Veteran
actor
Paul
Sorvino,
popular
for
his
role
in
Martin
Scorsese's
gangster
epic
Goodfellas
and
the
father
of
Oscar
Award-winner
Mira
Sorvino,
has
died.
He
was
83.
According
to
The
Hollywood
Reporter,
Sorvino
died
on
Monday,
July
25
of
natural
causes.
Publicist
Roger
Neal
said
Sorvino
died
at
the
Mayo
Clinic
in
Jacksonville,
Florida.
"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," his
wife
Dee
Dee
said.
Mira
Sorvino
took
to
Twitter
to
pay
tributes
to
her
father.
"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,"
she
wrote.
Paul
Sorvino
with
Robert
De
Niro
in
Goodfellas
Paul
Sorvino,
who
made
his
debut
with
Carl
Reiner's
Where's
Poppa?
in
1970,
starred
in
films
such
as
The
Gambler,
The
Brink’s
Job,
The
Firm,
Nixon,
Romeo
and
Juliet,
and
The
Cooler
in
his
career
spanning
50
years.
His
on-screen
partnership
with
actor-director
Warren
Beatty
was
especially
of
note
as
they
collaborated
on
films
such
as
Reds,
Dick
Tracy,
Bulworth
and
Rules
Don't
Apply.
Sorvino
also
starred
in
one
season
of
the
NBC
series
Law
&
Order,
on
which
he
played
the
role
of
Detective
Phil
Cerretta,
the
partner
of
Detective
Mike
Logan
(Chris
Noth).
Also
a
tenor,
the
actor's
dream
came
true
when
he
performed
for
the
New
York
Opera
at
Lincoln
Center
in
2006.
Back
in
1973,
Sorvino
received
a
Tony
nomination
and
a
Drama
Desk
Award
for
his
performance
as
the
immoral
Phil
Romano
in
the
original
Broadway
production
of
Jason
Miller's
That
Championship
Season,
winner
of
the
Pulitzer
Prize
for
drama.
Almost
10
years
later,
he
reprised
the
role
for
a
film.
He
played
the
coach
in
a
1999
Showtime
telefilm,
which
also
marked
his
directorial
debut.
In
2012,
Sorvino
starred
in
and
directed
his
only
feature
film
The
Trouble
With
Call,
which
he
based
in
Scranton,
Pennsylvania,
the
setting
of
That
Championship
Season.
Paul
Sorvino
with
Robert
De
Niro
and
other
cast
in
Goodfellas
But,
it
was
his
role
of
Cicero
from
the
1990
biographical
Goodfellas,
adapted
by
Nicholas
Pileggi
and
Scorsese
from
Pileggi's
1986
non-fiction
book,
that
earned
him
most
recognition
to
the
point
that
he
once
said
people
think
"I'm
actually
a
gangster
or
a
mafioso".
Sorvino
was
born
on
April
13,
1939,
in
the
Bensonhurst
section
of
Brooklyn,
to
a
father
who
was
an
Italian
immigrant
working
in
a
robe
factory,
and
mother,
a
housewife
and
piano
teacher.
The
actor
was
always
fascinated
with
the
human
voice
and
sang
in
Catskills
hotels
as
a
teenager.
He
even
took
lessons
to
realise
his
dream
of
becoming
an
opera
singer,
but
an
affliction
with
asthma
forced
him
to
focus
on
acting.
A
student
at
the
American
Musical
and
Dramatic
Academy,
Sorvino
cut
his
teeth
with
theatre
roles
making
his
Broadway
debut
in
the
musical
comedy
Bajour
in
1964.
His
first
TV
role
came
in
1975
with
We’ll
Get
By,
a
CBS
show
created
by
Alan
Alda,
which
he
followed
up
with
Bert
D’Angelo,
Superstar.
He
also
starred
with
Ellen
Burstyn
and
Kevin
Dillon
on
the
2000-02
CBS
dramedy
That’s
Life.
More
recently,
he
played
Frank
Costello
on
the
Epix
series
Godfather
of
Harlem.
Sorvino
married
his
third
wife,
Dee
Dee
Benkie,
a
GOP
strategist
and
former
aide
to
President
George
W
Bush,
in
2014.
He
is
also
survived
by
his
other
children,
Amanda
and
Michael,
and
five
grandchildren.