Paul Sorvino, Actor in ‘Goodfellas’ and ‘That Championship Season,’ Dies at 83
The Tony-nominated star played bad guys as well as cops, including Det. Phil Cerretta on 'Law & Order.'
He was not on the list.
Paul Sorvino, the burly character actor who made a career out of playing forceful types, most notably the coldhearted mobster Paulie Cicero in Martin Scorsese’s GoodFellas, has died. He was 83.
Sorvino, the father of Oscar-winning actress Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite) and actor Michael Sorvino, died Monday of natural causes, his wife, Dee Dee, announced.
“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 said.
Wrote Mira on Twitter: “My heart is rent asunder — a life of love and joy and wisdom with him is over. He was the most wonderful father. I love him so much. I’m sending you love in the stars Dad as you ascend.”
Publicist Roger Neal said he died at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.
During a solid career that spanned a half-century, Sorvino portrayed James Caan’s bookie in The Gambler (1974), Claire Danes’ pushy father in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet (1996), Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Oliver Stone’s Nixon (1995) and a strung-out heroin addict in The Cooler (2003).
He played a founder of the American Communist Party in Warren Beatty’s Reds (1981) and worked alongside the actor-director again in Dick Tracy (1990), Bulworth (1998) and Rules Don’t Apply (2016).
A respected tenor who realized a dream when he performed for the New York Opera at Lincoln Center in 2006, the Brooklyn native also starred for a season as Det. Phil Cerretta, the partner of Chris Noth’s Det. Mike Logan, on NBC’s Law & Order.
In 1973, Sorvino received a Tony nomination and a Drama Desk Award for his performance as the unscrupulous Phil Romano — one of the four former high school basketball players who reunite to visit their old coach — in the original Broadway production of Jason Miller’s That Championship Season, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
He reprised the role for a 1982 film, then played the coach in a 1999 Showtime telefilm for which he also made his directorial debut. He returned to Scranton, Pennsylvania, the setting of That Championship Season, to star in and helm his only feature, The Trouble With Cali (2012).
Still, Sorvino is probably best known for his turn as Cicero, who loved a good meal and sliced his garlic with a razor blade, in the ultra-violent GoodFellas (1990), which Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese adapted from Pileggi’s 1986 nonfiction book.
In a 2015 New York Times piece on the 25th anniversary of the movie, Sorvino said he was overjoyed to get the part — and scared to death.
“I’d done a lot of comedies as well as dramas, but I’d never done a really tough guy. I never had it in me,” he said. “And this [part] called for a lethality, which I felt was way beyond me. 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. 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.’ “
A commanding 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds in his prime, Sorvino also played men on the wrong side of the law in The Panic in Needle Park (1971), William Friedkin’s The Brink’s Job (1978), The Rocketeer (1991) and The Firm (1993).
“There are many people who think I’m actually a gangster or a mafioso, largely because of Goodfellas,” he once said. “I suppose that’s the price you pay for being effective in a role.”
He could be a big softie, though. When his daughter took the stage to accept her best supporting actress Oscar in 1996, Sorvino was seen in the audience, weeping joyfully.
Sorvino was born on April 13, 1939, in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. His father was an Italian immigrant who worked in a robe factory, and his mother was a housewife and piano teacher. His parents argued frequently, and he spent time living in California with his mom before graduating from Lafayette High School in 1956.
Sorvino said he was always fascinated with the human voice and sang in Catskills hotels as a teenager. He took lesson after lesson and dreamed of becoming an opera singer, but an affliction with asthma made him focus on acting.
He attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, studied with Sanford Meisner and William Esper, and cut his chops on the stage.
Learning to control his asthma with breathing exercises — he would later found the Sorvino Children’s Asthma Foundation and pen a 1985 book, How to Become a Former Asthmatic — Sorvino made his Broadway debut as a singing patrolman in the musical comedy Bajour in 1964.
