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‘Sopranos’ star Tony Sirico dies aged 79
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Farewell, ‘Paulie’: Tony Sirico attends HBO’s Boardwalk Empire season three New York Premiere on Sept. 5, 2012 at Ziegfeld Theater in New York City. (AFP/Getty Images North America/Brad Barket)
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he United States actor Tony Sirico, best known for portraying Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri in The Sopranos, has died aged 79, his family and a former cast member said on Friday.
Sirico played minor mobster roles in television and film for decades before being cast in his 50s as the eccentric and sometimes brutal Paulie on HBO's hit show, becoming one of the series' most memorable characters.
"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 family said in a statement on Facebook.
His Sopranos costar Michael Imperioli, who played Christopher Moltisanti, added: "It pains me to say that my dear friend, colleague and partner in crime, the great Tony Sirico has passed away today.
"Tony was like no one else: He was as tough, as loyal and as big hearted as anyone I've ever known. [...] Heartbroken today," Imperioli wrote on Instagram.
Sirico's representatives did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1942, Sirico was frequently arrested as a youth, but caught the acting bug in prison after seeing a troupe of ex-convicts perform.
He took multiple small parts as thugs and wise guys from the late 1970s onward, appearing in TV shows such as Kojak and Miami Vice and mob-themed films including Goodfellas and Mickey Blue Eyes.
Sirico was in his 50s when he was cast for his best-known part in Sopranos, the groundbreaking HBO series that explored the private lives of a New Jersey crime group.
His character Paulie delivered many of the show's most memorable lines, displaying both playful humor and a vicious loyalty to boss Tony Soprano.
