Paul Sorvino, an actor beloved for his tough-guy roles on either side of the law, has died. He was 83. Sorvino was best known for starring as the mobster Paul Cicero in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas and playing a detective in two early seasons of Law & Order. He was the father of Oscar winner Mira Sorvino.
Sorvino died of natural causes, his wife, Dee Dee, announced Monday. “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,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.
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Sorvino, who was born in Brooklyn on April 13, 1939, began his career in 1970 with a role in Carl Reiner’s Where’s Poppa?. He worked with the best of the best, starring with Al Pacino in The Panic in Needle Park and Cruising, James Caan in The Gambler, and George Segal in A Touch of Class. In 1981, he played the founder of the American communist party in Warren Beatty’s epic Reds.
His role in Goodfellas really cemented his status as a go-to actor for authority figures. He starred in Disney’s cult classic The Rocketeer, played Harry Kissinger in Oliver Stone’s Nixon, and was even Claire Danes’ father in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. His other movies included The Immigrant, Kill the Irishman, Rules Don’t Apply, A Winter Rose, The Last Poker Game, and The Birthday Cake.
In a 2015 interview with The New York Times, Sorvino said his role in Goodfellas left him scared. It was the first time he had played a tough-guy character. “This [part] called for a lethality, which I felt was way beyond me,” Sorvino recalled. “I called my manager three days before we started shooting and said, ‘Get me out. I’m going to ruin this great man’s picture, and I’m going to ruin myself.’ He, being wise, said, ‘Call me tomorrow, and if necessary I will get you out.’”
“Then I was going by the hall mirror to adjust my tie. I was just inconsolable,” Sorvino continued. “And I looked in the mirror and literally jumped back a foot. I saw a look I’d never seen, something in my eyes that alarmed me. A deadly soulless look in my eyes that scared me and was overwhelmingly threatening. And I looked to the heavens and said, ‘You’ve found it.’”
Sorvino also played police officers and mobsters on television. He joined Law & Order Season 2 in 1991 as Sgt. Phil Carreta, but he didn’t like the experience. “I felt like I was in the Russian gulag,” he once said. “There was absolutely no communication with the writers and the producers, and we had to work under the worst conditions.” His early departure paved the way for Jerry Orbach to join the show as Det. Lennie Briscoe.
Sorvino was a man of other talents, acting on the stage and singing opera. He earned a Tony nomination for playing Phil Romano in Jason Miller’s That Championship Season. (Sorvino played the part again in a 1982 film adaptation and directed a 1999 Showtime TV movie production.)
Sorvino is survived by his third wife, Dee Dee; his children Mira, Michael, and Amanda; and five grandchildren. Mira won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1996 for Mighty Aphrodite. Sorvino’s final film was The Birthday Cake, and he recurred on Epix’s crime drama Godfather of Harlem. ย
