Paul Sorvino dead: ‘Goodfellas,’ ‘Law & Order’ actor dies at 83 – National | Globalnews.ca

Paul Sorvino, an actor whose bread and butter was play gangster And tough guy police, is dead. He was 83 years old.

“Our hearts are broken, there will be no other Paul Sorvino, he was the love of my life, and one of the greatest actors I’ve ever been on screen and stage,” his wife, Dee De Sorvino, said in a statement.

Sorvino’s publicist, Roger Neal, confirmed that he died of natural causes on Monday morning.

Some of Sorvino’s most notable roles include Pauli Cicero. goodfellas and on the New York Police Sergeant law & Order,

He also made a name for himself playing Warren Beatty, an Italian-American communist. redsHenry Kissinger in Oliver Stones Nixon and mob boss eddie valentine Rocketeer,

Despite his strict exterior and penchant for forceful roles, Sorvino was passionate about poetry, painting and opera.

Born in 1939 in Brooklyn to a mother who taught piano and a father who was a robe factory foreman, Sorvino was musically inclined from an early age and attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York, where he studied theater. fell for. He made his Broadway debut in 1964 Bajaur and his debut in Karl Renner’s film where is papa? in 1970.

Sorvino had three children from his first marriage, including an Academy Award-winning actor. Mira Sorvino,

When he learned that his daughter was among the women allegedly sexually assaulted and blacklisted by Harvey Weinstein in the middle of the #MeToo calculation, he told TMZ that if he had known, Weinstein “would not have been running.” he will be in a wheelchair,

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sorvino was a respected tenor singer and was Invited to perform for the New York Opera at Lincoln Center in 2006. The outlet reports that while he was a mainstay at hotels in the Catskills as a teen, his struggle with asthma made him focus on acting.

His frequent roles as a man on the wrong side of the law resulted in his onscreen presence being confronted by many for who he really was.

“There are many people who think that I am actually a gangster or a mafia, the main reason for this goodfellas,” he once said. “I think that’s the price you pay for being effective in a role.”

Despite often playing the bad guy, people took to social media on Monday to pay respect to the actor and his softer side.

Sorvino’s wife confirmed to THR that her husband would be buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

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, With files from the Associated Press