A great supporting role on the big and small screen, the American comedian Paul Sorvino, member of Martin Scorsese’s “Freedmen” quartet, died on Monday July 25. He was 83 years old.
The cinema planet loses another of its Affranchis. Two months after the disappearance of Ray Liotta, it is the actor Paul Sorvino who died on Monday July 25, at the age of 83 according to Variety. Unforgettable Paul Cicero from Martin Scorsese’s film, this essential “character actor” had marked the big screen (Romeo + Juliet, Nixon) like the small screen (New York Judicial Police where he camped Phil Cerreta for around thirty episodes). His daughter, actress Mira Sorvino, shared her pain on social media.
My father the great Paul Sorvino died. My heart is torn – a life of love, joy and wisdom with him is over. He was the most wonderful father. I love him so much. Sending you love to the stars daddy as you go up.
From opera singer to actor
Destined to become an opera singer, Paul Sorvino eventually turned to acting, which he studied at the New York Music & Dramatic Academy. His severe asthma in no way detracts from his desire to play comedy.
One of his first screen appearances, he owes it to Jerry Schatzberg who gave him a chance in Panic in Needle Park in 1971. Casino manager opposite James Caan in Le Flambeur (1974), he multiplies supporting roles in Les Chaînes du sang (1978), La Chasse / Cruising (1980) where he played the hierarchical superior of Al Pacino, Reds (1981) or even That championship season (1982).
Scorsese, Beatty, Luhrmann, Stone…
His Italian origins and his strong stature earned him a place in the top quartet of Freedmen in 1990. The same year, it is again a role of mobster in the adaptation of the comic strip Dick Tracy signed Warren Beatty, who will direct it in two other full-length films (Bulworth and The Exception with the rule).
Playing unsympathetic characters from time to time like a pro-Nazi actor in The Rocketeer (1991) or a ruthless patriarch in Romeo + Juliette (1997), Paul Sorvino also likes to portray eminences grises like Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Nixon (1996) and to use his authority in the action films Wanted wanted dead or alive (1997) and Trap in Hong Kong (1998).
A career of more than 150 roles
In the 2000s, he turned to family comedies such as Spot (2001) and Mambo italiano (2004) and lent his voice to the infamous Mr. Scheck in the cartoon Hey Arnold! (2003). He finds an ambiguous role in the drama Lady luck (id.) opposite Alec Baldwin and William H. Macy then plays a mafioso again in the nanar Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008) which allows him to highlight his abilities as an opera singer.
During the 2010s, Paul Sorvino continues to shine in supporting roles in numerous film and television projects (including the series Bad Blood and Godfather of Harlem), and goes behind the camera with The Trouble with Cali (2012) written by his daughter Amanda Sorvino, in which he notably directs his other daughter Mira Sorvino, his son Michael Sorvino and his nephew Bill Sorvino.
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