A Prized Horse Meets an Untimely End at a Long Island Mansion in ‘The Godfather’

The massive site was initially developed by financier Howard Gould, son of notorious robber baron Jay Gould, and his wife, Katherine Clemmons, who commissioned architect Augustus N. Allen to design a 100,000-square-foot residence on the premises in 1902. Katherine wasn’t too keen on the finished product, though, which was dubbed Castle Gould. So Howard went back to the drawing board, pegging the Hunt & Hunt firm to build a second mansion nearby, this one a 50,000-square-foot Tudor that the couple named Hempstead House. (That property recently made an appearance on the Netflix series “Inventing Anna.”)

In 1917, following a much-publicized divorce, Gould sold the two residences, as well as the surrounding acreage, to mining magnate Daniel Guggenheim and his wife, Florence, who made Hempstead House their primary residence. Six years later, they gifted 90 acres of the spacious land to their son, Harry, and his new bride, Caroline Morton. Architect Frederick J. Sterner, working in conjunction with the Polhemus & Coffin firm, was tasked with designing a house for the couple in the style of a 13th-century French manor. Towering atop a craggy bluff overlooking the Long Island Sound, the Guggenheims dubbed their new home “Falaise,” French for “cliff.”

Grand in every way, the sprawling estate boasts a decidedly Medieval feel with multiple turrets, stone walls, arched doors and windows and a handsome façade fashioned out of Dutch brick. Tucked against the residence’s southern side is a serene courtyard that initially served as a rose garden but was repurposed into a massive pool in the early years of the Guggenheims’ tenure.

According to an NYC-ARTS special about Falaise, the interior is outfitted with beamed ceilings, immense fireplaces, rich woodwork and furnishings Harry and Caroline picked up during their year-long European honeymoon which they embarked upon with Sterner in tow.

When Daniel Guggenheim passed away in 1930, Florence relocated to a smaller estate nearby, later donating both Hempstead House and Castle Gould, along with 162 acres, to the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences. The properties then fell into the hands of the U.S. Navy before being acquired by Nassau County in 1971. Upon Harry’s passing later that same year, Falaise was also willed to the County, with the stipulation that it be kept intact. All three mansions are now part of Sands Point Preserve, a sprawling park and cultural center that offers numerous events, performances, celebrations and presentations throughout the year.

The grounds are currently open to the public each Wednesday through Sunday and while tours of the estates are typically offered, they have been put on hold temporarily due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Today, Falaise still looks much as it did when Harry and Caroline first moved in, though one notable change was made to the interior. At the time of his death, Guggenheim’s extensive collection of books was donated to the United States Naval Academy. As such, the shelves of Falaise’s library were left empty. Upon learning this fact, Harry’s good friend Charles Lindbergh, who spent much time at the estate and even wrote his autobiography “We” on the premises, donated his own collection of tomes to fill the shelves, which remain there today. The aviator’s Ford Falcon also still sits parked on the grounds.

And for a $15 fee, visitors are invited to see it all (during non-Covid times, at least), including the many rooms that appeared in “The Godfather,” though, unfortunately, indoor photography is not permitted.

According to the 1997 book “The Godfather Legacy” by Harlan Lebo, filming at Falaise took place on May 21 and May 22, 1971, with the infamous horse’s head bit lensed on the morning of day two.

The shoot made use of several areas of the estate, most famously the dining room, which was transformed into Woltz’s bedroom, complete with an elaborate bed the studio rented for the occasion. It is in the grand enclave that Jack awakens to discover Khartoum’s severed head beneath the sheets.

In notes Coppola compiled prior to the filming, which are featured in “The Godfather Notebook,” he wrote of the scene, “If the audience does not jump out of their seat on this one, you have failed. Too much in the Corman Horror film tradition would also be a mistake. One must find the perfect balance of horror without losing the thread of the overall film. Deliver it and get out.”

To achieve the desired effect, an actual horse’s head, which the production team secured from a rendering plant in New Jersey, and a plethora of Karo corn syrup mixed with red food coloring were utilized. Set decorator Philip Smith told Lebo, “We added Karo blood to the bed, according to Coppola’s direction. Before every new take, we would add more blood. The level of  Karo blood began to move up the bed toward John Marley like the tide; first to his knees, then to his crotch. Soon the sheets were soaked and Marley was covered.”

Falaise’s living room was also transformed into a dining room for an earlier scene in which Woltz emphatically rebuffs Corleone’s offer over dinner, telling Hagen, “A man in my position can’t afford to be made to look ridiculous!”

The ornate mantle visible behind the studio head in the segment was acquired by the Guggenheims from a chateau in France, as was the estate’s grand staircase.

Woltz’s stables can also be found at Falaise, though they look quite a bit different today, as evidenced in a photograph published in a recent Newsday article.

In “The Godfather Legacy,” Lebo notes that Coppola had originally planned to shoot the Woltz mansion segments on location in Los Angeles, but budgetary restrictions wound up preventing that. So filming instead shifted to Falaise, which was closer to the production’s New York base. The estate proved only viable for interior scenes, though. He writes, “Because the front exteriors of the Guggenheim mansion, built in the style of a baronial hunting lodge, looked nothing like a studio mogul’s residence, Coppola filmed the exterior of a real Hollywood mansion after principal photography concluded.” 

While Woltz’s residence is described by Puzo in the book as being plantation in style, for the film, Coppola alternatively went with the decidedly Mediterranean Hearst Estate, which just recently sold in September 2021 for a whopping $63.1 million.

But according to “The Annotated Godfather,” in a mindblowing piece of trivia, Duvall and Marley never actually shot on the premises! Author Jenny M. Jones writes that for the scenes involving “Hagen and Woltz walking around the grounds, the second unit filmed extras with wigs and hats to avoid having to pay actors Robert Duvall and John Marley,” with dialogue captured at Falaise dubbed over the footage. This tidbit becomes glaringly obvious when viewing the Blu-ray version of the movie, though audiences of the day were none the wiser.

Regardless of the trickery, Coppola’s goal of finding the “perfect balance of horror without losing the thread of the overall film” was certainly met! Fifty years later, the scene is still one of the most talked-about in movie history!