Actor Tony Sirico, who played the lovable but murderous gangster Paulie Walnuts on the HBO series The Sopranos and who was frequently cast in Woody Allen films, died yesterday at age 79, his family said.
Mr Sirico played a major role in the HBO drama that started in 1999 and became an influential hit early in the era of prestige television.
Though he played smaller parts in six Woody Allen movies from 1994 to 2016, Mr Sirico was not especially well known before his breakout role, in which he was a captain in the crime family of lead character Tony Soprano, played by the late James Gandolfini.
The Paulie Walnuts character was a steely criminal who displayed periodic kindness, sometimes providing comic relief with malapropisms, but always loyal to the boss.
"A larger-than-life character on and off screen. Gonna miss you a lot my friend," Sopranos co-star Steven Van Zandt said on Twitter.
RIP Tony Sirico. Legendary. Silvio's best buddy "Paulie Walnuts" in The Sopranos, Frankie "The Fixer’s" older brother Antonino "Father Tony" Tagliano in Lilyhammer. A larger than life character on and off screen. Gonna miss you a lot my friend. Deepest condolences to the family. pic.twitter.com/pAkDnqfLEs
— 🕉Stevie Van Zandt☮️ (@StevieVanZandt) July 8, 2022
Mr Sirico often played Italian-American mobsters, including a small part in Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese's popular and critical hit from 1990. Mr Sirico also took a comic turn voicing the talking dog Vinny on the animated show Family Guy.
His credits in Woody Allen movies include Bullets Over Broadway in 1994, Mighty Aphrodite in 1995, Everyone Says I Love You from 1996, Deconstructing Harry from 1997, Celebrity from 1998, and in his post-Sopranos fame, Café Society in 2016.
"It is with great sadness, but with incredible pride, love and a whole lot of fond memories, that the family of Gennaro Anthony 'Tony' Sirico wishes to inform you of his death on the morning of July 8, 2022," his brother, Robert Sirico, a Roman Catholic priest, posted on Facebook.
He is survived by two children plus an unspecified number of grandchildren, siblings, nieces, nephews and others, his brother said.
No cause of death was reported.
