Paramount / Wikipedia
Morgana King, the musician and actress best known for portraying Vito Corleone’s wife in the first two Godfather movies, died earlier this year at the age of 87. King died in Palm Springs, California, on March 22, but her death—reportedly from blood cancer non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma—wasn’t reported until Wednesday. As well as her starring role as Mrs. Corleone, King was a critically acclaimed jazz singer who performed in nightclubs for more than 50 years and recorded about 20 albums, the Los Angeles Times reports. She’d never acted before being cast in the role of Carmela Corleone. She had few spoken lines but appeared in the memorable wedding scene, singing the Italian song “Luna Mezz’o Mare.” King said she “knew the culture, the psychology” of the world of The Godfather from her Sicilian-born parents.