Sonny Boy', the must-have memoir

Al Pacino's candid autobiography bares all

Thanks to The Godfather, Al Pacino's haunted visage will go down in history as a devoted member of the Sicilian Mafia. Or perhaps a refugee-turned-drug lord from Scarface. Although of course, to those who gravitate towards more sedately-paced entertainment, Pacino will forever be the gruff blind colonel who danced the tango and brought a private school to its knees in Scent of a Woman.

Whichever part of the spectrum you land on, the next must-have item for the Pacino fan has to be Sonny Boy, the Hollywood legend's eye-opening autobiography. As Pacino takes you onto a journey in his 1940s childhood and beyond, here is what awaits you should you pick up his memoir.

Defining memories

Out of all the anecdotes that could have made it into this book, one of the core memories the Godfather star opted for was an iron bar hitting him "directly between the legs", as he tap-danced along a rainy fence, resulting in "such pain" that a passerby carried him to his aunt's house. "I thought God, please take me now," writes Pacino. The accident-prone actor-to-be also found himself trapped under thin ice four years later, but managed to survive.

Of course, childhood injuries are part and parcel of the human condition, but when it comes to Hollywood stars, the one question on everyone's minds is how often they have dabbled in drugs. "It may surprise you to know I've never touched the stuff," Pacino notes about cocaine. Whilst the man may have tried Valium and "harder stuff", his overall relationship with drugs was defined by him losing three childhood friends to heroin overdoses, as well as losing his mother to a drug overdose when he was 22.

Amusing anecdotes

The other thing readers scour celebrity memoirs for is amusing tales involving other celebrities, or interesting encounters that almost never happen to those outside a showbiz world (such as an exciting but non-threatening kidnapping.) Pacino, it transpires, fulfils both criteria. Writing about the time he met Jackie Kennedy in 1979 in his dressing room after a performance of Richard III, Pacino pens, "So elegant and beautiful, just radiating class. And as I slumped in my chair, I put out my hand for her to kiss it." Whether or not the object of his affection did as he wished remains a mystery, but what we know is the encounter still has the power to make Pacino squirm. "Please tell me, what's wrong with me?" he writes.

As for being kidnapped, Pacino has indeed lived to tell the tale. Recalling that he had been out drinking with Gene Hackman's brother in the '70s when a woman offered to take him home. It was only after they had started moving in the wrong direction that Pacino realised something was amiss. That, and the woman's brazen declaration of her intentions. "She said straight out, 'I'm kidnapping you.'" However, Pacino had not grown up in a tough New York neighbourhood for nothing. "I am from the South Bronx. When I see some crazy person trying to do something to me, I know how to escape … This ain't happening to me, man." Pacino swiftly opened the door as if to jump out - which proved to be enough high-octane drama for his kidnapper, who then consented to drive her would-be victim home instead.

Tangoing with debt

As a world-famous film star, Pacino reveals that his relationship with money has always been tenuous. "I didn't understand how money worked," he confesses in his memoir. For his role in The Godfather, the actor paid $35,000. According to him, once shooting finished, he was still in debt and lived off his then-girlfriend, Jill Clayburgh. Pacino recalls that he earned more from The Godfather Part II and Dog Day Afternoon, but candidly admits that in the years that followed, he was "spending and not earning; I was putting out but I wasn't bringing in."

It was not until fellow actor and then-girlfriend Diane Keaton dragged him to his attorney's office that turned Pacino's financial woes around. "Do you know who he is?" she yelled at the lawyer. "You're going to tell me, 'Oh, he's an artist.' No. He. Is. An idiot. He's an ignoramus. When it comes to this, you've got to take care of him." In a mark of how much she cared, Keaton also supplied Pacino with the script for thriller Sea of Love, which rescued him from the trenches of financial ruin.

Lifestyles of the rich

and famous

By the mid-2000s, however, Pacino was once again mired in debt - although this will come as little surprise when you learn that he had three children, a large entourage, 16 cars, 23 mobile phones, and a $400,000 landscaper for a house he didn't live in. To go on holiday to London, Pacino would charter a private jet and rent out a whole floor of the Dorchester hotel so his children could be near the sights.

"I had $50 million, and then I had nothing," shares Pacino. "I had property, but I didn't have any money." In a bid to stem this haemorrhaging of money, Pacino fired his accountant and filmed the cross-dressing comedy Jack and Jill, courtesy of Hollywood star Adam Sandler. "To be honest, I did it because I didn't have anything else," he admits. "Adam Sandler wanted me, and they paid me a lot for it."

Pacino's memoir proves that someone or something will always wrangle a Hollywood star out of debt. For now, his money troubles may be under control, but even if he never lands another film, there is always Scarface as backup. "The residuals still support me," observes Pacino. "I can live on it. I mean, I could, if I lived like a normal person."