Al Pacino details his experience with a really severe case of COVID-19 in 2020.
The legendary actor spoke with The New York Times ahead of the release of his next memoir, Sonny Boy. During the conversation, the Scarface star opened up about his near-death experience with the coronavirus before vaccines were available.
He explained that, at the time, he felt unusually unwell, eventually developing a fever and becoming dehydrated.
“So, I found someone to get me a nurse to hydrate me. I was sitting there in my house and I was gone. Like that. I had no pulse,” he said. “Within minutes they were there: the ambulance in front of my house. I had about six paramedics in that living room, and there were two doctors, and they were wearing these clothes that looked like they were from outer space or something like that.
Pacino admitted that it was “shocking” to open his eyes and see all this around him: “Everyone was around me and said, 'He's back. It's here,” he added.
When asked if his experience had any “metaphysical ripples,” the Oscar-winning actor said yes because he didn't see a white light or anything.
“There's nothing there. As Hamlet says, “To be or not to be”; “The unknown country from whose borders no traveler returns.” And he says two words: 'Never again'”, the Godfather star said. “It was no longer there. You're gone. I had never thought about it in my life. But you know actors: it sounds cool to say I died once. What is it when there is none left?”
As he's gotten older, the 84-year-old has noticed that his view of death has changed. He shared that he finds comfort in having children and knowing that he has a huge job that people will return to after he dies.
“It's natural, I guess, to have a different view of death as you get older,” Pacino said. “That's just the way things are. I didn't ask for it. It just arrives, like many things it just arrives.