Paul Sorvino | |
|---|---|
 Sorvino in 2010 | |
| Born | Paul Anthony Sorvino (1939-04-13)April 13, 1939 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | July 25, 2022(2022-07-25) (aged 83) Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. |
| Resting place | Hollywood Forever Cemetery |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1956–2022 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3, includingMira andMichael |
Paul Anthony Sorvino (/sɔːrˈviːnoʊ/,Italian:[sorˈviːno]; April 13, 1939 – July 25, 2022) was an American actor.[1] He often portrayed authority figures on both the criminal and the law enforcement sides of the law.
Sorvino was particularly known for his roles asLucchese crime familycaporegime Paulie Cicero (based on real life gangsterPaul Vario) inMartin Scorsese's 1990 gangster filmGoodfellas and asNYPD SergeantPhil Cerreta on the second and third seasons of the TV seriesLaw & Order. He also played a variety of father figures, includingJuliet's father inBaz Luhrmann's 1996 filmRomeo + Juliet, as well as guest appearances as the father ofBruce Willis' character on the TV seriesMoonlighting and the father ofJeff Garlin's character onThe Goldbergs. He was in additional supporting roles inA Touch of Class (1973),Reds (1981, asLouis C. Fraina),The Rocketeer (1991),Nixon (1995, asHenry Kissinger), andThe Cooler (2003).
Usually cast in dramatic supporting roles, he occasionally acted in lead roles in films includingBloodbrothers (1978), and also in comedic roles including his turn as a bombastic Southern evangelist inCarl Reiner'sOh, God! (1977). Sorvino was nominated for aTony Award for Best Actor for the 1972 playThat Championship Season, and later starred in film and television adaptations. He was the father of actorsMira Sorvino andMichael Sorvino.
Sorvino was born on April 13, 1939, and raised in theBensonhurst section ofBrooklyn.[2] His mother, Angela Maria Mattea (née Renzi; 1906–1991), was a homemaker and piano teacher of Italian (Molisan) descent who was born inConnecticut. His father, Ford Sorvino, was an Italian (Neapolitan) immigrant who worked in a robe factory as aforeman.[citation needed]
Sorvino attendedLafayette High School (where he was a classmate ofPeter Max, a painter and artist), graduated, and then went to theAmerican Musical and Dramatic Academy.[3]
Sorvino began his career as acopywriter in an advertising agency. He took voice lessons for 18 years. While attending TheAmerican Musical and Dramatic Academy, he decided to go into the theatre.[4] He made hisBroadway debut in the 1964 musicalBajour,[5] and six years later he appeared in his first film,Carl Reiner'sWhere's Poppa?, starringGeorge Segal andRuth Gordon.[6] In 1971, he played a supporting role inJerry Schatzberg's critically acclaimedThe Panic in Needle Park, starringAl Pacino andKitty Winn.[7]
Sorvino received critical praise for his performance as Phil Romano inJason Miller's 1972 Broadway playThat Championship Season, a role he reprised in the1982 film version.[8] He acted in another George Segal-starring film with a prominent supporting role in theAcademy Award-winning romantic comedyA Touch of Class (1973).[9] InIt Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy (1974), he played Harry Walters, a real estate salesman randomly picked up by a beautiful woman (JoAnna Cameron) and raped at gunpoint as a prank.[10] He appeared in the 1976Elliott Gould/Diane Keaton vehicleI Will, I Will... for Now.[11] He starred in the weekly seriesWe'll Get By (1975, as George Platt),[12]Bert D'Angelo/Superstar (1976, in the title role),[13] andThe Oldest Rookie (1987, as Detective Ike Porter).[14] He also directedWheelbarrow Closers, a 1976 Broadway play by Louis La Russo II, which starredDanny Aiello.[15]
In 1981, Sorvino played the role ofItalian-AmericancommunistLouis C. Fraina inWarren Beatty's filmReds. He appeared inLarry Cohen's 1985 horror filmThe Stuff as a reclusive militia leader, alongside futureLaw & Order co-starMichael Moriarty. Sorvino also helped found the American Stage Company, a group that launched several successfulOff-Broadway shows, in 1986.[16]
