Paul Sorvino, a muscular character actor who made a career out of playing powerful types, most famously the heartless mobster Paulie Cicero in Martin Scorsese’s GoodFellas, has passed away. Sorvino was known for his work in films such as GoodFellas and Raging Bull. He was 83.
It was revealed on Monday that Sorvino had passed away due to natural causes. He was the father of Mira Sorvino, an actress who won an Academy Award for her role in the film Mighty Aphrodite.
“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,” she said.
He is claimed to have passed away at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, according to his publicist Roger Neal.
Sorvino had a successful career that spanned over half a century. During that time, he played a variety of roles, including a bookie opposite James Caan in the film “The Gambler” (1974), the overbearing father of Claire Danes in Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo and Juliet” (1996), Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Oliver Stone’s “Nixon” (1995), and a heroin addict in “The Cool (2003).
In Warren Beatty’s 1981 film, Reds, he played a founding member of the American Communist Party. He then collaborated with Beatty on the films Dick Tracy (1990), Bulworth (1998), and Rules Don’t Apply, all of which were directed by Beatty (2016).
