The Godfather made an unknown cat famous when he was thrown into Don Corleone's lap

A stray makes a cameo appearance

One of the most iconic scenes in Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 epic The Godfather was at the beginning. When Don Corleone (Marlon Brando) was sitting in his office on the day of his daughter's wedding, he had an unexpected visitor-a stray cat.

If you assumed this feline was a trained animal and a part of the plot, you would be mistaken. Coppola found the cat roaming around the Paramount lot and threw it in Brando's lap before shooting the scene. Ever the professional, the iconic actor did not break stride when a new scene partner was added.

A homeless, untrained cat stole the scene with an unexpected cameo appearance. But there was one glitch. The feline was happily purring loudly, which interfered with Don Corleone's voice being heard. After numerous takes, the crew had to do some audio wizardry so the viewing audience would not notice a thing.

Brando was said to have been an animal lover, so he would pet the cat and deliver his lines. The kitty playing along tells me two things. It was or had been domesticated and was not afraid of people. It also looked healthy so it was getting food from somewhere.

A ferel cat would not have complied

A wild stray cat would not have been hanging around the Paramount lot where there were actors, directors, stage crews, and lots of noise. A stray cat my grandchildren befriended in our neighborhood gave birth to two litters of kittens. As we and other neighbors fed them, they slowly became used to us. 

A few disappeared, but of the six that remain, one still will not allow human interaction even after two and a half years. A local organization trapped and spayed, and neutered them all, but that was the closest that black cat came to human touch.

She will lurk around until after we leave before she eats. Most times, she hides in a neighbor's shed, where we believe they sleep at night. The stray in The Godfather would not have sat still and been purring if it were ferel. It possibly would have been scratching and hissing and jumped from Brando's lap.

The Don's cat has made history

The backlot cat on The Godfather set was only in that one scene. There are many articles about it, but no one knows what happened after. Did Brando or someone else take pity on the animal and give him or her a home?

Perhaps it was let loose to live its previous life. Could the cat have belonged to someone who lived in the area and wandered to the set? Maybe some who worked for Paramount had been feeding the stray, which is why he or she was hanging around.

Coppola might have asked someone to give the kitty food and water and then sent her on her way after the scene was filmed. No one who worked on the movie ever mentioned that the cat continued to hang around. It would have been nice to see it in additional scenes, since it was implied it was Corleone's pet.

Sheer genius paid off

The Godfather, opening with the Don appearing calm and petting a cat while talking about murder, shows that people can be ruthless but also have a soft spot. Coppola's stroke of sheer genius paid off, but disaster could have struck.

If the cat did not have rabies shots and had begun scratching and biting, Francis Ford Coppola, his star Marlon Brando, and others might have been in trouble. A gamble on that paid off big time. The film was a hit, and the improvised scene with the stray cat is still being talked about six decades later.