Sorvino appeared on the screen for the first time in Carl Reiner’s Where’s Poppa? (1970), then played Joseph Bologna’s dad in Made for Each Other (1971), George Segal‘s movie-producer friend in A Touch of Class (1973) and a government agent in Mike Nichols’ The Day of the Dolphin (1973).
In 1975, Sorvino took a crack at a TV series when he played a middle-class New Jersey lawyer in We’ll Get By, a CBS show created by Alan Alda. The comedy, however, lasted just 12 episodes. The next year, he starred as a maverick cop in the Streets of San Francisco spinoff Bert D’Angelo, Superstar. That was canceled after 11 episodes.
Talking about his one season (1991-92) on Law & Order, Sorvino did not wax nostalgic. “I felt like I was in the Russian gulag,” he said. “There was absolutely no communication with the writers and the producers, and we had to work under the worst conditions.”
He quit the show, and Logan got a new partner, Det. Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach).
Sorvino also played the cop who sends Al Pacino undercover in Friedkin’s Cruising (1980) and portrayed detectives in I, The Jury (1982) and as the title character in another short-lived CBS show, 1987-88’s The Oldest Rookie.
He portrayed Bruce Willis’ father on ABC’s Moonlighting, and with Raymond Burr ailing, stepped in to play a visiting attorney in a Perry Mason telefilm, 1993’s The Case of the Wicked Wives.
He also starred with Ellen Burstyn and Kevin Dillon on the 2000-02 CBS dramedy That’s Life.
Sorvino’s résumé also included Reiner’s Oh, God! (1977), Slow Dancing in the Big City (1978), Bloodbrothers (1978), Lost and Found (1979), the 1979 telefilm Dummy, Turk 182! (1985), The Stuff (1985), A Fine Mess (1986), Money Talks (1997), Plan B (2001), Perfume (2001), Mr. 3000 (2004) and The Bronx Bull (2016).
More recently, he played Frank Costello on the Epix series Godfather of Harlem.
Actor (172 credits)
The Chameleon (TV Movie) (announced)
Chameleon
My Jurassic Place (filming)
Mr. McCormack
The Ride (post-production)
Paulie Amato
Pursued (completed)
Grandpa
2022 The Great American Heist (Documentary)
Cheech (voice)
2019-2021 Godfather of Harlem (TV Series)
Frank Costello
- The Bonanno Split (2021) ... Frank Costello
- Ten Harlems (2021) ... Frank Costello
- Sting Like a Bee (2021) ... Frank Costello
- The French Connection (2021) ... Frank Costello
- Chickens Come Home to Roost (2019) ... Frank Costello
Show all 13 episodes
2021 The Birthday Cake
Uncle Carmine
2020 Most Guys Are Losers
Grandpa
2019 Bad Impulse
Lou Branch
2019 Welcome to Acapulco
Senator Campbell
2019 Beneath the Leaves
Captain Parker
2018 Acts of Desperation
Chief Lassiter
2018/I Papa
Danny
2017 Bad Blood (TV Series)
Nicolo Rizzuto Sr.
- You Can Never Hold Back Spring (2017) ... Nicolo Rizzuto Sr. (credit only)
- When You Got Nothin'... (2017) ... Nicolo Rizzuto Sr. (credit only)
- Home is Where the Gun is (2017) ... Nicolo Rizzuto Sr.
- Feast or Famine (2017) ... Nicolo Rizzuto Sr.
- Pacifier (2017) ... Nicolo Rizzuto Sr.
