Tony Sirico, the actor finest recognised as loyal gangster Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri in the HBO drama “The Sopranos,” has died. He was 79.
Sirico died Friday early morning in an assisted dwelling facility in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., his manager Bob McGowan verified to The Times. No trigger of dying was uncovered, but the actor had dementia.
“He was a really faithful customer of 25 years and he’s an ex-Army vet and normally gave to charities,” McGowan explained of his client, who was born Gennaro Anthony Sirico Jr. “He’s a significant contributor to the Wounded Warriors.”
Michael Imperioli, the actor’s “Sopranos” co-star, honored Sirico in an Instagram publish shared Friday.
“It pains me to say that my expensive good friend, colleague and associate in criminal offense, the fantastic TONY SIRICO has passed absent currently,” wrote Imperioli, who played Christopher Moltisanti on the lauded series. “Tony was like no one else: he was as rough, as loyal and as major hearted as anybody i have at any time acknowledged.
“I was at his facet as a result of so significantly: by means of good occasions and bad. But mainly superior. And we had a lot of laughs. We discovered a groove as Christopher and Paulie and I am very pleased to say I did a lot of my ideal and most enjoyment operate with my pricey pal Tony. I will skip him eternally. He is truly irreplaceable. I mail love to his household, close friends and his many several fans. He was beloved and will hardly ever be overlooked. Heartbroken nowadays.”
Michael Imperioli, remaining, James Gandolfini and Tony Sirico in a scene from Year 2 of “The Sopranos.”
(HBO)
“Sopranos” stars Lorraine Bracco, Jamie Lynn Sigler and Steven Van Zandt also paid tribute to Sirico.
“You were being This kind of a phenomenal actor. Stealing each scene you have been in,” Sigler wrote. ” You were rough, and potent, however sweet and a actual artist.”
Even though Sirico was most regarded for his time on the HBO drama starring the late James Gandolfini, he had a lot more than 80 performing credits together with “White Incredibly hot,” “Goodfellas” and “Family Male.”
According to a Facebook submit by his brother Father Robert Sirico, he is survived by his two young children, Joanne Sirico Bello and Richard Sirico, moreover “grandchildren, siblings, nieces, nephews and numerous other relations.”
A New York indigenous, Sirico was born on July 29, 1942, and raised in Brooklyn. Before beginning his performing vocation, Sirico acquired a standing as a stick-up artist in his East Flatbush neighborhood. He racked up a whole of 28 arrests for a wide range of offenses which include armed theft and disorderly carry out. He was first arrested at the age 7 for stealing nickels from a newsstand.
“After all the occasions I was pinched, I realized each and every choose in city,” Sirico advised The Times in 1990. “I was a tough child. I usually had that itch in my britches to find out who I was. I examined my [courage] each night time.”
The strategies of his rebellious youth proved much too superior to depart at the rear of, as Sirico, inspired by a overall performance by ex-con actors during his very last jail keep, kicked off his performing career in the 1970s. He went all-in on the troublemaker persona for Hollywood, turning into a mobster-motion picture staple.
Sirico sooner or later racked up roles in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas,” James Toback’s “Fingers” and Woody Allen’s “Mighty Aphrodite” and “Bullets In excess of Broadway.”
“I experience great about what I have achieved,” he stated in 1990. “I arrived from one more environment — and now I’m an actor. Not a big-shot star, but a respectable actor.”
