Paul Sorvino, the tough-guy actor — and operatic tenor and figurative sculptor — known for his roles as calm and often courteously quiet but dangerous men in films like Goodfellas and television shows like Law & Order, died on Monday. He was 83.
His publicist, Roger Neal, confirmed the death, at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.
Goodfellas (1990), Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed Mafia epic, came along when Sorvino was 50 and decades into his film career. His character, Paulie Cicero, was a local mob boss — lumbering, soft-spoken and ice-cold.
“Paulie might have moved slow,” says Henry Hill, played by Ray Liotta, his neighbourhood protégé in the film, “but it was only because he didn’t have to move for nobody.”
Sorvino almost abandoned the role because he couldn’t fully connect emotionally, he told comedian Jon Stewart, who interviewed a panel of Goodfellas alumni at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival. When you “find the spine” of a character, Sorvino said, “it makes all the decisions for you”.
