angel: Tony Sirico, who played impeccably dressed mobster Pauly Walnuts in “The Sopranos” and brought his tough guy to films including “Goodfellas,” died on Friday. He was 79 years old. Sirico died at an assisted living facility in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, his manager Bob McGowen said. There was no immediate information about the cause of death.
A statement from Sirico’s family confirmed the death of Gennaro Anthony ‘Tony’ Sirico “with great sadness, but with incredible pride, love and many fond memories.”
McGowan, who represented Sirico for more than two decades, remembered him as “loyal and giving” with a strong philanthropic streak. His manager said it involved helping ex-servicemen, who had come to the army veteran’s home.
Steven Van Zandt, who played alongside Sirico as fellow mobster Silvio Dante in “The Sopranos,” saluted him on Twitter as a “legend.”
A larger than life character on and off screen. My friend, I will miss you dearly,’ said the actor and musician.
Michael Imperioli, who played Christopher Moltisanti in “The Sopranos”, called Sirico his “dear friend, colleague and partner in crime”.
“Tony was like no other: he was as tough, loyal, and as big-hearted as I’ve ever known,” Imperioli said on Instagram.
McGowan said, Sirico was unconcerned about being cast in bad guy roles, most notably Peter Paul ‘Polly Walnuts’ Gualtieri in the acclaimed 1999–2007 HBO drama, which starred James Gandolfini as mob boss Tony Soprano. had acted. (Gandolfini died in 2013 at the age of 51).
“He didn’t mind playing a mob man, but he wouldn’t play an informer,” McGowan said, or as Sirico called it, ‘Snitch.
Sirico, born July 29, 1942, in New York City, grew up in the Flatbush and Bensonhurst neighborhoods, where “every man was trying to prove himself. You either had to have a tattoo or a bullet hole.”
“I had both,” he told the Los Angeles Times in a 1990 interview, calling himself ‘unstable’ during that period of his life. He was arrested repeatedly for criminal offences, and was in prison twice, he said. In his last stint behind bars, in the 1970s, he saw a performance by a group of former convicts and caught the acting bug.
“I saw them and I thought, I can do this.” I knew I was not bad looking. And I knew I had (the guts) to stand up and (bull) people,” he told the Times. “You get a lot of practice in prison. I used to stand in front of these cold-blooded killers and kidnappers and laugh at them.”
Sirico was also cast outside the gangster mold, playing police officers in the films “Dead Presidents” and “Deconstructing Harry.” His other credits include appearances in Woody Allen films including “Bullets Over Broadway” and “Mighty Aphrodite” and TV series including “Miami Vice” and “Family Guy” and “American Dad!” But voice roles were included.
Sirico is survived by daughter Joan Sirico Bello; son Richard Sirico; his brother, Robert Sirico, a priest; and other relatives.