The Godfather features Vito Corleone.
The Godfather . The story , spanning 1945 to 1955 , chronicles the family under the patriarch Vito Corleone , focusing on the transformation of Michael Corleone ( Pacino ) from reluctant family outsider to ruthless mafia boss . Vito Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo 's novel The Godfather and in the first two of Francis Ford Coppola 's three Godfather films , in which he was portrayed by Marlon Brando in The Godfather and then , as a young man , by Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II .