2017 Executor
Father Antonio
2017 Price for Freedom
Shah of Iran
2017 Undercover Grandpa
Giovanni
2017 Abe & Phil's Last Poker Game
Phil
2017 Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (TV Series)
Dr. Dominico Scarpa
- II Mostro (2017) ... Dr. Dominico Scarpa
2017 Lost Cat Corona
Uncle Sam
2016 Rules Don't Apply
Vernon Scott
2016 The Red Maple Leaf
Joseph Palermo
2016 The Brooklyn Banker
Benny
2016 The Bronx Bull
Giuseppe LaMotta
2016/II Detours
Joe DiMaria
2016 Grandfathered (TV Series)
Jack Martino
- Jimmy's 50th, Again (2016) ... Jack Martino
2016 Chasing Gold
Frank
2016 The Bandit Hound
Chief Burton
2016/III As Long As We Both Shall Live
Jim
2016 Kidnapped in Romania
Alexandru Damian / Don Ciro
2016 Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival
God
2015 Cold Deck
Chips
2015 Sicilian Vampire
Jimmy Scambino
2015 No Deposit
Alfie
2015 Careful What You Wish For
Sheriff Big Jack
2015 The Hybrids Family
The Count
2014 A Place for Heroes
Vincent
2014 Iggy Azalea Feat. Rita Ora: Black Widow (Music Video)
Crime Boss
2014 The Goldbergs (TV Series)
Ben 'Pop Pop' Goldberg
- The Most Handsome Boy on the Planet (2014) ... Ben 'Pop Pop' Goldberg
2014 Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (TV Mini Series documentary)
Augustin Mouchot
- The World Set Free (2014) ... Augustin Mouchot (voice)
2014 A Winter Rose
Skippy
2014 Elementary (TV Series)
Robert Pardillo
- All in the Family (2014) ... Robert Pardillo
2013 Paulie (TV Movie)
Paulie
2013 Immigrant
Yeshiva Principal
2013 Foreclosed (Video)
Bud
2013 Once Upon a Time in Queens
Joe Scoleri
2013 How Sweet It Is
Big Mike Cicero
2012 Airship Dracula (TV Mini Series)
Bumbescu
2012 Divorce Invitation
Daniel Miller
2012 Jersey Shore Shark Attack (TV Movie)
Mayor Palantine
2012 For the Love of Money
Red
2012 Imaginary Friend (TV Movie)
Jonathan
2012 The Devil's Carnival
God
2012 The Trouble with Cali
Ivan
2011 God Don't Make the Laws
Lewis
2011 Kill the Irishman
Tony Salerno
2010 Mineville
Jacob Laremy
2010 Lily of the Feast (Short)
Benny
2009 Santa Baby 2: Christmas Maybe (TV Movie)
Santa Claus
2009 The Wild Stallion
Nolan
2009 Triggerman (TV Movie)
Sheriff Roy Baseheart
2009 Doc West (TV Movie)
Sheriff Roy Basehart
2008 Repo! The Genetic Opera
Rotti Largo
2008 Wives' Tales (TV Series)
Tarcisio
- Episode #1.4 (2008) ... Tarcisio
- Episode #1.2 (2008) ... Tarcisio
- Episode #1.3 (2008) ... Tarcisio
- Episode #1.1 (2008) ... Tarcisio
2008 Carnera: The Walking Mountain
Ledudal
2008 Last Hour
Maitre Steinfeld
2007 Greetings from the Shore
Catch Turner
2006 L'onore e il rispetto (TV Mini Series)
Beniamino
2004-2006 Still Standing (TV Series)
Al Miller
- Still Deceitful (2006) ... Al Miller
- Still Bill Vol.1 (2005) ... Al Miller
- Still Not the One (2005) ... Al Miller
- Still Bill's Dad (2004) ... Al Miller
2005 Mr. Fix It
Wally
2004 Goodnight, Joseph Parker
Charlie
2004 Jack & Bobby (TV Series)
President Eugene Lorio
- The Kindness of Strangers (2004) ... President Eugene Lorio
2004 Mr. 3000
Gus Panas
2003 Mambo Italiano
Gino Barberini
2003 Mafia Doctor (TV Movie)
Nicola
2003 The Cooler
Buddy Stafford
