LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tony Sirico, who played the perfect gangster Paulie Walnuts on The Sopranos and gave his flair to movies like The Goodfellas, died Friday. 79 years old.
His manager, Bob McGowan, said Sirico died in a nursing home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. No immediate information was given about the cause of death.
A statement from the Sirico family confirmed the death of Gennaro Anthony “Tony” Sirico “with great sadness, but with incredible pride, love and many happy memories.”
McGowan, who has represented Sirico for more than two decades, is remembered as “honest and generous” with an open philanthropic streak. According to his manager, this included helping veterans, which benefited veterans.
Steven Van Zandt, who plays the outlaw Silvio Dante with Sirico in The Sopranos. hi on twitter as “legendary”.
“A bigger character on and off screen. I will miss you very much, my friend,” said the actor and musician.
Michael Imperioli, who plays Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos, described Sirico as “his beloved friend, colleague and accomplice”.
“Tony is unique: He’s as cool, honest and generous as anyone I’ve met,” Imperioli wrote on Instagram.
According to McGowan, Sirico hasn’t been bothered by a string of bad boy roles, including Peter Paul “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri from 1999-2007 in James Gandolfini’s famous HBO drama where he plays the mob boss Tony. Soprano. (Gandolfini died in 2013 at the age of 51).
“He doesn’t mind playing the mob, but he won’t act as an informant,” or “an informant,” as Sirico put it, McGowan said.
Born on July 29, 1942, in New York City, Sirico grew up in the Flatbush and Bensonhurst neighborhoods and says “every man is trying to prove himself. You must have a tattoo or a bullet hole.”
“I have both,” he told the Los Angeles Times in a 1990 interview, describing himself as “unstable” at the time of his life. According to him, he was repeatedly arrested for his crimes and imprisoned twice. During his final years behind bars in the 1970s, he saw a group of ex-cons perform and make acting mistakes.
“I watched them and thought, ‘I can do this. I know I am beautiful. And I know that I have the courage to stand up and (make) people angry,” he told the Times. “There are so many practices in prison. I used to stand in front of these cold-blooded killers and kidnappers and make them laugh.”
Sirico also broke the gangster stereotype by playing cops in Dead Presidents and Harry’s Showdown. Other work includes Woody Allen movies like Bullets Over Broadway and The Mighty Aphrodite, appearances on TV series like Miami Vice, and voice-over work on Family Guy and American Dad!
He was survived by a daughter of Sirico, Joanne Sirico Bello; son Richard Sirico; his brother, Robert Sirico, a priest; and other relatives.
Source: Breitbart
