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Where was Vito Corleone Buried in "The Godfather?"

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Any "Godfather" fanatic worth their salt knows that the funeral scene in Part 1 of the "Godfather" trilogy was filmed at Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York.

How many people could tell you Vito Corleone's *exact* burial location? I mean *exactly* where would the burial have been? What section, range, plot and grave number?

Let's find out, as we click through this short series of pictures. Most of these photos are composite, showing how the cemetery looks today compared to how it looked in "The Godfather."

This photo essay began in March, 2007, when a Godfather fanatic named Allen sent me an e-mail. Allen had found my series of photos from Calvary Cemetery in Queens, and wanted to know if I could direct him to the exact site of the Corleone funeral.

To my surprise this information did not seem to be available anywhere online. Perhaps these details exist in the director's (Francis Ford Coppola's) notebooks or elsewhere in the paperwork of this much-scrutinized film.

Having spent many long and beautiful days roaming the grounds at Calvary this seemed like something I could figure out easily enough by studying the funeral scene from the movie.

I had not watched the movie in years, but when I found the scene on my DVD I immediately knew that the Corleone funeral was filmed in Section 1-West, with one camera shooting part of the scene from Section 1-South.

Determining the exact location of the fictional burial required a little more detective work. But I found it.

Step through this short photo series and I'll show you where the funeral scene was filmed. We'll also see some interesting "then and now" photos showing Calvary Cemetery as it looked in the film compared to how it looks today.

As far as I know Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" is the only mainstream movie to have filmed a scene on the grounds of Calvary Cemetery in Queens. The 2002 movie "Bad Company" (starring Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock) includes a scene filmed on Laurel Hill Boulevard, but that is outside the cemetery grounds.

Screen grabs are all taken from The Godfather DVD Collection and are copyright Paramount Studios.

The Procession Begins

The Procession Begins

Procession Route, Then and Now

Procession Route, Then and Now

Section 1-West, Then and Now

Section 1-West, Then and Now

Section 1-West, Street Level

Section 1-West, Street Level

First look at the Corleone tombstone

First look at the Corleone tombstone

The Vito Corleone Tombstone

The Vito Corleone Tombstone

First look at the Daly tombstone

First look at the Daly tombstone

The Daly marker today

The Daly marker today

Analysis of the Daly marker

Analysis of the Daly marker

The (almost) exact location of the fictional Corleone burial

The (almost) exact location of the fictional Corleone burial

Wider view of the Daly marker

Wider view of the Daly marker

Vito Corleone's Fictional Burial Site

Vito Corleone's Fictional Burial Site

Comments: 1
Map of the procession route

Map of the procession route

   
Page: 1

 

 
 
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