It has been announced that actor Paul Sorvino, best known for his roles in films including “Goodfellas” and “Law & Order,” has died. He was 83 years old.
His spokesperson, Roger Neal, confirmed that he died of natural causes at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, on Monday morning. Over the past few years, Sorvino had been plagued by health concerns.
We are devastated by the loss of our beloved husband and one of the finest actors to ever grace the cinema and stage,” his wife, Dee Dee Sorvino, said in a statement. He was “the love of my life,” she added.
Throughout his more than half-century in the entertainment industry, Sorvino has played a variety of roles, including an Italian American communist in Warren Beatty’s “Reds,” Henry Kissinger in Oliver Stone’s “Nixon,” and a crime boss in “The Rocketeer.”
While he was best renowned for his roles as criminals, he was also a great poet, painter, and opera singer.
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His mother was a piano teacher, while his father worked as a robe manufacturing foreman; Sorvino was musically oriented from an early age and attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York. It was in “Bajour” on Broadway in 1964 that he had his stage debut, and in “Where’s Poppa? “, a Carl Reiner picture, he made his film debut.
Sorvino’s 6-foot-4 frame gave him a commanding presence in whichever media he appeared in. With Al Pacino and James Caan he appeared in “The Gambler,” reteamed with Reiner in “Oh, God!” and was part of the cast of “The Brink’s Job,” directed by William Friedkin. Slow Dancing in the Big City” is the sequel to John G. Avildsen’s “Rocky” and has a romantic starring role for Sorvino alongside professional ballerina Anne Ditchburn.
The 1990s were his busiest year, starring in Dick Tracy as Lips, Paul Cicero in Goodfellas as Paul Vario, and 31 episodes of Law & Order as Dick Wolf’s Dick. “Rocketeer,” “The Firm,” and “The Rocketeer” were among the films in which he had a starring role “As Fulgencio Capulet, the father of Juliet in Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet,” for which he was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award.
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Throughout his career, Beatty relied on Sorvino frequently, including in his 1998 comedy “Bulworth” and his 2016 love letter to Hollywood, “Rules Don’t Apply.” Also in James Gray’s “The Immigrant,” he appears.
In his first marriage, Sorvino had three children, including Mira Sorvino, an Academy Award-winning actress. “The Trouble with Cali,” written and starring his daughter Amanda Sorvino and son Michael Sorvino, was another film he directed and appeared in.
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, he said that if he had known that his daughter Mira had been one of the women reportedly sexually harassed and blacklisted by Harvey Weinstein, he would have done something about it “Wouldn’t be out for a walk. He’d be confined to a wheelchair at this point.”
The best supporting actress Oscar went to his daughter for “Mighty Aphrodite” in 1996, and he wept when he learned of it. When asked about his feelings that night, he told the Los Angeles Times that he didn’t have the words to do so.
Aside from Italian, he had never heard of such words in any other language.
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As news of her father’s death spread, Mira Sorvino turned to Twitter to express her sorrow.
“My father, the great Paul Sorvino, has died away,” she stated in a message. “My heart has been shattered by the loss of a lifetime of love, laughter, and wisdom. He was a fantastic father. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. As you soar, I’m sending you my love in the heavens.”
Sorvino aspired to be recognized for his talents as a singer in addition to his acting. As a part of a PBS fundraising campaign, “Paul Sorvino: An Evening of Song” was shown on television in 1996. Torna A Surriento, Guaglione, O Sole Mio, The Impossible Dream, and Mama were among the songs sung.
In an interview with The Tampa Tribune, Sorvino claimed, “I’m a pop singer in the sense Mario Lanza was. “It amazes me that no American male vocalist can sing with a full voice anymore,” he continues. Inquiringly, “Where are all the tenors?”
He believed that the weight of his voice made it harder to practice. This is “like putting a bus in a VW parking spot,” he remarked.
The late dramatist Jason Miller, whose bronze monument stands in Scranton, Pennsylvania, was the inspiration for one of his other projects: a horse rescue run out of Pennsylvania. On Broadway in 1972, Sorvino performed in Miller’s Tony- and Pulitzer-winning play, “That Championship Season.”
When he married political journalist and wife-to-be Dee Dee Benkie in 2014, he stated that he wanted to “disabuse people of the impression that I’m a slow-moving, heavy-lidded thug.” Like many of the actors in “Goodfellas,” he had mixed feelings about the image he left behind.
“My appearance and demeanor lead most people to believe that I’m either a gangster, or a cop. When it comes down to it, I’m an artist of many different kinds—a best-selling novelist, a sculptor, a poet, an opera singer—and none of them are criminals.” “I’d like to establish a legacy that goes beyond just being a tough person.”
‘Another genuinely lovely fella is gone,’ celebs say in tribute to Sorvino.
On Thursday, Sorvino’s co-stars flocked to Twitter to pay tribute to him, sharing memories of their time on set with him as well as clips from some of his most memorable performances.
According to Jason Alexander, “he was wonderful in all the incredible film/tv parts he played,” including Baker’s Wife on Broadway, Shakespeare in the Park, and many others. “May God’s blessings be upon his loved ones.”
“A terrific unforgettable actor,” Viola Davis said of Sorvino.
Forest Whitaker gushed, “It was a privilege to sit quietly and talk through the games of life with the brilliant Paul Sorvino.” “My thoughts and prayers are with his family at this difficult time. May God’s peace, love, and light be with them always.”