Mum tried to kill herself when I was 6.. but she saved me from a life of delinquency and drugs

AI Pacino credits his Oscarwinning success to his troubled mother who died from an overdose when he was 22 - even if she didn't want him to act.

- MARK JEFFERIES

The Godfather star, 84, was brought up by Rose and his grandparents in The Bronx after his mum and dad divorced when he was two, and he says she inadvertently shaped his career by taking him to the movies.

Pacino recalls a suicide attempt by Rose when he was six and later her death from an overdose in 1962, in an excerpt from his new book Sonny Boy: A Memoir published in The New Yorker this week.

The star also says he lost friends to drugs and that Rose saved him from a life of crime growing up in New York.

He titled the book after the nickname his mum gave him, which came from the popular song by AI Jolson.

Pacino, whose other acclaimed movies include Scarface and Dog Day Afternoon, writes: "My mother was a beautiful woman but she was emotionally fragile. She would occasionally visit a psychiatrist when Grandad had the money to pay.

"I wasn't aware that my mother was having problems until one day when I was six years old and getting ready to go out and play.