Actor Paul Sorvino, who starred in “Goodfellas” and “Law & Order” died Monday at 83.
The actor’s publicist, Roger Neal, said the actor died in Indiana of natural causes. Dee Dee Benkie, his wife, was with him.
“Our hearts are broken, there will never be another Paul Sorvino, he was the love of my life, and one of the greatest performers to ever grace the screen and stage,” Benkie said in a statement, according to the Daily Mail
Benkie put the couple in the news last month when she posted a photo of Sorvino holding a gun.
She captioned the image: “You liberals who are talking about gun grabs. Try and come get our guns.”
The star was most famous for his role as Paul Cicero in the 1990 movie “Goodfellas.” Fellow cast members Ray Liotta and James Caan from the movie also passed away recently.
“There are many people who think I’m actually a gangster or a mafioso, largely because of ‘Goodfellas,’” he once said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “I suppose that’s the price you pay for being effective in a role.”
In 2015, The New York Times wrote about the movie on its 25th anniversary.
NEW YORK (AP) — Paul Sorvino, who acted on both sides of the law in ‘Goodfellas’ and on ‘Law & Order,’ has died at age 83. pic.twitter.com/Da0Es6W6RB
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 25, 2022
Are today’s actors as good as those who are passing away?
Yes: 3% (2 Votes)
No: 97% (69 Votes)
“I was overjoyed but very worried. I’d done a lot of comedies as well as dramas, but I’d never done a really tough guy. I never had it in me. And this called for a lethality, which I felt was way beyond me. I called my manager three days before we started shooting and said: ‘Get me out. I’m going to ruin this great man’s picture, and I’m going to ruin myself.’ He, being wise, said, ‘Call me tomorrow, and if necessary I will get you out,’” Sorvino said.
“Then I was going by the hall mirror to adjust my tie. I was just inconsolable,” he said.
“And I looked in the mirror and literally jumped back a foot. I saw a look I’d never seen, something in my eyes that alarmed me. A deadly soulless look in my eyes that scared me and was overwhelmingly threatening. And I looked to the heavens and said, ‘You’ve found it.’”
He played an Italian-American communist in “Reds,” Henry Kissinger in “Nixon” and mob boss Eddie Valentine in “The Rocketeer.”
Sorvino was known to TV fans as Sergeant Phil Cerreta on “Law & Order.”
A talented tenor, Sorvino performed for the New York Opera at Lincoln Center in 2006.
In 1973, Sorvino received a Tony nomination and won a Drama Desk Award for playing Phil Romano in the original Broadway production of “That Championship Season.”
Sorvino’s daughter is Academy Award-winning actress Mira Sorvino.
My father the great Paul Sorvino has passed. My heart is rent asunder- a life of love and joy and wisdom with him is over. He was the most wonderful father. I love him so much. I’m sending you love in the stars Dad as you ascend.
— Mira Sorvino (@MiraSorvino) July 25, 2022
“My father the great Paul Sorvino has passed. My heart is rent asunder- a life of love and joy and wisdom with him is over. He was the most wonderful father. I love him so much. I’m sending you love in the stars Dad as you ascend,” she tweeted after his death.
Sorvino was born on April 13, 1939, in Brooklyn.
