Actor Tony Sirico, who played the eccentric gangster Pauly Walnut in The Sopranos, died Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he lived. He was 79 years old.
His death was confirmed by his manager, Bob McGowan. The cause is not shown.
Pauly walnut Paulie Gualtieri’s nickname is one of the most loyal, irritable and reckless men of mob boss Tony Soprano, as he once hijacked a nut-filled truck (he was hoping for television). was. Pauly intervention Hit a man on his face for a drug addict, and when it’s his turn to speak. She loved her mother (although she turned out to be his aunt), and she wrote her check to keep her in her expensive nursing home. I loved him.
Pauly wore a tracksuit, slept with a prostitute, hated bacteria, hated cats, and watched TV in a plastic-covered chair. He didn’t like getting stuck on a check in a restaurant near $ 900, but he was able to appreciate a delicious ketchup packet on a cold night in Pineapples, where he had nothing else to eat.
When the cast of “Soplanos” appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone in 2001 with a group shot, Pauly stood with a baseball bat casually thrown on his right shoulder. The hairdresser on the “Soplanos” set couldn’t touch Mr. Siriko’s hair. It is dark and rich, with two silver “wings” on each side. He blow-dried it himself and sprayed it.
Siriko’s face was familiar to Woody Allen movie fans at first glance. He appeared in some of them, beginning with “Bullets over Broadway” (1994), where he played his right arm, turning from a powerful gangster to a theater producer. He was a boxing trainer in “Mighty Aphrodite” (1995), convicted of fleeing in “Everyone Says I Love You” (1996), a de facto prison officer in “Deconstructing Harry” (1997), and a man with a gun. did. A gangster from Coney Island in “Wonder Wheel” (2017).
Gennaro Anthony Sirico Jr. was born on July 29, 1942 in Brooklyn, the son of cargo handling workers Jerry Sirico and Marie (Cappelluzzo) Sirico. Jr. remembered that when he was called, he was first in trouble when he stole nickel from a newspaper store. He attended Midwood High School, but he did not graduate, said his brother Robert Sirico.
“I grew up in Bensonhurst, where there were a lot of mob-type people,” he told the publication Cigar Aficionado in 2001. We got closer to each other. Especially for children, they had a very intriguing atmosphere. “
He worked in the construction industry for a while, but soon lost the temptation. “I started running with the wrong type of guy, and I found myself doing a lot of bad things,” he said in a James Toback documentary.big bang(1989). Bad things such as armed robbery, blackmail, coercion, and possession of felony weapons.
While serving 20 months in a four-year sentence Sing singHe was the largest prison in Ossining, NY, and saw a group of actors, all former prisoners, who stopped there for prisoners. “When I saw them, I told myself,’I can do that,'” he said. Told the daily news 1999.
He made his official film debut in “The Godfather: Part II” (1974), an uncredited extra, and “Hughes and Harlow: Hell’s Angels” (1977) from Schrock’s self-proclaimed director Larry Buchanan. .. Sirico then played the role of flashy gangster Tony Stax in “Goodfellas” (1990), playing the role of small television and film for over a decade.
His first supporter among the directors was Mr. Tobuck, who put him in the crime drama “Finger’s” (1978) with Harvey Keitel. The romantic drama “Love & Money” (1981) starring Ray Sharkey and Klaus Kinski. Molly Ringwald and Robert Downey Jr.’s comic drama “The Pick-up Artist” (1987) and documentary.
Prior to “Soplanos,” he was a police officer in “Dead President” (1995), a suburban gangster in “Cop Land” (1997), and a capo of the Gambino criminal family in a television movie.Gotti(1996).
When “The Sopranos” was aired in 1999, it became very popular. Mr. Siriko soon learned that he was very famous. “If I’m with five other Paulies,” he told The New York Times in 2007, imagining a very unlikely situation.
After the end of the HBO series in 2007, he often collaborated with the Sopranos co-star.
After playing Bert, to Steve Silippa’s Arnie on “Sesame Street” Christmas special (2008), he starred with Stephen Van Zandt in the series “Lilyhammer” (2013-14), and Michael Rispoli said “Romans with friends(2014), with Vincent Pastore and others in the movie “Sara Q” (2018).
He also spoke out Street Smart A dog named Vinnie Animated series “Family Guy” (2013-16).
He starred in the crime drama “Respect the Jux” this year.
Siriko got married early and divorced. He is survived by two children, Joan Sirico Bello and Richard Sirico. Sister Carol Panunzio. Two brothers, Robert Sirico and Carmine Sirico. And some grandchildren.
He brought at least one fine lesson to “Soplanos” from the mob world. He argued that his character was never portrayed as a mouse, a person who aimed at his criminal family. He was also reluctant to kill a woman because of his personality — Pauly suffocated an older Elderly Housing inhabitant with a pillow when she interrupted his theft of saving her life. Did — but he was happy and surprised that the old neighbors didn’t seem to think much after the episode appeared.
But early on, he noticed that he rejected the dark side.
“I was this 30-year-old former scammer sitting in a class full of new and serious drama students,” Sirico recalled in an interview with Daily News. The teacher said, “After I made the scene, I leaned against me and whispered,” Tony, put the gun at home. ” After years of stuffing guns, I wasn’t even aware of having it. “
Vimal Patel Report that contributed.
