A spokesman for Ruddy said that he passed away “peacefully” at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles on Saturday and that one of his last remarks was, “The game is over, but we won the game.”
In addition to The Godfather, Million Dollar Baby, and The Longest Yard, he produced almost 30 more motion pictures.
Among his television credits were Walker Texas Ranger and Hogan’s Heroes.
The Godfather, starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, and Robert Duvall, was a box office and critical success and is now regarded as one of the most cherished and frequently mentioned films in history.
“Al Ruddy was absolutely beautiful to me the whole time on The Godfather; even when they didn’t want me, he wanted me,”
Clint Eastwood, who would later work with Ruddy on Million Dollar Baby, his second best picture triumph in 2005, presented Ruddy with the best picture Oscar in 1973.
Ruddy himself appeared in The Godfather as a character in 2022, the film’s 50th anniversary of its premiere.
Based on Ruddy’s experiences, The Offer, a Paramount+ miniseries about the film’s production, starred Miles Teller, star of Top Gun: Maverick and Whiplash.
