Tom Hagen

Tom is the only son of the house who isn't Corleone by blood. Sonny found him on the street, and Vito raised him. He became a lawyer, he is Vito's counselor and he runs the daily business. When a Hollywood producer refuses a favor, Tom flies to Los Angeles to persuade him, and the answer arrives in the producer's bed. In the war with the Tattaglias, he is kidnapped and taken to Sollozzo, who wants to use him as a messenger. The family doubts he has the cold blood of a wartime counselor.

After the attack on Vito, Tom is kidnapped by Sollozzo's men and taken to him. Sollozzo wants Tom to persuade Sonny to accept the drug deal and to push Vito aside. Tom returns with the message, but Sonny refuses. Earlier, Tom had already gone to Hollywood, where producer Woltz refused to give singer Johnny Fontane a part. The next morning, Woltz wakes up next to the head of his favorite horse.

In 1958, Michael leaves the Lake Tahoe compound after an attack and puts Tom in charge. Tom is the one who blackmails Senator Geary, who is left with a dead woman in his room and no way out. Tom is the one who tells Michael about Kay's loss. And Tom is the one who brings Frank Pentangeli's brother from Sicily to the Senate hearing, so the old capo takes back his testimony against the family. His loyalty is complete, but he watches Michael grow colder each year.

In Part III, Tom is already dead before the story begins. Robert Duvall didn't return because of a pay dispute with the studio, and Francis Ford Coppola rewrote the script. In Tom's place comes a new lawyer, B. J. Harrison, played by George Hamilton. The part is smaller, and Tom's absence is felt: Michael no longer has his adopted brother beside him for the decisions that change the family.

Tom Hagen was born in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather. Robert Duvall played him in the first two films and was Oscar-nominated for Best Supporting Actor for the first. He doesn't return in Part III because he asked for a salary close to Al Pacino's and didn't get it.