Attended City College of New York.
During rehearsals for John's notorious horse head bedroom scene in The Godfather (1972) a fake horse's head was used. For the actual day of shooting, however, a freshly severed horse's head was used from a slaughterhouse in New Jersey. The blood, however, was not real.
Father of Ben Marley.
Married twice and the father of four -- three children, Peter Marley, Julia Marley and Ben Marley, from his first marriage; one child, Alexis Marley, from his second.
Reprised his role as Jack Woltz for a lengthy Godfather parody by "SCTV" (1976) in 1981. Here he plays Leonard Bernstein (whom he closely resembled), who refuses to give Johnny Pavorotti (John Candy) the lead role in the "new war opera".