The star of "Godfather" was the first person to be prohibited from Oscars - here is why
Carmine Caridi also participated in an FBI investigation.
When Will Smith slap Chris Rock During the live television of the Oscars in 2022, the public - both the public present at the Dolby Theater and the millions of people at home - was shocked, and that did not seem surprising when, a few days later, The Academy of Arts and Sciences of the Film announced that Smith's action announced that Smith had won it A decade ban Events of the Academy. But while the ban on Smith can be among the most publicized History of Oscars , it was not the first. Almost two decades earlier, Carmine Caridi from 1974 Part II of the godfather and 1990 Part III of the godfather Was expelled from the academy and forbidden to attend future Oscar ceremonies for a very different reason. Continue reading to learn more.
Read this then: 7 Oscar -winning films that are offensive according to today's standards .
Caridi had roles in both Godfather Sequels.
New Yorker Caridi had only a handful of credits to his name when he became director Francis Ford Coppola First choice to play gangster Sonny Corleone in The Godfather - at least according to The child remains in the photo , the memories of 1994 of the famous film producer Robert Evans . The role finally went to James Caan , and book 2021 Take the weapon, let the cannoli : The epic history of the manufacture of the godfather Tell a different story, saying that he was always Coppola's favorite for the role.
Anyway, Carida has always become part of the family. In 1974 Part II of the godfather , he played Carmine Rosato, a member swallowed with a family of crimes who challenged the corleones, and he returned to the saga for the 1990s Part III of the godfather , play the boss of the crime of Chicago Albert Volpe.
The career at the end of the actor's decades included dozens of other films, in which he mainly played criminals (1991 Bug ) or cops (1981 City prince ).
He was in trouble with the FBI for hacking the media.
Caridi's career success has finally earned him belonging to the Academy of Arts and Cinema Sciences, the organization that hosts and distributes the Oscars each year. As a voting member of the group, he had access to the "Screenders" - the film recordings for award ceremony, distributed to voters to examine rewards. The actor obviously appreciated this advantage a little too much, and, as one of his characters, he finally landed in hot water with the federals.
As indicated by The Hollywood Reporter, While living in Los Angeles in the late 90s, Caridi was introduced to Russell Sprague , a fan of film from the Chicago region screened around L.A. by another actor The godfather, Part III . After Sprague fixed the broken magnetoscope of Caridi, the two became friendly, and finally, the actor agreed to share his seramnces with another geek from the cinema - an act expressly prohibited by the statutes of the Academy. Caridi also admitted in his 2017 THR Interview that he had also shared wealth with people "who could not afford" to see each film.
Unfortunately for Caridi, Sprague was not a simple cinema. During five years, the actor sent him VHS Screenders of more than 150 films. According to a 2004 article in Los Angeles Times , instead of simply enjoying them at home, Sprague has scanned the Screenders And downloaded them on the internet. The illegal copies have spread around the world, ultimately attracting the attention of the Warner Bros. film studio, which alerted the FBI.
Federal agents were able to use unique watermark that the cinema studio placed on the copies of the screeter to trace the films disclosed to Caridi, which was quick to cooperate, pointing their finger on sprague in exchange for immunity. The investigation ended with Sprague arrest in January 2004 .
He was the first person to be expelled from the Academy.
On February 3, 2004, the Council of Governors of the Academy voted unanimously to enforce the Screender agreement signed by all its members and expel Caridi , a spell that also prevented him from attending future Oscar ceremonies. Although they voted to keep the name of the confidential prohibited member, according to a contemporary Today Article, FBI officials revealed that Carida, then 70, admitted his role in the flight of the screen. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB
"I do not blame the academy," said Caridi THR 13 years later. "I violated their law." The actor was also prosecuted for an offense both by Columbia Pictures and Warner Bros.
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He continued to receive seramnces (and lend them) until his death.
Although inflicted a fine of the maximum penalty And ordered to pay $ 300,000 Plus the fees of lawyer at each studio, by 2017, Caridi had increased the financial and professional consequences of the sharing of screening. "I knew I was never going to pay a penny," he said THR , "Because I didn't have it." He was always an actor who works at the time of the interview, and still received screening, although from the Screen Actors Guild rather than the Academy, adding in front of his managers in Halet, "I lend them to my neighbor ".
Carida is no longer the only expelled member of the Academy.
At the age of Carida in 2019 at 85, he was no longer the only person to be officially avoided by the Oscars. Following an avalanche of allegations of sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein , the academy called an emergency meeting on October 14, 2017, voting for The immediate expulsion of the producer . In light of allegations, A new driving standard was adopted by the organization in December 2017, declaring (via THR ), "There is no room for the academy for people who abuse their status, their power or their influence in a way that violates recognized decency standards".
In May 2018, the Governors' Council of the Academy also voted for oust Bill Cosby And Roman Polanski under the new standard of conduct. And in 2021, Hood filmmaker Adam Kimmel Has become the the most recent member to expel according to a Variety Survey discovering his status as a recorded sex offender .
