Godfather singer "Johnny Fontane" Dead at 82

[Gracelander]

SPRINGFIELD, Pa. – The singer who played the Frank Sinatra-type role of Johnny Fontane in "The Godfather" has died at his childhood home in suburban Philadelphia.

Publicist Sandy Friedman says Al Martino died Tuesday afternoon in Springfield, in Delaware County. He was 82.

Starting in 1952, Martino was known for hit songs including "Here in My Heart," "Spanish Eyes," "Can't Help Falling in Love" and "Volare."

Besides acting in the Marlon Brando classic "The Godfather," he sang the 1972 film's title score, "The Love Theme From The Godfather." His Fontane character is a singer and occasional actor.

Martino was born in South Philadelphia as Alfred Cini (SEE'-nee). He was a longtime resident of Beverly Hills, Calif.

His publicist didn't state the cause of his death.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091014/ap_en_mu/us_obit_al_martino

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c202/Gracelander/joh.jpg

[Metskins]

I just got done reading 'The Godfather' novel last week. Johnny Fontaine plays a much bigger role in the book than he does in the movies. It's not to say that there's a ton of stuff that he did in the book that would have been great to see on film, quite the contrary, I found a lot of the passages in the book about him boring. It was however interesting to see how he was closer to a central figure in the book and he had like two scenes in the movie.