By Eric Andersson Eric Andersson Eric Andersson joined PEOPLE as a senior writer in 2022. His work has appeared in TV Guide Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and Us Weekly. People Editorial Guidelines Published on October 9, 2024 08:30AM EDT4 CommentsAl Pacino (left) wrote the new memoir ‘Sonny Boy.’. Photo:

Long before The Godfather turned themes of loyalty and betrayal into movie gold, Al Pacino learned a valuable lesson about the code of silence when he was just 6 years old.

In his new memoir Sonny Boy, out Oct. 15 from Penguin Press, Pacino recalls coming home to his tenement apartment in New York’s South Bronx, where he lived with his mom and grandparents. He told his grandfather about tattling on a misbehaving classmate.

For more on Al Pacino and Sonny Boy, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.

Al Pacino’s memoir, ‘Sonny Boy.’.

The famously private Scarface actor — who titled the book after the 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥hood nickname his mother, Rose, gave him from the Al Jolson song of the same name — says he wanted to leave a record for his loved ones, including his four 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren, Julie, 34 (with acting coach Jan Tarrant), 23-year-old twins Anton and Olivia (with actress Beverly D’Angelo) and Roman, 16 months (with producer Noor Alfallah).

And though his voice — still recognizable as the one that exclaimed “Hooooo-ah” in Scent of a Woman — may not be as strong as it once was, Pacino’s memory remains razor-sharp as he recalls 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥hood friends, family stories and tales from Hollywood during an hourlong conversation.

Al Pacino in 2023.

Professionally speaking, the next decade would be even better for Pacino, who was far from a household name when The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola saw him in a play and cast him as Michael Corleone in the 1972 mobster classic.

Pacino and his three eldest 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren in 2020: Anton, Olivia Pacino and Julia. Michael Buckner/Variety/Penske Media/Getty

As his profile rose thanks to films like Serpico, so too did his reputation as a too-cool-for-school snob who skipped awards shows and snubbed press opportunities.

His sobriety journey is just one of many deeply personal anecdotes Pacino includes in Sonny Boy.  “I’m surprised that I did say some of the stuff I said,” admits Pacino.

But unlike Scarface’s Tony Montana, Pacino, now single after a relationship with Roman’s mother, is very much alive.

His desire to continue acting — his film Modi, Three Days on the Wings of Madness, directed by good friend Johnny Depp, recently premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival —  is another motivator. “It saved my life,” he says. “And I think it continues to.”

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Sonny Boy comes out Oct. 15 from Penguin Press and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.