OT- Paul Sorvino passed on at 83
The great character actor Paul Sorvino has passed away. Best known for his role as mob boss Paul Cicero in Goodfellas, he had great range and appeared in countless films and t.v. series, including a stint on Law and Order. One of my favorite roles of his was as the fading, heroin-addicted Vegas crooner in The Cooler. Paul Sorvino has left a rich legacy. May he rest in peace.
Interestingly enough, I just watched Goodfellas for the first time (rather, the first time not on basic cable) last weekend.
Mr. Sorvino brought a solid performance to everything he appeared in. Rest in peace.
My random Goodfellas story:
It's a longer movie I guess, and at least some editions came via a double-sided DVD (instead of, e.g., two separate DVDs). The first time I watched it, I just popped it in. There was no slow build, it just hit the ground running, but I guess I didn't think too much of it. But after an hour, hour and a half, something like that, it was over, and I was really confused. That's when I realized it was a two-sided DVD, albeit without any clear marking of which side was which, and apparently I had watched the second half first (I never even noticed there weren't any opening credits, etc.). Things made a lot more sense after I watched the first half.
I know a lot of people are in love with scarface. And it has its moments. But scarface is nothing compared to Godfather or Goodfellas.
The real question is, Godfather(s) or Goodfellas. I personally take Godfather, but man, Goodfellas may be a top 10 all timer for me.
I think Dog Day Afternoon is better than Scarface (for pacino fans). But I agree.
To me, Godfather is the best, but I'll watch Goodfellas 100x more.
Godfather 1 & 2 (forget 3, please).
The neatly organized and swiftly played scenes where scores are settled.
The scene were Michael patiently and lovingly listens to old man Vito repeat his cautionary advice to the son he loves so dearly. Gets me every time ...
Wut. 2 was the worst!!!
Apsostasy.
Quote: Wut. 2 was the worst!!!
Reply: "I won't insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said."
😉👍
(W.F. Buckley)
Rotten tomatoes say:
- 97% Godfather
- 96% Godfather 2
- 68% Godfather 3
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you must have gotten 2 and 3 mixed up.
I'm very fond of Prize's Honor, the great character actor Bill Hickey as a godfather, which was especially creepy because he underplayed, as if ordering a murder were the same as giving someone candy.
EDIT: Prizzi's Honor.
Goodfellas is a great movie. The Godfather is the probably the best movie of all time…but it is sad that the TiKTok generation doesn’t have the attention span to watch these masterpieces. The Godfather Part 2 is excellent as well…but 3 is just awful. Watch The Offer on Paramount Plus if you like The Godfather…it is amazing it ever got made.
Ah, yes, the random "kids these days" post that makes no sense but people nod their heads.
Patience, patience. That generation will mature in their tastes and sensibilities. Speaking only for myself: I was a young, brash, impetuous fool too, until I wasn't. :-)
A classically trained tenor too!
RIP, Paulie Cicero.
Great singer as well.
edit: Vlad, I was slower typing!
He was so great in Goodfellas. One of my favorite lines from the movie: "Paulie may have moved slow, but it was only because Paulie didn't have to move for anybody"
RIP
”Don’t put too many onions in the sauce”
I am always fascinated by the person behind the personna. So I include the following for anyone who shares that level of interest:
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.
Sorvino lived in Los Angeles and Madison, Indiana. He had three children: Mira, Michael, and Amanda from his first marriage with Lorraine Davis. Mira Sorvino is an Academy Award winner and his son Michael Sorvino is an actor and graduate of Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.
On January 17, 2007, news reports detailed that he displayed a gun in front of Daniel Snee, an ex-boyfriend of his daughter Amanda, after the man pounded on her hotel room door and made threats. Amanda testified that Snee threatened to kill her at a hotel on January 3 in Stowe, Vermont. She said she locked herself in the bathroom and called both the police and her father. Her 67-year-old father showed up before police, she testified. When police arrived, the young man was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, she said. As a deputy sheriff in Pennsylvania, Sorvino was legally authorized to carry a gun in different states. He did not point the gun at Snee or threaten him.
In March 2008, Sorvino and his daughter Amanda lobbied with the Americans Against Horse Slaughter in Washington, D.C., for Congress and the Senate to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. The Sorvinos run a private horse rescue in Gilbert, Pennsylvania.
Sorvino was an accomplished sculptor, specializing in cast bronze. In December 2008 his sculpture of the late playwright Jason Miller was unveiled in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In addition, he guest-starred on the 2008 album of Neapolitan singer Eddy Napoli, Napulitanata, performing a duet of the song "Luna Rossa".
In 2007, Sorvino launched Paul Sorvino Foods to market a range of pasta sauces. Based on his mother's recipe, the product appeared in supermarkets in the northeastern United States in late 2009. Three years later, Sorvino became part owner in Janson-Beckett Cosmeceuticals.
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."
After several years of ill health, Sorvino died at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, on July 25, 2022, aged 83.
Rest In Peace, you fascinating man. The world is a bit darker without you.
Paul Sorvino's acting chops are without question. His daughter Mira's performance in Mighty Aphrodite is, sadly, largely forgotten. RIP Paul and condolences to your very talented family.
As accomplished as he was I remember him most for being in tears at the Academy Awards when his Daughter won the Oscar. I bet that was more rewarding to him then anything he ever accomplished himself.
Yep, it works that way when your kids do well.
Absolutely!
Sorvino lived in Los Angeles and Madison, Indiana.
Uh, what? I like Clifty Falls as much as the next guy, but c'mon.
I was surprised not only to see Madison Indiana but that he was 83. I thought he was older for some reason.
Hi, Beta,
Thanks for sharing Sorvino's extensive background.
One footnote about his sculpture of the late playwright Jason Miller:
Sorvino was in Jason Miller's Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning play, That Championship Season, which brought fame to both Miller and Sorvino.
Thanks! Good to know. I'm now rarely surpised when I hear just how small and tight knit some professions are.
He had some pretty interesting roles apart from "Goodfellas" too. A lot of people will remember him as Phil Ceretta in the early days of "Law & Order" too, but he was also in a fairly underrated film called "A Touch Of Class", as well as in "Reds" with Warren Beatty, where he played Louis Fraina, who helped found the American Communist Party. Trekkies like me remember him as Nikolai Rozhenko, Worf's brother via adoption. He really did bring a great presence to every role.
He also had quite the turn as Lord Capulet in Romeo + Juliet, talk about bringing presence to a role!
Tommy's a bad kid, a bad seed. What am I supposed to do? Shoot him?
Fuck you, pay me…
Oh, you had a fire in the kitchen?
Tommy's a bad kid, a bad seed. What am I supposed to do? Shoot him?
That wouldn't be a bad idea...
If you liked Goodfellas, then you’ll love Pallies by Mr Show
RIP Paulie
The man who taught me how to cook. You will be missed.
Vinny, don’t put too many onions in the sauce!!
Between Ray Liotta, Tony Sirico and now Paul Sorvino (all of which were in Goodfellas), it feels like the Goodfellas scene where everyone associated with the Lufthansa heist started turning up dead...
We'll miss you Eddie Valentine!
Lousy few months for the casts of Godfather and Goodfellas, two of the all-time great films.
First Ray Liotta, then Tony Sirico, and now Paul Sorvino. All within the span of what seems like a month or so.
Please can someone tell us where Joe Pesci is and if he’s okay.
Not been a good year for the Wiseguy genre.
Ray Liotta, Paulie from the Sopranos, James Caan last week, now Paul Sorvino.
RIP.
Underrated role in “The Rocketeer”.
