Home> Facts and Trivia > Stars > Richard Conte
Richard Conte Facts
| Sign | Aries |
| Born |
Mar 24, 1910 Jersey City, NJ |
| Died |
Apr 15, 1975 Los Angeles, CA |
| Age | Died at 65 |
| Total Facts | 4 |
Appeared in the original Ocean's Eleven (1960) and The Godfather (1972). The remake Ocean's Eleven (2001) and its sequels feature many Godfather references. Cast members Al Pacino and Andy Garcia appear in both series. Ocean's cast member Scott Caan is the son of Godfather actor James Caan, and his character's name, Turk, is taken from "The Turk," a name used in The Godfather.
Father of Mark Conte
Featured in "Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir" by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry (McFarland, 2003).
He was one of the many actors considered by Paramount for the title role of Don Corleone in "The Godfather" (1972). The movie originally was intended to be a low-budget production set in contemporary times, but after the phenomenal success of the book, the budget was increased. Conte's Italian heritage helped his cause, as Paramount production head Robert Evans wanted the film to be authentically Italianm which was the reason the Italian American 'Francis Ford Coppola was hired to direct. Conte's rivals for the role reportedly included fellow Italian-American Ernest Borgnine, but as the prestige of the picture increased along with the budget, A-list actors began to be considered for the role, including two-time Oscar-winner Anthony Quinn and the legendary Orson Welles. Burt Lancaster, whose superstar status had dimmed but who had the advantage of having played an Italian prince in Luchino Visconti's "The Leopard" (1963), actively campaigned for the role. Ironically, Visconti had wanted to cast Laurence Olivier in "The Leopard" (but was overru