In 1991, Sorvino took on the role of SergeantPhil Cerreta (replacing actorGeorge Dzundza in a new role) on the popular seriesLaw & Order. Sorvino initially was excited about the role but left after 29 episodes, citing the exhausting schedule demanded by the filming of the show, a need to broaden his horizons, and the desire to preserve hisvocal cords for singingopera. Sorvino's exit from the series came in an episode in which Sgt. Cerreta is shot in the line of duty and transferred to an administrative position in another precinct. He was replaced byJerry Orbach.[17]
In 1993, Sorvino substituted forRaymond Burr in aPerry Mason TV movie,The Case of the Wicked Wives.[18] He had earlier appeared asBruce Willis' father in the weekly seriesMoonlighting[19] and the "Lamont" counterpart in the never-aired original pilot forSanford and Son. Some of his most notable film roles werecaporegimePaul Cicero inMartin Scorsese'sGoodfellas (1990)[20] andHenry Kissinger inOliver Stone'sNixon (1995).[21] In addition toGoodfellas, Sorvino also played mob bosses Eddie Valentine inThe Rocketeer[22] and Tony Morolto inThe Firm.[23]
Sorvino founded the Paul Sorvino Asthma Foundation; he intended to buildasthma centers for children and adults across the United States.[24] In 1998, he narrated the seriesThe Big House forThe History Channel. In 1999, he directed and again starred in (albeit playing a different role) a TV version ofThat Championship Season.[8]
InHey Arnold!: The Movie, Sorvino voiced the main antagonist, Mr. Scheck, the CEO of Future Tech Industries, who wants to convert Arnold's neighborhood into a huge shopping mall.[25] From 2000 to 2002, Sorvino had a lead role as Frank DeLucca in the television dramaThat's Life.[26] He also starred in the comedyStill Standing as Al Miller, father to Bill (Mark Addy). Sorvino filmedThe Trouble with Cali in theScranton/Wilkes-Barre area ofPennsylvania. He directed and starred in the film, and his daughter Mira also acted in a lead role in the film.[27]
Sorvino played GeneCo founder Rotti Largo in the 2008 musical filmRepo! The Genetic Opera.[28] Working withRepo! directorDarren Lynn Bousman again, Sorvino played God inThe Devil's Carnival, a short film screened on tour beginning in April 2012.[29]
Sorvino's final motion pictureThe Ride was released posthumously in 2022. Sorvino appeared alongsideDean Cain,D.B. Sweeney, and his wife Dee Dee in his final performance. Sorvino's scenes were filmed inJacksonville, Florida.[30]
Sorvino lived inLos Angeles andMadison, Indiana. He had three children:Mira,Michael, and Amanda from his first marriage with Lorraine Davis. Mira and Michael are actors.
On January 17, 2007, news reports detailed that he pulled a gun in front of Daniel Snee, an ex-boyfriend of his daughter Amanda, after the man pounded on her hotel room door and made threats. Amanda testified that Snee threatened to kill her at a hotel on January 3 inStowe, Vermont. She said she locked herself in the bathroom and called both the police and her father. Her 67-year-old father showed up before police, she testified. When police arrived, the young man was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, she said. As a deputy sheriff in Pennsylvania, Sorvino was legally authorized to carry a gun in different states. He did not point the gun at Snee or threaten him.[31]
In March 2008, Sorvino and his daughter Amanda lobbied with the Americans Against Horse Slaughter inWashington D.C., forU.S. Congress to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (S311/HR503). The Sorvinos run a private horse rescue operation inGilbert, Pennsylvania.[32]
Sorvino was also an accomplished sculptor, specializing incast bronze. In December 2008 his sculpture of the late playwrightJason Miller was unveiled inScranton, Pennsylvania. In addition, he guest-starred on the 2008 album of Neapolitan singer Eddy Napoli,Napulitanata, performing a duet of the song "Luna Rossa".[33]
In 2007, Sorvino launched Paul Sorvino Foods to market a range of pasta sauces. Based on his mother's recipe, the product appeared in supermarkets in the northeastern United States in late 2009.[34] Three years later, Sorvino became part owner in Janson-Beckett Cosmeceuticals.[35]
In an April 2014 interview, Sorvino said, "Most people think I'm either a gangster or a cop or something, but the reality is I'm a sculptor, a painter, a best-selling author, many, many things—a poet, an opera singer, but none of them is gangster, but, you know, obviously I sort of have a knack for playing these things. It's almost my later goal in life to disabuse people of the notion that I'm a slow-moving, heavy-lidded thug, and most people's impression of meIS that—because of the success ofGoodfellas and a few other things, but they forget that I was alsoDr. Kissinger inNixon, thedeaf lawyer inDummy, and they forget a lot of things that I've done. It would be nice to have my legacy more than that of just tough guy."[36]
