Vito Corleone

Vito Andolini Corleone
Vito Corleone, as portrayed by Marlon Brando in The Godfather
First appearance	The Godfather
Created by	Mario Puzo
Portrayed by	Marlon Brando (age 53–63), Robert De Niro (age 25–31), Oreste Baldini (child)
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Olive oil importer, Mafia boss
Title	The Godfather, Don
Family	Corleone family
Spouse(s)	Carmela Corleone (1914–1955, his death)
Children	Santino "Sonny" Corleone (deceased, 1916-1948), Frederico "Fredo" Corleone (deceased, 1919-1959), Michael Corleone (deceased, 1920-1997), Constanzia "Connie" Corleone (1923-), Thomas "Tom" Hagen (adopted, deceased, 1960s or 1970s)
Relatives	Antonio Andolini (father, died 1901) Signora Andolini (mother, died 1901) Paolo Andolini (brother, 1887-1901)
Religion	Roman Catholic

Vito Andolini Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather and in Francis Ford Coppola's film series based on the novel, where he was portrayed by Marlon Brando in The Godfather and, as a young man, by Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II.

Premiere Magazine listed Vito Corleone as the greatest film character in history. He was also selected as the 53rd greatest film character by Empire.

The original mafia don of the Corleone crime family is Vito Corleone. He is depicted as an orphaned Sicilian immigrant who builds a Mafia empire. Upon his death at the end of the novel, his youngest son, Michael, succeeds him as the head of the Corleone family. Vito has two other sons, Santino ("Sonny") and Frederico ("Fredo" or "Freddie"), as well as a daughter, Connie, all of whom play major roles in the story. He also informally adopts Sonny's friend, Tom Hagen, who becomes the family's consigliere.

Vito oversees a business founded on gambling, bootlegging, and union corruption, but he is known as a generous man who lives by a strict moral code of loyalty to friends and, above all, family. He is also known as a traditionalist who demands respect commensurate with his status; even his closest friends refer to him as "Godfather" or "Don Corleone" rather than "Vito".