2000-2002 That's Life (TV Series)
Frank DeLucca
- Love's Labor (2002) ... Frank DeLucca
- Gutterball (2002) ... Frank DeLucca
- Behind Closed Doors (2002) ... Frank DeLucca
- Baum's Thesis (2002) ... Frank DeLucca
- Momento (2002) ... Frank DeLucca
Show all 36 episodes
2002 Hey Arnold! The Movie
Scheck (voice)
2002 Ciao America
Antonio Primavera
2001 Rhode Island Blue
2001 Witches to the North
Gallio
2001 Longshot
Laszlo Pryce
2001/I Plan B
Joe Maloni
2001 See Spot Run
Sonny Talia
2001 Perfume
Lorenzo Mancini
2000 The Family Man
Sydney Potter (scenes deleted)
2000 The Amati Girls
Joe
2000 The Thin Blue Lie (TV Movie)
Frank Rizzo
2000 Cheaters (TV Movie)
Constantine Kiamos
1999 Scriptfellas
Paulie
1999 Work with Me (TV Series)
Leonard
- Daddy's Little Lawyer ... Leonard
1999 Harlem Aria
Fabiano Grazzi
1999 That Championship Season (TV Movie)
Coach
1998 Houdini (TV Movie)
Blackburn
1998 Dead Broke
Harvey
1998 Knock Off
Harry Johanson
1998 Bulworth
Graham Crockett
1997 Blue Heat: The Case of the Cover Girl Murders (Video Game)
J.J. Davis
1997 Joe Torre: Curveballs Along the Way (TV Movie)
Joe Torre
1997 Most Wanted
Ken Rackmill
1997/I Men with Guns
Horace Burke
1997 Money Talks
Guy Cipriani
1997 Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man (TV Series)
Variecom CEO
- How to Suck in Business Without Really Trying (1997) ... Variecom CEO (voice)
1997 American Perfekt
Frank
1997 Dog Watch (Video)
Delgoti
1996 The Art of the Cigar (TV Movie)
Host
1996 Romeo + Juliet
Fulgencio Capulet
1996 Escape Clause (TV Movie)
Lt. Gil Farrand
1996 Love Is All There Is
Piero
1995 Nixon
Henry Kissinger
1995 Cover Me
J.J. Davis
1994 Without Consent (TV Movie)
Dr. Winslow
1994 Parallel Lives (TV Movie)
Ed Starling
1994 Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)
Dr. Nikolai Rozhenko
- Homeward (1994) ... Dr. Nikolai Rozhenko
1994 Backstreet Justice
Captain Phil Giarusso
1993 A Perry Mason Mystery: The Case of the Wicked Wives (TV Movie)
Anthony Caruso
1993 The Firm
Tommie Morolto (uncredited)
1991-1992 Law & Order (TV Series)
Sergeant Phil Cerreta / Phil Cerreta
- Point of View (1992) ... Phil Cerreta
- Prince of Darkness (1992) ... Sergeant Phil Cerreta
- Self Defense (1992) ... Sergeant Phil Cerreta
- Helpless (1992) ... Sergeant Phil Cerreta
- Wedded Bliss (1992) ... Sergeant Phil Cerreta
Show all 31 episodes
1992 The Last Mile (TV Short)
The Tenor
1991 Age Isn't Everything
Max
1991 The Rocketeer
Eddie Valentine
1991 Don't Touch My Daughter (TV Movie)
Lt. Willman
1990 DMZ
1990 Goodfellas
Paul Cicero
1990 Dick Tracy
Lips Manlis
1989 Murder, She Wrote (TV Series)
Al Sidell
- Three Strikes, You're Out (1989) ... Al Sidell
1987-1988 The Oldest Rookie (TV Series)
Det. Ike Porter
- Yessir, That's My Baby (1988) ... Det. Ike Porter
- Come Fly with Me (1987) ... Det. Ike Porter
- An Internal Affairs Affair (1987) ... Det. Ike Porter
- Ike and Son (1987) ... Det. Ike Porter
- Expert Witness (1987) ... Det. Ike Porter
Show all 8 episodes
1987 Almost Partners (TV Movie)
Detective Jack Welder
1986 Vasectomy: A Delicate Matter
Gino
1986 Moonlighting (TV Series)
David Addison Sr.
