'The Sopranos' Actor Dead at 80: Richard Romanus Played Richard La Penna

Richard Romanus, best known for his role in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and in David Chase's The Sopranos, has died. He was 80 years old. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor passed at a private Greek hospital on Dec. 23, according to a statement by his son.

Apart from his appearances in high-profile gangster properties, in polar opposite roles, Romanus was also a prolific voice actor. He appeared as cabbie Harry Canyon in the original Heavy Metal in 1981, adding other Ralph Bakshi project roles in previous years.

On The Sopranos, Romanus had a memorable run across four episodes as Lorraine Bracco's Jennifer Melfi's husband, Richard LaPenna. His outspoken status on his ex-wife's situation with Tony Soprano echoed real-world debates by Italian-Americans and gave them a representative in the heart of the series.

It's a far cry from his famous Mean Streets role, where he plays a loan shark who goes up against Robert DeNiro's Johnny Boy Civello over a debt. This has deadly consequences later in the film, with a cameo from the director himself. Scorsese talked a bit about their scene in Andy Dougan's 2011 book on De Niro (H/T THR).

"Something had happened between Bobby and Richard because the animosity between them in that scene is real, and I played on it," the director is quoted saying in the book. "They had gotten on each other's nerves to the point where I think they really wanted to kill each other. I kept shooting take after take of Bobby yelling all these insults while the crew was getting very upset."

Romanus was born in 1943 and later graduated from Xavier University with a degree in Philosophy. This led to a short year in law school before leaving to go study acting at Lee Strasberg at Carnegie Hall.

He would later have roles on several popular TV shows, including Mission: Impossible, Rhoda, Kojak, The Rockford Files, and the original Hawaii Five-O. He also was also part of the regular cast on ABC's Strike Force, alongside Unsolved Mysteries host Robert Stack.

He is survived by his son, his second wife, Oscar-nominated costume designer Anthea Sylbert, and his younger brother, Robert Romanus. The latter should be best known as Mike Damone from Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Rest in peace.