Alredo James Pacino pretty owned the 1970s, which many consider the greatest decade of moviemaking in Hollywood history. Ironically, Pacino was known as ‘Sonny’ to his friends, which one of the principle characters of arguably the greatest movie ever made, The Godfather, the flick that made him a star. As a child, he aimed to become a baseball player, though he was also nicknamed ‘The Actor’. Pacino flunked nearly all of his classes except English and dropped out of school at 17. He worked menial jobs and was often homeless — getting arrested once for carrying a concealed gun — until he got his first big break in theater. It was here that he was seen by Francis Ford Coppola, who was hired to direct The Godfather, and the rest is history.
