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James Caan died at age 82 on July 6, 2022. The actor played several memorable roles, including Sonny in The Godfather. Caan earned his lone Academy Award nomination for the part, even though director Francis Ford Coppola cut one of his larger scenes. The awards circuit might have called Caan’s name more if he hadn’t turned down three Oscar-winning roles in the 1970s.

James Caan at the American Cinematheque Award honoring Al Pacino. Caan turned down three Oscar-winning roles in the 1970s, plus a handful of other parts that defined other actors' careers.
James Caan | E. Charbonneau/WireImage for American Cinematheque

1. Popeye Doyle in ‘The French Connection’

Gene Hackman picked up his third Academy Award nomination and first Oscar win for playing Popeye Doyle in 1971. The French Connection also picked up other wins, including best picture, at the 1972 Academy Awards. Caan was one of many actors considered for the lead role before the producers settled on Hackman.

Steve McQueen, Lee Marvin, and Robert Mitchum joined Caan in being offered the starring role, but they all turned it down, according to Mental Floss. Caan missed out on a potential Oscar when he declined The French Connection, but 1971 still proved to be a good year. The Bronx native acted opposite Billy Dee Williams in Brian’s Song, which is one of Caan’s signature movies.

2. R.P. McMurphy in ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’

Caan seemed to be the front runner for the role of R.P. McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The producers pursued him heavily, but he said no four times, as Mental Floss reported. 

Caan turned down the Oscar-winning role that Jack Nicholson eventually landed, which led to his first Academy Award. Not to take anything away from Nicholson’s performance, but we can easily picture Caan nailing McMurphy’s bravado, frustration, and eventual mental fracture.

3. Ted Kramer in ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’

The family drama and child custody battle at the heart of 1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer proved to be a hit with audiences and critics. But Caan turned down the Oscar-winning role of Ted Kramer, which eventually went to yet another first-time winner in Dustin Hoffman. Unlike One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, however, Caan said no to the part just once, and very emphatically. 

“I looked at it, and I said, ‘This is middle-class, bourgeois horse crap! This is crap! Cut to a kid crying all the time,’” Caan once said, according to Mental Floss. “I’m a genius.”

Other notable roles James Caan turned down

Caan turned down three Oscar-winning roles in the 1970s, and he also declined a handful of other parts that might have altered his career well before Rob Reiner helped him resurrect it.

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At the tail end of the 1970s, Caan turned down starring roles in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Roy Neary), Superman (title role), and Apocalypse Now (Captain Willard). 

Caan wanted a $1 million salary plus 10% of the gross to play Neary, so the producers looked elsewhere and landed on Richard Dreyfuss, according to IMDb. Coppola tried hard to get Caan to say yes to Apocalypse Now, but months away from home filming in an Asian jungle didn’t appeal to him, according to Mental Floss. 

Caan reportedly turned down the part of Han Solo, too. Though not an Oscar-nominated role, it would have certainly altered Caan’s acting legacy.

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