Fact Check: Was the cat with Marlon Brando in The Godfather planned or just a stray?

Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, one of the greatest films of all time that brought "toughness" to Hollywood films, premiered in movie theaters over five decades ago, in March 1972.

But behind the film's toughened exterior, which revolved around an Italian-American crime family, one unlikely cameo brought softness to the intimidating figure of Marlon Brando's Don Vito Corleone—the cat.

Brando's character stroking a cat was among the most memorable opening sequences in one of the best films in history, which had audiences wondering if it was one of Coppola's, a director known to prefer panning, carefully laid plans for the scene. However, the cat sitting on Marlon Brando's lap in The Godfather was not part of the original plan for the scene but a stroke of genius improvisation from the director nonetheless.

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Marlon Brando's cat in The Godfather was an unplanned addition

The Godfather, widely considered to be Francis Ford Coppola's magnum opus, opened with a tight close-up of Salvatore Corsitto's Amerigo Bonasera's monologue. The camera slowly pulls away to reveal a man listening to Bonasera's pleading. It shows the back shot of the said man before the camera switches to reveal the character as Marlon Brando's Don Vito Corleone.

For those unfamiliar with the film, Brando's character is an immensely powerful man, the leading mafia don in New York City who can order someone's assassination without any legal repercussions. In the scene, Vito Corleone was holding and petting a white and gray feline lazily sitting on his lap.

From the viewer's perspective, Corleone is an immediate cue for someone evil, but the cat adds some complexity to his intimidating character. But what some viewers might not know is that the cat's cameo in the scene wasn't planned ahead of time. The cat wasn't supposed to be in the film, as Coppola had revealed in an interview with TIME Magazine in 2012. He said:

"The cat in Marlon's hands was not planned for... I saw the cat running around the studio, and took it and put it in his hands without a word."

While the feline cameo in the film was unplanned, thanks to Coppola's instinctive brilliance for impulsively incorporating the cat, it made one of the most iconic scenes in the film.

That said, he didn't give any information as to the origins of the cat, whether it was a friendly stray or a cat that belonged to someone on the set, or his thematic intentions for bringing the cat in.

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The feline cameo almost ruined the scene

While Marlon Brando's menacing character in The Godfather stroking a cat makes a brilliant opening sequence for the movie, it wasn't as smooth sailing during post-production.

In the scene, the cat seemed well-behaved and well-adjusted and can be seen rolling around on Brando's lap and headbutting his hand. However, the cat was purring so loudly that it almost ruined the scene. The TIME article explained:

"When the sound crew listened to Brando's dialogue, they couldn't understand a word he was saying and feared they would have to use subtitles."

Thankfully, the editors and sound crew did some magic to ensure that Marlon Brando's performance in the opening sequence of The Godfather wasn't lost in the see of the cat's purring.

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Watch The Godfather now streaming on Netflix.