The renowned star from The Godfather has shared his experience of contracting COVID-19 when his pulse briefly stopped.
The 84-year-old actor, famous for his iconic roles in The Godfather series, as well as films like Serpico (1973), Scarface (1983), and The Irishman (2019), faced a severe case of COVID-19 in 2020, which escalated into a life-threatening condition.
In a conversation with The New York Times, Al Pacino described his encounter with ‘bad COVID,’ and recalled a day when he felt ‘unusually not good’.
He developed a fever and became dehydrated, prompting a nurse to visit his home to provide fluids. However, the situation quickly deteriorated.
Pacino recounted: “I was sitting there in my house, and I was gone. Like that. I didn’t have a pulse.
“In a matter of minutes they were there – the ambulance in front of my house. I had about six paramedics in that living room, and there were two doctors, and they had these outfits on that looked like they were from outer space or something. It was kind of shocking to open your eyes and see that. Everybody was around me, and they said: ‘He’s back. He’s here.'”
Pacino also shared what he perceived when his pulse stopped.
Although he mentions not seeing ‘the white light or anything,’ Pacino admits he did experience a type of change, but ultimately concluded: “There’s nothing there.”
In a theatrical manner, Pacino elaborated: “As Hamlet says, ‘To be or not to be’; ‘The undiscovered country from whose bourn, no traveler returns.’ And he says two words: ‘no more.’
“It was no more. You’re gone. I’d never thought about it in my life. But you know actors: It sounds good to say I died once. What is it when there’s no more?”
He likened the moment when his pulse ceased to the feeling of being ‘here’ one moment and then ‘not’ the next.
Pacino concluded: “I thought: Wow, you don’t even have your memories. You have nothing. Strange porridge.”
Now, with the addition of his youngest son Roman, who is one-year-old, Pacino is motivated to ‘stick around a little longer if it’s possible’.
Hopefully, we’ll see Pacino gracing the big screen once again soon.