Before screening his filmOnce Upon a Time in Queens at theFlorida Film Festival inOrlando in April 2014, Sorvino revealed that he practicedNew Formalism, by writingrhymed andmetrical verse after the heyday ofModernist poetry, and recited one of his own poems as an example.[37]
In December 2014, Sorvino married political pundit Dee Dee Benkie after he met her while appearing as a guest onYour World With Neil Cavuto.[38]
In January 2018, Sorvino found out thatHarvey Weinstein allegedly sexually harassed his daughter Mira, andblacklisted her within the film industry after she rejected the film mogul's sexual demands. In response, Sorvino toldTMZ, "He's going to go to jail. Oh yeah. That son of a bitch. Good for him if he goes, because if not, he has to meet me. And I will kill the motherfucker. Real simple. If I had known it, he would not be walking. He'd be in a wheelchair. This pig will get his comeuppance. The law will get him. He's going to go to jail and die in jail."[39]
Sorvino died ofnatural causes atMayo Clinic Florida in Jacksonville on July 25, 2022, aged 83.[40][41] He was interred atHollywood Forever Cemetery.[42]
| † | Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | It Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy | Harry Walters | Television film | [10] |
| 1975 | We'll Get By | George Platt | Main role | [12] |
| 1976 | The Streets of San Francisco | Sergeant Bert D'Angelo | "Superstar" | [51] |
| Bert D'Angelo/Superstar | Main role | [13] | ||
| 1977 | Seventh Avenue | Dave Shaw | Miniseries | [52] |
| 1979 | Dummy | Lowell Myers | Television film | [53] |
| 1983 | Chiefs | Sheriff Skeeter Willis | Miniseries | [54] |
| 1985 | Surviving: A Family in Crisis | Harvey | Television film | [55] |
| Wes Craven's Chiller | Reverend Penny | [56] | ||
| 1986 | Moonlighting | David Addison Sr. | "The Son Also Rises" | [19] |
| 1987-1988 | The Oldest Rookie | Detective Ike Porter | Main role | [14] |
| 1989 | Murder, She Wrote | Al Sidell | "Three Strikes, You're Out" | [57] |
| 1991-1992 | Law & Order | Sergeant Phil Cerreta | Main role | [17] |
| 1993 | A Perry Mason Mystery: The Case of the Wicked Wives | Anthony Caruso | Television film | [18] |
| 1994 | Star Trek: The Next Generation | Nikolai Rozhenko | "Homeward" | [58] |
| Parallel Lives | Ed Starling | Television film | [59] | |
| Without Consent | Dr. Winslow | [60] | ||
| 1996 | Escape Clause | Lieutenant Gil Farrand | [61] | |
| 1997 | Joe Torre: Curveballs Along the Way | Joe Torre | [62] | |
| Duckman | Variecom CEO | Voice role Episode: "How to Suck in Business Without Really Trying" | [63] | |
| 1998 | Houdini | Blackburn | Television film | [64] |
| The Big House | Narrator | Main role | [43] | |
| 1999 | That Championship Season | Coach | Television film Also director | [8] |
| 2000 | Cheaters | Constantine Kiamos | Television film | [65] |
| The Thin Blue Lie | Frank Rizzo | [66] | ||
| 2000 & 2002 | That's Life | Frank DeLucca | Main role | [26] |
| 2004 & 2006 | Still Standing | Al Miller | 4 episodes | [27] |
| 2009 | Doc West | Sheriff Roy Basehart | Television film | [67] |
| Santa Baby 2: Christmas Maybe | Santa Claus | [68] | ||
| 2012 | Imaginary Friend | Jonathan | [43] | |
| Jersey Shore Shark Attack | Mayor Palantine | [69] | ||
| 2014 | Elementary | Robert Pardillo | "All in the Family" | [70] |
| The Goldbergs | Ben 'Pop-Pop' Goldberg | "The Most Handsome Boy on the Planet" | [71] | |
| 2016 | Grandfathered | Jack Martino | Episode: "Jimmy's 50th, Again" | [72] |
| 2017 | Bad Blood | Nicolo Rizzuto | Main role | [73] |
| Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders | Dr. Dominico Scarpa | "II Mostro" | [43] | |
| 2019-2021 | Godfather of Harlem | Frank Costello | Main role | [74] |
By contrast, the theater was founded with a flourish in 1986, mostly because the actor Paul Sorvino, its first artistic head, lived in Teaneck at the time, opened his home to fund-raising parties, starred in the opening play (All The King's Men) and directedThe Diary of Anne Frank, in which his daughter, Amanda Sorvino, played the title role.
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