Al Pacino recalls harrowing near death experience during COVID-19

Al Pacino has lived a life filled with incredible moments, but one of the most pivotal was his near-death experience with COVID-19. 

In his upcoming memoir, Sonny Boy, Pacino recounts the terrifying ordeal.

"I thought I experienced death," Pacino, 84, revealed to People magazine. 

"I might not have, but I know I made it." He paused, reflecting on the severity of his illness. "Everybody thought I was dead. How could I be dead? If I was dead, I fainted."

Pacino's memories of that day are vivid. "When I opened my eyes, there were six paramedics in my living room. An ambulance was outside my door, and two of my doctors wore space suits, like they were on Mars. I thought, 'What happened to me?'"

He logically concluded, "I couldn't have died because how did all those people gather together, the ambulance in front of my house?" 

The Godfather actor credits his assistant Michael Quinn for swiftly calling paramedics when his nurse couldn't find a pulse.

"He got the people coming," Pacino recalled. "The nurse taking care of me said, 'I don't feel a pulse on this guy.'" Quinn's quick thinking potentially saved Pacino's life.

Later, while reflecting on his brush with death, Pacino referenced Shakespeare's Hamlet: "'No more. To be, or not to be.' And then he says, 'No more.' And it's no more. Well, it's not. I don't know, who knows?" The 84-year-old actor acknowledges the fragility of life.