Summary

• De Niro's age played a role in the timing of The Godfather trilogy, with him portraying a younger Vito Corleone.
• Brando's Vito died at 68 in The Godfather, but he was actually much younger at 47 during filming.
• De Niro's ability to play aged characters in other films showcased his talent beyond The Godfather Part II.

Although Robert De Niro’s performance in The Godfather movies tell the story of the Corleone family, a mafia dynasty established by Italian American immigrant Vito Corleone in the early 1900s. In The Godfather Part II, the aftermath of Vito’s death sees his son Michael take over the family business, while flashbacks illustrate Vito’s rise to prominence as an ambitious young gangster in 1920s New York.

While Al Pacino’s age throughout The Godfather trilogy proves, that doesn’t necessarily track with his actor’s real-life age. Amazingly, Brando was only 47 when he portrayed the aging mobster, whereas The Godfather Part II’s Vito was much closer.

Robert De Niro Was 17 Years Younger Than Marlon Brando When Filming The Godfather Part II

Brando Was Younger Than He Looked In The Godfather

Robert De Niro was 30 when he filmed The Godfather Part II in 1973, while Brando was 47 when he filmed The Godfather in 1971. De Niro’s scenes as Vito take place between approximately 1920 and the early 1930s. This means that De Niro’s portrayal s for Vito between the ages of around 33 and 40, meaning the actor wasn’t too far from the age he was playing. Although the divisive Godfather Part III earned critical backlash for aging up Pacino’s Michael, The Godfather Part II mostly ignored De Niro’s unchanging appearance throughout his scenes as Vito.

This was a wise decision since Vito didn’t need to visibly age in the decade the movie covers and De Niro’s 30-year-old self could comfortably for a 33-year-old Vito. Unlike Brando, De Niro didn’t need to make any major adjustments or accommodations to make his performance believable. The star was already well-known thanks to his roles in Mean Streets and director Brian De Palma’s movies Hi, Mom! and Greetings but, like Pacino, his career was brought to new heights by The Godfather Part II. In contrast, Brando was already very famous before his central role in The Godfather.

How Old Robert De Niro Was Compared To The Godfather Part II's Vito Corleone

De Niro Was Roughly The Right Age To Play The Godfather Part II's Vito Corleone

De Niro was slightly too young to play The Godfather Part II's Vito, but the actor parlayed his success into a string of roles that saw him play other prematurely aged characters. In Taxi Driver and The Deer Hunter, the star played disturbed Vietnam veterans who were aged beyond their years by their experiences of war. In Raging Bull, De Niro transformed his body to play boxer Jake La Motta throughout every era of his life. In the process, the star proved that his standout turn in The Godfather Part II was no fluke and became a celebrated screen talent.