R.I.P. Paul Sorvino

R I P Paul Sorvino
Paramount Pictures

Another great veteran character actor has left us today as Paul Sorvino, famed for playing burly forceful types, died earlier today from natural causes in Florida at the age of 83.

Sorvino, the father of Oscar-winning actress Mira Sorvino, had a strong career spanning a half-century and incorporating many memorable roles – arguably the most famous as garlic slicing Cicero in Scorsese’s “Goodfellas”.

Sorvino also portrayed James Caan’s bookie in “The Gambler,” Juliet’s father in Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Henry Kissinger in Oliver Stone’s Nixon (1995), mob boss Tony Moroito in Sydney Pollack’s “The Firm,” Al Pacino’s police captain boss in William Friedkin’s “Cruising,” gang leader Eddie Valentine in Joe Johnston’s”The Rocketeer,” a government agent in Mike Nichols’ “The Day of the Dolphin,” and a strung-out heroin addict in Wayne Kramer’s “The Cooler”.

He regularly worked with Warren Beatty on his directorial efforts like “Dick Tracy,” “Reds,” “Bulworth” and “Rules Don’t Apply”. His long list of film credits includes “The Panic in Needle Park,” “The Day of the Dolphin,” “Oh, God!,” “That Championship Season,” “The Stuff,” “Mambo Italiano,” “Perfume,” “Hey Arnold! The Movie,” “Repo! The Genetic Opera,” and “Kill the Irishman”.

Sorvino was no stranger to TV either. For a full season he played Det. Phil Cerretta, the partner of Chris Noth’s Det. Mike Logan, on NBC’s “Law & Order”. He was a regular on CBS’ “That’s Life,” he played Worf’s human brother on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and Bruce Willis’ father on “Moonlighting,” guest starred on many series from “Murder She Wrote” to “Elementary” and “The Goldbergs”. Most recently, he had a major role as Frank Costello on Epix’s”Godfather of Harlem”.

Source: THR