Actor Paul Sorvino, known for his work in "Goodfellas" and "Law & Order" died at 83 of natural causes, reported Variety Magazine.
Sorvino's wife Dee Dee, posted on Instagram, saying “I am completely devastated. The love of my life & the most wonderful man who has ever lived is gone. I am heartbroken.”
Sorvino was the father to well known actress Mira Sorvino who posted on social media about her loss: “My father the great Paul Sorvino has passed. 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.”
Mira continued, “I love you very much, Dad. I always looked at great performances and was so moved by how much other people’s hearts made me feel as a child. And I wanted to be an actor who could move other people and make other people see something about the human spirit, and you’ve made me feel that I’ve made a small step towards that. So thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.”
Greek American actor John Stamos tweeted a post which included a video with him and the late Sorvino: #RIPPaulSorvino Paulie played my father in Grandfathered. I would just follow him around and prompt him to do lines from #Goodfellas - and he was indeed a Good Fella- we'll miss you." tweeted Stamos.
Ralph Macchio also remembered his Lost Cat Corona co-star as “one of the truest and honest actors I had had the pleasure of working with and getting to know” whilst Forest Whitaker paid tribute to Sorvino writing “It was very special to get to sit quietly with the great Paul Sorvino, talking through the games of life. I’m sending much comfort and love to his family, and wish them all eternal blessings, love, and light.”
RESOURCE | ABOUT PAUL SORVINO
Paul Anthony Sorvino was an American actor, opera singer, businessman, writer, and sculptor. He often portrayed authority figures on both sides of the law and was known for his roles as Paulie Cicero (based on Paul Vario) in the 1990 gangster film Goodfellas, and NYPD Sergeant Phil Cerreta on the TV series Law & Order. He took on supporting roles in A Touch of Class, Reds, The Rocketeer, Nixon, and Romeo + Juliet. He was the father of actors Mira Sorvino and Michael Sorvino.
Sorvino was born and raised in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, a borough of New York City. His mother, Angela Maria Mattea (née Renzi; 1906–1991), was a homemaker and piano teacher who was born in Connecticut of Italian (Molisan) descent. His father, Ford Sorvino, was an Italian (Neapolitan) immigrant who worked in a robe factory as a foreman. He attended Lafayette High School (where he was a classmate of painter Peter Max) and the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.
In an April 2014 interview, Sorvino said, "Most people think I’m either a gangster or a cop or something, but the reality is I’m a sculptor, a painter, a best-selling author, many, many things—a poet, an opera singer, but none of them is gangster, but, you know, obviously I sort of have a knack for playing these things. It’s almost my later goal in life to disabuse people of the notion that I’m a slow-moving, heavy-lidded thug, and most people’s impression of me IS that—because of the success of Goodfellas and a few other things, but they forget that I was also Dr. Kissinger in Nixon, the deaf lawyer in Dummy, and they forget a lot of things that I’ve done. It would be nice to have my legacy more than that of just tough guy."
Before screening his film Once Upon a Time in Queens at the Florida Film Festival at Orlando, Florida in April 2014, Sorvino revealed that he writes rhymed and metrical poetry and recited one of his own works as an example.
In December 2014, Sorvino married political pundit Dee Dee Benkie after meeting her on Your World With Neil Cavuto.
In January 2018, Sorvino learned that Harvey Weinstein allegedly sexually harassed his daughter, Mira, and then blacklisted her within the film industry after she rejected Weinstein's sexual demands. In response, Sorvino told TMZ, "He's going to go to jail. Oh yeah. That son of a bitch. Good for him if he goes, because if not, he has to meet me. And I will kill the motherfucker. Real simple. If I had known it, he would not be walking. He'd be in a wheelchair. This pig will get his comeuppance. The law will get him. He's going to go to jail and die in jail."
[Wiki]