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- "I'll always be your son, but I want nothing to do with your business."
- ―Anthony Corleone[src]
Anthony Vito Corleone is the son of Michael Corleone and Kay Adams.
Biography
Anthony with his grandfather.
Anthony was described as an intelligent child by his father, being able to read comics at age three. He was also the only person present at the death of his grandfather, Vito Corleone, in the family tomato garden. In his youth he gained an interest in opera after listening to the music of Puccini with his other grandfather, Thornton Adams.
At Lake Tahoe
Anthony at his First Communion.
In 1958, Anthony had his first communion, a very important moment for many Catholics in their childhood. It continued with an extravagant banquet held in his honor at the family compound on Lake Tahoe. During this banquet, his father was largely tied up with family business. Tony received many gifts, mostly from people he did not know. Wanting only to be with his father, he drew a picture of a car and placed it on Michael's bed, which would be discovered only moments before the attack on the Nevada Compound. Despite initially showing little interest in this, Michael would treasure this drawing and keep it with him into Anthony's adulthood.
Divorce
Months later, while the family was in Washington, he and his sister, Mary, overheard their parents fighting over Kay's plans to leave Michael and take the children with her. They divorce shortly afterward. Anthony seemed to resent his mother's role in the divorce, and as a result was sullen and reluctant to kiss her during a visit. He also developed a friendship with his uncle Fredo and was due to go fishing with him, until Michael told him to come back inside, ostensibly to get ready to go to Reno. Fredo is then assassinated by Al Neri at Michael's order. It is later found that Michael sent Anthony to his room, where he saw Neri killing Fredo. He had much animosity toward his father and Neri from that point on. Soon after Michael turned over custody of the children to Kay, Anthony told his mother about Fredo's death.
Anthony's defiance
A fully-grown Anthony attended Michael's celebration on his receiving the Order of Saint Sebastian from the Pope, along with his mother and sister. At the banquet that followed, he confronted his father, along with Kay, and told him that he was quitting law school for a career in opera. He also told his father that he would not join the family business in any capacity, claiming it had brought him nothing but "bad memories." This infuriated Michael, who wanted him to be a successful lawyer even if he was not in the "family business", but he relented at Kay´s insistence, especially when he found out through her that Anthony knew, that he had Fredo killed.
Operatic career
Anthony as Turiddu in Cavalleria rusticana.
Anthony's operatic career was a success, and he was given the lead in the opera Cavalleria rusticana in Palermo. Overjoyed, his family joined him for the premiere. As a gift at a gathering, he performed the traditional Sicilian ballad "Brucia La Terra". During this visit, he partially reconciled with his father, and sided with him in criticizing his sister's relationship with her cousin, Vincent.
Later on, Anthony performed his debut. Although the production was a success, it was overshadowed by numerous murders and assassinations during the evening, several of which occured right at the opera house. After the concert, Mary was shot and killed in a failed attempt to assassinate Michael. What happened to him afterwards is not known.
Behind the scenes
Anthony Corleone is portrayed by Anthony Gounaris in the first film, James Gounaris in the second, and singer Franc D'Ambrosio in the third. He was given the name Anthony because it was thought that the three-year-old Gounaris of the first film would respond best if his own name was used.