Monday, July 25, 2022

Paul Sorvino obit

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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