Astro, who is also the father of Oscar winner Mira Sorvino, is best known for playing mobster Paul “Paulie” Cicero.
Actor Paul Sorvino, father of Oscar winner Mira Sorvino (“Mighty Aphrodite”) and known for playing a brutal mobster in “Goodfellas” (1990), died this Monday (25/7) of natural causes. , at the age of 83.
He was born on April 13, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York, and dreamed of becoming an opera singer. He also took singing lessons, but his asthma changed his fate, causing him to focus on acting. Despite this, he tried to balance the two talents on Broadway, making his debut as an actor and singer in the musical “Bajour” in 1964.
Sorvino first appeared on screen in Carl Reiner’s comedy “How to get rid of Mom” (1970), only to get one role after another – as Joseph Bologna’s father in “Made for each other” (1971). , George Segal’s friend in “A Touch of Class” (1973) and a government agent in Mike Nichols’ thriller “Day of the Dolphin” (1973). But from an early age, he attracted more attention playing characters with problems with the law – from “Os Viciados” (1971).
His first high-impact mobster came to life in “The Gambler” (1974), accepting bets that James Caan could not afford. And the most remembered interpretation of him is the role of Paul “Paulie” Cicero, the mobster who loved a good meal and cut garlic with a razor blade in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” (1990).
Being the son of Italians helped with the accent, but Sorvino didn’t think he looked tough enough to play the mafia. In a New York Times report on the film’s 25th anniversary, he said “Goodfellas” was a turning point in his career.
“I’ve done a lot of comedies and dramas, but I’ve never played a really tough guy. I’ve never had that in me,” he said. “That’s it [papel] asked for a lethality that I felt was far beyond me. I called my manager three days before we started shooting and said, ‘Get me out of here. I will ruin the image of this great man [Scorsese] and I’ll ruin myself. ‘ I was just inconsolable. So I looked in the mirror and literally jumped back. I saw a look I had never seen before, something in my eyes that alarmed me. A terrible look that made me sigh: ‘You found it’ “.
“A lot of people think I’m really a gangster or a mobster, largely because of ‘Goodfellas,” he said on another occasion. “I guess that’s the price you pay for being effective in a role.”
He also played comic book mobsters in “Dick Tracy” (1990), the second of four films that was directed by Warren Beatty – after playing the founder of the American Communist Party in “Reds” (1981) and before “Politically. incorrect “. (1998) and “Rules Don’t Apply” (2016) – and in the adaptation of Joe Johnston’s “Rocketeer” (1991). Additionally, he ended his career playing boss Frank Costello in the Godfather of Harlem series (2019-2021).
But he was also on the side of the law, playing detective Mike Logan in the first seasons of “Law & Order” (1992-1993).
More versatile than he has been credited with, Sorvino has portrayed real people, such as Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Oliver Stone’s “Nixon” (1995), and even Shakespearean characters such as Juliet’s father (Claire Danes) in “Romeo. ” and Juliet “(1996), by Baz Luhrmann, among many other roles.
Indeed, one play was more prominent in his career than “Goodfellas”: Jason Miller’s comedy “The Champion of the Season”. After being nominated for a Tony in 1973 for his portrayal of the unscrupulous Phil Romano – one of four former high school basketball players who reunite to visit their old coach – he reprized the role in a 1982 film and directed his version of the text in 1999, in a TV movie on the Showtime pay channel.
Subsequently, Sorvino directed another film, “The Trouble With Cali”, in 2012. But he was able to fulfill his biggest dreams: singing and recording opera records and seeing his daughter win an Oscar.
His image crying in the audience of the Kodak Theater over Mira Sorvino’s victory in “Mighty Aphrodite” (1995) convinced the whole world that the villain in “Goodfellas” was, in fact, a very sensitive man.
The violent Paulie was however summoned again in 2018, in defense of the same daughter. After discovering that producer Harvey Weinstein had harassed and damaged Mira’s career for refusing to have sex, Sorvino threatened to kill him.
“I better go to jail,” the actor told a TMZ reporter. “Because if we meet, I think he’ll be lying on the floor. If he’s not arrested, I’ll kill that son of a bitch. Just like that.” Weinstein was convicted and imprisoned.
Source: Terra
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