[imagesource: Sonny Black]

The man on the right in the image above is one of Hollywood’s most recognisable figures.

Yes, it’s Marlon Brando dressed for perhaps his most iconic role, Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather.

The chap on the left is Albert Ruddy, who produced the 1972 classic as well as Million Dollar Baby and picked up two Academy Awards for his troubles.

What’s the latest skandaal? Gianni Russo, who played Carlo Rizzi (below with his wife, Connie), is now suing Ruddy.

Over to The New York Post:

Lawyer Barry Slotnick, who knew the players, got Gianni his role. That was 1972. This is 2022. Gianni’s current lawyer is Barry’s son, Stuart Slotnick, who says he just filed a defamation suit on behalf of Gianni.

Image: Sonny Black

Gianni: “I’m nearly 80 now. I’m upset. I’m suing its producer Al Ruddy who was my friend 50 years. We even travelled together. I’m suing because of what he’s saying about me and that movie.”

Making the trilogy was something of a balancing act for Ruddy.

He had to deal with shady finances, a big-thinking director in Francis Ford Coppola, and the influence of the Italian-American Civil Rights League, led by the mobster Joe Colombo.

The mafia, in general, didn’t care much for the film and was pretty vocal about that.

All of those wrangling are detailed in the drama series, The Offer, which is also where Russo’s anger stems from:

“Now, a quarter of a century later, Ruddy’s doing ‘The Offer,’ doing special evenings and conversations about the film and telling audiences how I hit Talia Shire,” Russo [below] claimed to me.

Image: Brian Zak

“No. I did not. First I ever heard this. I never beat up a woman,” Russo said. “Never touched Talia with my hand. Talia’s parents were on the set. My own mother had been beaten and was institutionalized. And my grandchildren who heard this got upset. Talia’s manager actually told me that Ruddy actually said that.”

You don’t want to upset the grandchildren. That’s when things get ugly.

By the way, Russo has said in the past that he knows who killed Marilyn Monroe and claims to have witnessed John F. Kennedy, America’s 35th president, snort cocaine off the stomach of an actress.

Maybe Ruddy will make Russo an offer he can’t refuse and the lawsuit will swim with the fishes.

That’s it. That’s all I’ve got.

[source:nypost]