Al Pacino is widely regarded as one of the most talented actors of his time.
He features prominently in two of the top four films of all time according to iMDB rankings. Despite this, there was a period when he had ‘nothing’, even after filming both The Godfather and The Godfather II.
The Oscar-winning actor shares his experiences in the entertainment industry in his new memoir, Sonny Boy, which he dedicated to his one-year-old son Roman.
In an interview with the BBC, he stated: “I want to be around for this child. And I hope I am.
“I hope I stay healthy, and he knows who his dad is, of course.”
The memoir explores a lifetime of financial struggles for the 84-year-old actor.
For his role in The Godfather, he reportedly earned only $35,000.
His earnings increased with the sequel and later with Scarface, but the money was not sufficient to sustain his lifestyle.
“I had about ninety grand in the bank and that was it,” he wrote.
“I had a lifestyle to boot. I had my home in the country, which I didn’t want to give up. I was spending and not earning; I was putting out but I wasn’t bringing in.”
In the 1980s, he appeared in just five films and confessed he was financially depleted by the time Francis Ford Coppola contacted him for The Godfather III.
“The choice could not have been easier,” he explained.
“I was broke. Francis was broke. We both needed the bread.”
Throughout his life, he faced financial difficulties multiple times. In 2011, he discovered his accountant was involved in a Ponzi scheme—a form of investment fraud where returns are paid to earlier investors using the capital from newer investors, according to Investor.gov.
Following this, he found himself financially drained once again, writing: “I had fifty million dollars, and then I had nothing.
“I had property but I didn’t have any money … The kind of money I was spending and where it was going was just a crazy montage of loss.”
Amazingly, he revealed some startling expenditures that reduced his bank account from an impressive $50 million to ‘nothing’.
Pacino was covering costs for 23 phones, 16 cars, and a gardener who was being paid a staggering $400,000 annually.
Pacino commented: “Mind you, that was for landscaping at a house I didn’t even live in.”
However, financial concerns are no longer pressing issues for him, as he noted he ‘has to think very seriously about my estate now. That means I have to get advice from people who are way smarter than me’.
In addition to Roman, Pacino is the father of three other children.
His eldest, Julie Pacino, is 34, and he also has 23-year-old twins Anton and Olivia Pacino.
He recently ended his relationship with Roman’s mother, Noor Alfallah, whom he began dating in April 2022, before she gave birth to his youngest son in June last year.