 2010s” conversation by proposing that Future deserved a spot on the hypothetical monument.
Several of his colleagues paid tribute to him on social media, including Adam Sandler and Gary Sinise.
RIP.
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