Paul Sorvino, ‘Goodfellas’ And ‘Law & Order’ Actor, Dies At 83

Paul Sorvino, an actor whose most famous roles were a bevy of wise guy gangsters and hard-nosed detectives and cops, has died at the age of 83 according to his publicist. He passed away Monday in a Florida Mayo Clinic from natural causes with his wife Dee Dee by his side. One of his children, the Oscar-winning actress Mira Sorvino, wrote online that her heart is “rent asunder ” from the news.

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Sorvino was loved for his roles as Paul Cicero in Goodfellas and even recent jaunts like playing Frank Costello in the new series The Godfather of Harlem, but he was also much more than a wise guy actor. “I’m a sculptor, a painter, a best-selling author, many, many things–a poet, an opera singer, but none of them is a gangster, but, you know, obviously, I sort of have a knack for playing those things,” he told Orlando Weekly,

Paul Anthony Sorvino was born April 13, 1939, in Brooklyn, New York City. He was raised in the Bensonhurst neighborhood. Sorvino was interested in vocal music as a child. He graduated from Lafayette High School and worked as an advertising copywriter before gaining an interest in theater at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.

Sorvino first appeared on Broadway in the 1964 show Bajour, and had his feature film debut in the Carl Reiner film Where’s Poppa? Some of his other most loved characters were Walter Menkes in A Touch of Class and Italian American communist party member Louis C. Fraina in Reds.

The actor took on the role of Sergeant Phil Cerreta in Law & Order in 1991 but departed the show after 29 episodes citing exhaustion from the shooting schedule and wanting to preserve his voice to keep singing opera. Sorvino indeed performed opera consistently throughout his life, and even lent his pipes to the cult classic musical Repo! The Genetic Opera.

While continuing to act into the 2020s, Sorvino also published a cookbook Pinot, Pasta and Parties with his second wife Dee Dee Benkie in 2017, and sold his own brand of pasta sauce based on his mother’s recipe through the company Paul Sorvino foods.

Sorvino is survived by Dee Dee and his children Mira, Michael and Amanda, who he had with his first wife Lorraine Davis, and five grandchildren. Here’s a heartwarming clip from a moment where Mira showed her appreciation for her father in her Oscar acceptance speech.