Al Pacino recalls how his mother 'saved his life' before her fatal overdose as he credits her with his Oscar-winning career By Terry Zeller For Dailymail.com Published: 03:44, 29 August 2024 | Updated: 03:52, 29 August 2024 e-mail View comments Al Pacino reflects on how his late mother influenced his Oscar-winning career in his new book Sonny Boy: A Memoir. Raised in The Bronx by his mother Rose and his grandparents after his parents’ divorce, the Godfather star, now 84, believes that her love of movies guided him toward his future path.
Although Rose struggled with addiction, including a suicide attempt when Al was six and a fatal overdose when he was 22, the actor said he realized how grateful he was to have had her in his life while preparing an acceptance speech for the 1992 Oscar for Scent of a Woman. 'One day I’m 52, looking in the vanity mirror, wondering whom I should thank in an acceptance speech,' he wrote in Sonny Boy, per an excerpt in The New Yorker . 'I realize that I’m still here because of my mother.
Of course, that’s who I have to thank. She’s the one who parried me away from a path that led to delinquency and violence, to heroin. 'I lost three [friends] that way.
I was not under strict surveillance but my mother paid attention to where I was. She saved my life.' Al Pacino reflects on how his late mother influenced his Oscar-winning career in his new autobiography Sonny Boy: A Memoir; (pictured 2023) Raised in The Bronx by his mother Rose (pictured) and his grandparents after his parents’ divorce, the Godfather star, now 84, believes that her love of movies guided him toward his future path He also opened up about Rose's mental health struggles, revealing she would 'occasionally visit a psychiatrist when Grandad had the money to pay.
' He continued: 'I wasn’t aware that my mother was having problems until one day when I was six years old and getting ready to go out and play. 'I was sitting in a chair in the kitchen while my mother laced up my shoes and put a sweater on me, and I noticed that she was crying. 'I wondered what the matter was but I didn’t know how to ask.
She was kissing me all over and right before I left she gave me a great big hug. It was unusual but I was eager to meet up with the other kids and I gave it no more thought.' He recalled how he was playing outside near his grandparents' home at the time and suddenly noticed a commotion nearby.
He soon learned that his mother was at the center of it. 'There was an ambulance in front of the building and there, coming out the front doors, carried on a stretcher, was my mother. She had attempted suicide.
' In the book, Pacino fondly remembers his mother introducing him to cinema, which ignited his passion for acting, though they eventually clashed over his career choice, prompting him to leave home. Despite dropping out of traditional classes, he was accepted into the High School of Performing Arts after a successful audition. Pacino pictured as a baby with Sal and Rose in 1940.
His dad abandoned them when he was just two years old In the past, the Scarface actor has cited his father Sal's abandonment at the age of two as a driving factor for his unruly teen years After Rose's overdose, Pacino doubted it was another suicide attempt, noting that she hadn’t left a note. 'Some people thought that she had committed suicide, as she had tried to almost 15 years earlier. But she left no note.
She was just gone. That’s why I have always kept a question mark next to her death.' In the past, the Scarface actor has cited his father Sal's abandonment at the age of two as a driving factor for his unruly teen years, saying: ' The conclusion of my teachers was that I needed a dad.
' Sal left the Hollywood star and his mother after the couple split. Eventually Sal went on to marry five times, with Pacino telling Esquire in 2003: 'What does that tell me? That he liked married life. OK, what does it tell me? It tells me we're creatures of habit.
' Sal was an insurance salesman for 30 years before becoming a restaurateur , according to the Los Angeles Times . 'The conclusion of my teachers was that I needed a dad. I wasn't an out-of-control teenager, but I was close,' he said.
The actor pictured with Sal in 1997 Pacino famously danced the tango with Gabrielle Anwar in his Academy Award-winning performance in 1992's Scent of a Woman He owned Covina restaurant and bar Pacino's Lounge, just outside of LA, until he retired in 1991 . Sal's fifth wife was actress Katherin Kovin-Pacino. he died of a heart attack in 2005.
The memoir arrives as Pacino was lauded as an 'amazing' father by his girlfriend Noor Alfallah , 30, who had his baby last year. Al is also a father to three other children with two different women: he shares 22-year-old twins Olivia Pacino and Anton James Pacino with Beverly D'Angelo, as well as daughter Julie Pacino, 33, with Jan Tarrant. Al Pacino Share or comment on this article: Al Pacino recalls how his mother 'saved his life' before her fatal overdose as he credits her with his Oscar-winning career e-mail Add comment.
