American actor Paul Sorvino, famous for his role in the movie gansters Freedmen and father of actress Mira Sorvino, died Monday at the age of 83, his entourage announced. “I am overwhelmed. The love of my life and the most wonderful man to have been born is gone. My heart is broken”wrote his widow, Dee Dee Sorvino, on her Facebook page.
Paul Cicero in Goodfellas
Born in April 1939 in New York, Paul Sorvino was best known for his role as Paul Cicero in Freedmen by Martin Scorsese, alongside Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta, released in 1990. The following year, he distinguished himself in the television series New York, Judicial Police where he played a policeman. In 1995, he took on the role of Henry Kissinger in the film Nixon d’Oliver Stone. “My father, the great Paul Sorvino, is dead”wrote on Twitter his daughter Mira Sorvino, winner of an Oscar in 1996 for the film Cursed Aphrodite the Woody Allen.
“My heart is torn, a life full of love, joy and wisdom by his side has come to an end”, she laments. Paul Sorvino had multiplied the supporting roles in the cinema or in television series but was a multi-faceted artist, with in particular a gift for sculpture or opera. “Most people think I’m either a gangster or a cop or something, but in reality I’m a sculptor, a painter, a writer (…), but apparently I have a knack for playing this kind of roles, he said in 2014 in an interview with Orlando Weekly.