- The Son Also Rises (1986) ... David Addison Sr.
1986 A Fine Mess
Tony Pazzo
1986 Betrayed by Innocence (TV Movie)
Mike Vogel
1985 Chiller (TV Movie)
Reverend Penny
1985 The Stuff
Col. Spears
1985 Surviving (TV Movie)
Harvey
1984 Very Close Quarters
Kiril
1984 With Intent to Kill (TV Movie)
Doyle Reinecker
1984 My Mother's Secret Life (TV Movie)
Max
1983 Chiefs (TV Mini Series)
Sheriff Skeeter Willis
- Part 3 (1983) ... Sheriff Skeeter Willis
- Part 2 (1983) ... Sheriff Skeeter Willis
- Part 1 (1983) ... Sheriff Skeeter Willis
1983 Off the Wall
Warden Nicholas F. Castle
1982 That Championship Season
Phil Romano
1982 A Question of Honor (TV Movie)
Carlo Danzie
1982 I, the Jury
Detective Pat Chambers
1982 Melanie
Walter
1981 Reds
Louis Fraina
1981 Today's F.B.I. (TV Series)
Pete Kositchek
- The Bureau (1981) ... Pete Kositchek
1980 Cruising
Capt. Edelson
1979 Insight (TV Series)
Billie's Father
- A Friend in Deed (1979) ... Billie's Father
1979 Lost and Found
Reilly
1979 Dummy (TV Movie)
Lowell Myers
1978 The Brink's Job
Jazz Maffie
1978 Slow Dancing in the Big City
Lou Friedlander
1978 Bloodbrothers
Chubby De Coco
1977 Oh, God!
Reverend Willie Williams
1977 Seventh Avenue (TV Mini Series)
Dave Shaw
- Episode #1.3 (1977) ... Dave Shaw
- Episode #1.2 (1977) ... Dave Shaw
- Episode #1.1 (1977) ... Dave Shaw
1976 Bert D'Angelo/Superstar (TV Series)
Sergeant Bert D'Angelo
- Serpent's Tooth (1976) ... Sergeant Bert D'Angelo
- Scag (1976) ... Sergeant Bert D'Angelo
- What Kind of Cop Are You? (1976) ... Sergeant Bert D'Angelo
- Flannagan's Fleet (1976) ... Sergeant Bert D'Angelo
- A Concerned Citizen (1976) ... Sergeant Bert D'Angelo
Show all 11 episodes
1976 Angel and Big Joe (Short)
Big Joe
1976 The Streets of San Francisco (TV Series)
Sergeant Bert D'Angelo
- Superstar (1976) ... Sergeant Bert D'Angelo
1976 I Will... I Will... For Now
Lou Springer
1974-1975 We'll Get By (TV Series)
George Platt
- Cabin in the Rain (1975) ... George Platt
- Grandpa Wants In (1975) ... George Platt
- Dearly Beloved (1975) ... George Platt
- Getting Away from It All (1975) ... George Platt
- Did You Ever Need a Drink? (1975) ... George Platt
Show all 13 episodes
1974 Shoot It Black, Shoot It Blue
Ring
1974 It Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy (TV Movie)
Harry Walters
1974 The Gambler
Hips
1974 Tell Me Where It Hurts (TV Movie)
Joe
1974 Great Performances (TV Series)
Gloucester
- King Lear (1974) ... Gloucester
1973 The Day of the Dolphin
Curtis Mahoney
1973 A Touch of Class
Walter Menkes
1972 Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues
Taxi Driver
1971 Made for Each Other
Gig's Father
1971 Cry Uncle
Coughing Cop
1971 The Panic in Needle Park
Samuels
1970 Where's Poppa?
Owner of 'Gus & Grace's Home'
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