From one of the most iconic actors in the history of film an astonishingly revelatory account
of a creative life in full To the wider world Al Pacino exploded onto the scene like a
supernova. He landed his first leading role in The Panic in Needle Park in 1971 and by 1975
he had starred in four movies— The Godfather and The Godfather Part II Serpico and Dog Day
Afternoon —that were not just successes but landmarks in the history of film. Those
performances became legendary and changed his life forever. Not since Marlon Brando and James
Dean in the late 1950s had an actor landed in the culture with such force. But Pacino was in
his midthirties by then and had already lived several lives. A fixture of avant-garde theater
in New York he had led a bohemian existence working odd jobs to support his craft. He was
raised by a fiercely loving but mentally unwell mother and her parents after his father left
them when he was young but in a real sense he was raised by the streets of the South Bronx
and by the troop of buccaneering young friends he ran with whose spirits never left him. After
a teacher recognized his acting promise and pushed him toward New York’s fabled High School of
Performing Arts the die was cast. In good times and bad in poverty and in wealth and in
poverty again through pain and joy acting was his lifeline its community his tribe. Sonny
Boy is the memoir of a man who has nothing left to fear and nothing left to hide. All the great
roles the essential collaborations and the important relationships are given their full due
as is the vexed marriage between creativity and commerce at the highest levels. The book’s
golden thread however is the spirit of love and purpose. Love can fail you and you can be
defeated in your ambitions—the same lights that shine bright can also dim. But Al Pacino was
lucky enough to fall deeply in love with a craft before he had the foggiest idea of any of its
earthly rewards and he never fell out of love. That has made all the difference.
