Paul Sorvino, a legendary actor known for his imposing presence in films like Goodfellas, has died at 83.
Sorvino, who also starred in Law & Order and was the father of Oscar-winning actor Mira Sorvino, passed away from “natural causes after suffering health issues over the past few years,” according to Deadline, who cited a statement released by Sorvino’s publicist, Roger Neal.
The publicist’s statement was on behalf of Sorvino’s wife, Dee Dee Sorvino, who was right beside the actor when he took his last breath. Dee Dee wrote,
“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.”
In addition to Dee Dee and Mira, Sorvino has two other children, including an actor and producer, Michael Sorvino, TMZ reports.
Although the Brooklyn-born Sorvino would later go on to star as an actor in the entertainment business in an acclaimed stage, film, and television career spanning 50 years, he originally started out his work life as a copywriter at an ad agency before getting his big break on Broadway with the 1964 musical Bajour.
Sorvino was said to be musically-inclined from an early age, which brought him to attend school at The American Musical Dramatic Academy in New York. It was there his first connection to the theater was formed, according to The Washington Post. Six years after Sorvino’s debut on Broadway, he would go on to make his first appearance in a film with the Carl Reiner-director movie Where’s Poppa? from 1970.
Arguably, Sorvino’s most prolific period was in the 1990s, where he played the mobster Paul Cicero in Martin Scorsese’s iconic gangster epic Goodfellas, as well as a number of other roles in movies and TV, including Dick Tracy, The Rocketeer, Nixon, Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, and The Firm, the latter of which garnered him a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.
After his daughter Mira became a public accuser of notorious movie producer Harvey Weinstein, amidst the #MeToo movement, Sorvino was reportedly incensed on her behalf, according to TMZ.
Sorvino was also reportedly moved to tears decades earlier when Mira picked up an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for 1995’s Mighty Aphrodite.
Rest in peace, Paul Sorvino.
