The Oscar-winning The Godfather producer Al Ruddy has died at the age of 94 after a brief illness, it was shared on Tuesday.
His work had recently come to light in the smash hit series The Offer, where Miles Teller played Ruddy as he put together the epic Francis Ford Coppola gangster movie The Godfather from 1972.
Ruddy also worked on the Clint Eastwood-directed movie Million Dollar Baby starring Hilary Swank in 2004.
And long before his success in movies, Al co-created the TV classic, Hogan’s Heroes, which ran for six seasons.
Ruddy passed away on May 25 at the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Los Angeles after a brief illness, a family spokesman said.
Ruddy earned two Best Picture Oscars for producing The Godfather and Million Dollar Baby.
Clint Eastwood, Al Pacino, Miles Teller and Hilary Swank have shared tributes.
Al Pacino reflected: ‘Al Ruddy was absolutely beautiful to me the whole time on The Godfather; even when they didn’t want me, he wanted me. He gave me the gift of encouragement when I needed it most and I’ll never forget it.’
‘He was a great friend of mine and I will deeply miss him,’ Eastwood said in a statement Tuesday.
Added Swank: ‘It was the best of times working with [Al]. He will always be a legend in my and everyone’s book.’
Ruddy’s life story was explored in The Offer.
‘Al was truly one of the great Hollywood mavericks,’ The Offer director Dexter Fletcher said in a statement.
‘One of the last Mohicans who created great movies which still influence and inspire to this day. From humble beginnings to the highest of Hollywood accolades. His was an incredible journey. Achieved through the sheer power of his determination, strong will, irrepressible energy and charm and a rarely matched love for the art of film.’
Teller said in a statement: ‘It was an honor and a privilege to portray Al in The Offer. Al lived a life most could only dream of and all would envy.’
Arnold Schwarzenegger said, ‘Al Ruddy was a Hollywood legend. He was an absolute icon and a visionary who made some of the best movies of all time. That’s the Al Ruddy everyone knows.
‘I want to talk about the Al Ruddy I know. I met him more than 40 years ago, when he was already an icon and I was just starting my film career. He became a dear friend and a mentor,’ added The Terminator star.
‘He was always there to give me advice and lead me in the right direction. People like Al are why I refuse to be called a self-made man. Where would I be without him? My life wouldn’t be what it is without fantastic people like him who have been there every step of the way. I was inspired by how he worked his ass off while always being there for his family. Al showed you really can have everything.
‘He loved his family, and they loved him. He also might have been one of the world’s greatest storytellers. Whether he was talking about being threatened by real mafia heavy hitters while he was making the Godfather or telling a story about his kids, it didn’t matter. When Al talked, everyone listened.’
As the sole producer of The Godfather, Ruddy took home the Oscar for Best Picture at the 45th Academy Awards.
Clint Eastwood presented him with the prize.
Three decades later Ruddy and Eastwood won Best Picture together for producing Million Dollar Baby.
Ruddy was also good friends with Burt Reynolds. Together they made The Longest Yard and The Cannonball Run films.
Ruddy was married for 43 years to Giorgio Armani fashion executive Wanda McDaniel. Along with his wife, Ruddy is survived by his son, John; daughter, Alexandra; and son-in-law Abdullah Saeed, a screenwriter.
Respecting Ruddy’s wishes, no public funeral service will take place. Memorial services are pending, according to Deadline.
This comes after Oscar-winning producer and casting director Fred Roos died at age 89, just four days shy of his 90th birthday.
Francis Ford Coppola who worked with Roos on The Godfather films led tributes, as well as actress Aubrey Plaza who stars in Coppola’s latest film Megalopolis.
‘Fred Roos possessed a casting instinct that was near infallible: so beautifully demonstrated in AMERICAN GRAFFITTI and THE OUTSIDERS,’ Coppola, 85, wrote in his tribute, alongside a picture of the pair together.
He added: ‘He was a great lifelong friend and collaborator with above all a true love for movies.
‘I remember once telling him that we needed to find more women directors but that we should look for them among kids playing with 8mm movie-making equipment rather than dolls — and he came up with kids named Martha Coolidge and Susan Seidelman.
‘He was a unique talent and will certainly be missed,’ added Coppola.
Plaza, 39, shared a photo of Roos to her Instagram Story. ‘Thank you Fred,’ she wrote. ‘It was an honor to know you…’
Shia LaBeouf, who also stars in Megalopolis, wrote on X (formerly Twitter, ‘The nights flame with fire. As you ride life straight to perfect laughter. Fred Roos – I loved you alot.’
Author SE Hinton paid tribute to Roos after he and Coppola worked on the 1983 screen adaptation of her book The Outsiders.
‘Just lost a good friend & supporter of mine, Fred Roos, the legendary casting director,’ she wrote in a post. ‘Would have been 90 today. Working til the very end. I will miss him.’
Rob Lowe, who played Sodapop Curtis in The Outsiders, also thanked Roos for providing the actor with his big break.
‘Saddened to hear of the passing of Fred Roos. Every movie lover should know his name,’ he wrote on X.
‘He was a casting genius and responsible for the careers of: Harrison Ford, Al Pacino, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Tom Cruise and the rest of The Outsiders cast (including me), and many others,’ added Lowe, 60. ‘Thank you, Fred and godspeed.’
Roos was born May 22, 1934 in Santa Monica, California, where he majored in theater arts and motion pictures at UCLA.