Michael Corleone -
Played
by Al Pacino
The trilogy's other protagonist.
Michael is Vito's youngest son. At the beginning of
The
Godfather, he is uninvolved in the Mafia and seems headed
for a successful career in politics or another “legitimate” field.
Over the course of the film, he abandons these plans. He joins the
family business and succeeds his father as head of the Corleone
family. A cold-blooded Mafia don with no tolerance for dissent or
treachery, Michael is even bolder, more violent, and more ambitious
than Vito, and he becomes fantastically rich in the casino business.
He proves much less successful in his personal life. Michael seems
incapable of relaxing enough to smile, and his tense relationship
with his wife, Kay, whom he divorces, is a constant source of anguish.
