http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/
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 online. Perhaps these details exist in the director's (Francis Ford Coppola's) notebooks or elsewhere in the paperwork of this much-scrutinized film. 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.

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 outside the cemetery grounds. An aerial shot of Calvary from the opening of the Al Pacino film Dog Day Afternoon appears to have not touched Calvary soil. The Diocese which owns Calvary has strict rules which forbid filming of video on the cemetery grounds, but I do not know if those rules existed when "The Godfather" was filmed. A portion of Sufjan Stevens' "The BQE" was filmed at Calvary.

Screen grabs are all taken from The Godfather DVD Collection and are copyright Paramount Studios.
UPDATE 09.23.2009: Strange discovery at Calvary today. Read about it here]]> en-us sorabji.com Gallery 2 RSS Module, version 1.1.7 Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:34:54 -0500 360 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/d/9460-16/Godfather_at_Calvary.jpg http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/ http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/IMG_1908.JPG.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/IMG_1908.JPG.html
This picture was taken from above and behind the mausoleums. It shows a wider view of the area in which the scene was filmed, and where Vito Corleone's fictional burial would have occurred.]]> mark thomas photo Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:26:14 -0500 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/IMG_0044.JPG.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/IMG_0044.JPG.html
Vito Corleone's fictional burial in "The Godfather" would have occurred here.

There are, of course, real burials here. Most of them are unmarked.

If you decide to visit this site on your Godfather tour of New York, please do so with respect for the grounds. Calvary is a place of endless beauty, as I have found in my years roaming the grounds. I hope you will find time to discover what an amazing place this is, if not in person than vicariously through my Photos of Calvary Cemetery, Queens NYC

]]> mark thomas photo Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:29:18 -0500 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/cars_composite_01.jpg.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/cars_composite_01.jpg.html ]]> mark thomas photo Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:28:48 -0500 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/front_gate_composite.jpg.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/front_gate_composite.jpg.html
It is not the most inspiring cemetery entrance, but the Greenpoint Avenue entrance to Calvary looks no worse for wear in 2007 than it did when "The Godfather" was filmed.

Trees obscure it in my shot, but in the screen shot from the film, toward the left side, you can see the towering tombstone of the Lalor family. If you point your mouse over that part of the image you can read my transcription of that gravestone.

]]> mark thomas photo Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:35:22 -0400 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/1w_composite_01.jpg.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/1w_composite_01.jpg.html
My shot (bottom) is slightly off line compared to the film. I should have been a few steps to the right, but it's close enough for jazz.

Things do not change fast at cemeteries but they do change. It is interesting to me to compare these shots. Some tombstones are missing, others are sinking into the ground. The water spigot and two adjacent tombstones in the bottom left corner remain today (the water spigot is a bit off balance now), but a tall white marker with a cross seen in the bottom middle of the movie screen shot is completely gone today.

]]> mark thomas photo Sat, 28 Mar 2009 12:21:05 -0400 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/daly_composite_01.jpg.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/daly_composite_01.jpg.html
These three screen grabs provide the most important clue to the exact location of the fictional burial site of Vito Corleone. That clue is the Daly marker seen at the left side of the screen. The Daly marker is the only readable tombstone from the funeral scene of "The Godfather." It also turned out to be a somewhat perplexing piece of the puzzle, as we will see in a moment.

In the second picture the camera pulls back a bit, showing the BQE/Kosciuszko Bridge rising up in the background.

The Daly marker remains on screen for several seconds as the camera pans to the left. In the third picture the Hildreth and Garry mausoleums are seen in the background, the first letters of the Hildreth structure the only readable name in this image.

]]> mark thomas photo Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:28:48 -0500 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/IMG_1187_cropped.jpg.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/IMG_1187_cropped.jpg.html
This is a close-up of the location coordinates of the Daly marker. The Daly marker is located at Section 1W, Range 18, Plot P, Grave #17. The funeral scene from "The Godfather" was filmed in the area behind this marker, shown in the next and final picture of this series.

]]> mark thomas photo Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:29:18 -0500 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/IMG_1194.JPG.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/IMG_1194.JPG.html
Here is the Daly marker shown from the back. This is the approximate angle from which the marker is seen in the film. It is here, also, where things get a little perplexing.

If you recall which way this marker faces in "The Godfather" you might say "That can't be the right Daly marker. It's facing the wrong way."

This is true. In the film the name "Daly" on this marker faces west. Today the name faces east, toward the mausoleums and more in the direction of the BQE/Kosciuszko Bridge.

With all other evidence indicating that this was the location of the Daly marker seen in "The Godfather" I conclude that the tombstone was knocked over, completely or in part, at some time during the 30+ years between the filming of this scene and the day these pictures were taken. This sort of vandalism is common at all cemeteries, and any visit to Calvary or most large cemeteries will include sightings of toppled tombstones.

When the Calvary Cemetery groundskeepers discovered this toppled marker and re-assembled it I think they simply put the top part on backwards.

Looking at side-by-side photos and comparing the details of the marker today and the marker seen in the film, there appear to be chips at a couple of places on the cross today, evidence (perhaps) that this marker took a tumble.

Things change slowly at cemeteries but they do change. While it faces a different direction today, I have no doubt that this is the same Daly marker from the funeral scene of "The Godfather." Everything else adds up: the position of the mausoleums, the BQE/Kosciuszko, even the dot at the end of the name Daly on the tombstone.]]> mark thomas photo Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:52:35 -0400 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/IMG_1185_cropped.jpg.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/IMG_1185_cropped.jpg.html
Here it is! This is the Daly marker seen in the funeral scene of "The Godfather" standing strong today as it has since the early 1880s.

With this photo I am proud to raise the Daly family up from the obscurity of their grave and give them their rightful credit as extras in "The Godfather." :-D The tombstone reads:

ERECTED BY THE CHILDREN IN MEMORY OF THEIR BELOVED PARENTS
THOMAS DALY, DIED FEB 13 1887 AGED 80 YEARS
BRIDGET DALY, DIED MAY 6 1880 AGED 66 YEARS
ALSO THEIR BELOVED BROTHER
JOSEPH DALY, DIED JAN 30 1880 AGED 45 YEARS

The area behind this marker is where Al Pacino and the others sat. This marker has a lot of unmarked graves behind it, leaving lots of unimpeded ground for the cast and film crew to set up shop.]]> mark thomas photo Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:58:44 -0400 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/vlcsnap-82113.png.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/Godfather_at_Calvary/vlcsnap-82113.png.html
This monument to Vito Corleone is merely a prop. No grave marker even remotely resembling this marker exists at Calvary. If you intend to visit Calvary with the hope of finding this marker you will be disappointed. This Corleone grave marker as it appears in the film is the source of one of many gripes I have with the funeral scene from "The Godfather." It is possible that Vito Corleone would have arranged to have this handsome marker placed at his burial plot in advance of his death. It is unlikely, though, that this or any tombstone would have the date of death (July 28, 1955) engraved on it in time for the funeral. I have other complaints about the editing of this scene, but don't get me started.]]> mark thomas photo Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:13:25 -0400