Tom Hagen
From The Godfather Wiki
 |
|
| Tom Hagen | |
|---|---|
| Biographical information | |
| Gender |
Male |
| Eye color |
Brown |
| Hair color |
Blonde then brown |
| Born |
July 20, 1910 |
| Died |
August 24, 1964, (aged 54) |
| Family | |
| Title(s) |
Consigliere, Don (Acting) |
| Portrayed By | |
- "A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns."
- ―Tom Hagen[src]
Tom Hagen is the Corleone family consigliere and formally adopted son of Vito Corleone.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Thomas Hagen was born the son of Martin and Bridget Hagen. Martin was a hard-working carpenter who had never done a dishonest thing in his life, but he was also a violent alcoholic. When Hagen was ten years old, his mother Bridget caught an eye infection that resulted in blindness, and died soon after from venereal disease. Torn up with grief, his father became a hopeless drunkard and a few months later Martin Hagen drank himself to death. Hagen and his sister were stuck in an orphanage, but Hagen ran away. The sister ended up in a foster home, but the social agencies of the time did not follow up on Hagen's case. Hagen lived on the streets for more than a year.
Hagen first encountered the ten-year-old Santino Corleone in the winter of 1926. Sonny and two older boys had wandered into a dangerous alley in the Irish part of Hell's Kitchen, an alley in which Hagen was hiding. They encountered a man selling switchblades and tried to buy one. The man pulled a knife and dragged Sonny into the alley, while the other two boys ran. Hagen grabbed a board with a nail sticking out of it and brought it down on the back of the man’s head, impaling and killing him. Sonny and Hagen looked at each other and laughed nearly to the point of tears. They introduced themselves to each other, and walked away from the alley together, arms looped around each other’s shoulders. Sonny asked about the eye infection, and about Hagen’s parents. Hagen just said his mother was dead and his father was gone. Sonny took him home and persuaded his father to take him into the family. Although the Don never formally adopted him, thinking that this would have been an act of disrespect to Hagen's parents, Hagen thought of Vito Corleone as his true father.
After graduating from law school, Hagen offered to work for Corleone as though he were one of the Don's own sons. His German-Irish ancestry precluded his formal membership in the Mafia, which did not accept non-Italians, but after the death of Genco Abbandando, Hagen acted as consigliere to Don Corleone, the first non-Italian to achieve that important position. In the novel, it was said that Hagen's ascension to consigliere caused certain rival Mafia families to refer jokingly to the Corleones, behind their backs, as "the Irish gang".
[edit] Becoming Consigliere
- "Mr. Corleone never asks a second favor once he's refused the first, understood? "
- ―Tom Hagen[src]
In 1945, shortly after Connie Corleone's wedding, Hagen was dispatched by Vito Corleone to Hollywood in order to convince Jack Woltz, a big-time movie studio head, to give singer/actor Johnny Fontane (Vito's godson) the lead role in his new war film. When Woltz discovered who exactly Hagen worked for, he invited him over to his palatial estate for dinner, and showed him his prized horse, Khartoum. During the dinner, when Hagen again "suggested" that Woltz give Fontane the role, Woltz erupted at him and revealed that Johnny would never get the career-making role because of his ruination of one of Woltz's brightest up-and-coming female stars. Later on that night, men stole into Woltz's stables and decapitated Khartoum, then proceeded to place the horse's severed head and a large amount of its blood in Woltz's bed. Shortly afterwards, Johnny was given the role by Woltz.
While he loved all the Corleones, Hagen always idolized Sonny, and when Sonny was murdered, Hagen blamed himself. After becoming the new head of the family, Michael Corleone removed him as consigliere, taking the advice given by his father, restricting him to handling the Family's legal business in Nevada, Chicago, and Los Angeles. When Tom asks why he was being removed, Michael answers by telling him he just isn't "a wartime consigliere".
[edit] The 1950s
After an attempt on the life of Michael, Hagen took over as Don whilst Michael tried to find out who in his organization had betrayed him and aided the assassins. Hagen was instrumental in both securing the friendship of powerful Senator Pat Geary and defending Michael during the Senate hearings on the Mafia. Following the hearing, he encouraged turncoat soldier Frank Pentangeli to commit suicide. After the fall of Cuba to the communists and the killing of Fredo Corleone, Hagen retook a more active role in the Corleone family. The fall of Cuba forced Michael to abandon his dream of becoming a legitimate businessman and retake his place as the Don of the Corleone family. As a result, Hagen was given back his old position as consigliere for the family, advising the new Don of New York, Dominic.
He died drowned by turncoat caporegime Nick Geraci in Miami, Florida.
[edit] Family
In addition to a mistress, Hagen had a wife, Theresa. Together they had four children: Frank, Andrew, and two daughters. Andrew becomes a priest in The Godfather Part III. Andrew is also Michael's godson in The Godfather Part III, and since he is Andrew's godfather, Michael helps to get Andrew a position in the Vatican early on in the film.
