Ray Liotta’s ‘Black Bird’ Co-Star Taron Edgerton Reveals Star Was ‘In Ailing Health’ During Show

According to one of Ray Liotta’s co-stars in one of his latest projects, signs of the Goodfellas star health not being in the best shape may have been showing at least a year before his seemingly sudden death. Liotta died in his sleep at a Dominican Republic hotel in May 2022 at the age of 67. He was on location filming the movie Dangerous Waters at the time of his death. His Black Bird co-star Taron Egerton recently did an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live where he revealed the late Liotta was “in ailing health” in “a frail way” while they filmed their Apple TV+ series last Spring. 

Working with Liotta was a dream com true for the 32-year-old. “I did an Instagram post about this but it’s a story I do like telling, I stepped on set and he was kind of in his own world. He wasn’t really engaged in his environment. Sometimes actors can be… we’re a weird bunch, we do weird stuff so I thought I’d leave him to it, give him his space and across the room he sort of caught my eye and just stood up, walked towards me in a sort of frail way. He’s in ailing health in the show and he just embraced me and we stayed that way for a little while. It was kind of weird but really nice as well. I said, “I’m really glad we’re doing this,” and he said, “Me too.” And he didn’t say anything to me for that first day other than what we said to each other in character. We had a few weeks of filming together and it was a really amazing experience for me, it just brought this presence, this reality in contrast with the kind of toughness of him.”

Edgerton describes Liotta as his “superhero.” He gave some behind-the-scenes secrets about the filming process and how Liotta was a true professional. “He read the script and agreed to it in under 24 hours, he was so excited about it and I didn’t know what to expect because his performances are characterised by menace, he’s an intimidating figure in every movie,” he said.