Liotta built a career playing tough people onscreen, most notably criminal Henry Hill, and was known for his rugged appearance and severe demeanor.
Source: Henry Nicholls / Reuters
Ray Liotta, who became famous for his role as a nervous wannabe mobster in Martin Scorcese’s iconic film Goodfellas, has die at the age of 67.
Jennifer Allen, Liotta’s publicist, announced that he died in his sleep in the Dominican Republic, where he was filming Dangerous Waters, a film that was about to be released in the near future, on Thursday morning. Allen added he was only a few days away from fnishing the shooting on the film about a family sailing vacation going wrong.
The actor’s death was initially reported by Deadline. The reason for his death was not immediately apparent.
Liotta built a career playing tough guys, primarily as supporting characters, and was known for his rough appearance and severe demeanor. (As a child in New Jersey, he had envisioned a career in construction rather than performing.)
Liotta’s initial notable role was in Something Wild (1986), in which he portrayed Melanie Griffith’s ex-husband and earned a Golden Globe nomination. In his original review, film critic Roger Ebert said, “A newcomer named Ray Liotta is mesmerizing as the evil husband with vengeance on his mind.
Three years later, he played the spirit of Shoeless Joe Jackson, a great player from the early 1900s, in the baseball film Field of Dreams. Despite its lasting appeal, Liotta admitted just last year that he had never actually seen the film.
Source: Warner Bros / ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
However, Liotta rose to fame as real-life mobster Henry Hill in Scorcese’s mafia masterpiece Goodfellas (1990), which is widely acknowledged with redefining mob storytelling onscreen. If you got one movie that people remember, that’s great. If you got two, that’s fantastic,” Liotta said of his most renowned part to The Guardian last year.
Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, two performers who became synonymous with the genre, also appeared in the picture.
Lorraine Bracco, who portrayed Liotta’s wife in the film, paid tribute to her former colleague after his passing on Thursday.
I am utterly shattered to hear this terrible news about my Ray.
I can be anywhere in the world & people will come up & tell me their favorite movie is Goodfellas. Then they always ask what was the best part of making that movie. My response has always been the same…Ray Liotta. pic.twitter.com/3gNjJFTAne— Lorraine Bracco (@Lorraine_Bracco) May 26, 2022
Liotta acted in many action and crime films during his career, including Blow (2001), Hannibal (2001), and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, but never fully achieving consistent top-billing as an A-lister (2014).
In recent years, he has acted as a divorce lawyer in Marriage Story (2019) and as yet another mafia player in The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel to The Sopranos, which will be released in 2021.
His daughter Karsen (with ex-wife Michelle Grace) and fiancée Jacy Nittolo, whom he proposed to January 2020, survive him.
