Tony Sirico was Known for his performances in Woody Allen movies and the hit HBO series, Paulie Walnuts, he is widely known as an actor for his role.
“The Sopranos” actor Tony Sirico, who starred as eccentric gangster Paulie Walnuts, died Friday at Fort Lauderdale General Hospital. At the age of 79.
As told to his manager, Bob McGowan, he made his last journey. The cause of his death is unknown.
Tony Soprano’s most loyal, sensitive, and reckless man was Paulie Walnuts because he took control of a truck carrying nuts when he expected to get television sets. In Paulie’s opinion, people shouldn’t be participating in interventions for drug addicts when he punched the guy in the face when it was his turn to speak. His mother loved him (although he later found out she was really his aunt), and he loved her in return for writing the checks to keep her in a nursing home.
A pathologic germ-phobia, Paulie wore tracksuits, slept in hookers, and sat in a plastic chair while watching television. Even though he hated paying almost $900 for a meal at a restaurant, he appreciated a tasty ketchup packet on a cold night in the Pine Barrens when he had no food.
A baseball bat was slung over Paulie’s right shoulder on the cover of Rolling Stone in 2001 when a group shot of the “Sopranos” cast was taken. A hairdresser from the “Sopranos” didn’t dare touch Mr. Sirico’s hair – a black and luxurious mane featuring two silver “wings” running along each side. After blow-drying, he sprayed it himself.
Many Woody Allen movie fans are familiar with Tony Sirico’s face from quick glimpses. As a lead actor in many of them, starting with the movie Bullets Over Broadway (1994), he played the right-hand man for a powerful gangster turned theater producer. His characters have included a boxing trainer in “Mighty Aphrodite” (1995), a fugitive in “Everyone Says I Love You” (1996), a jailhouse cop in “Deconstructing Harry” (1997), and a gangster on Coney Island in “Wonder Wheel” (2017).
Sirico Jr. is the son of Jerry Sirico, a stevedore, and Marie (Cappelluzzo) Sirico, born July 29, 1942, in Brooklyn. His first offense was stealing nickels from a newsstand, as Junior was called. According to his brother Robert Sirico, he attended Midwood High School but did not graduate.
According to the publication Cigar Aficionado in 2001, he grew up in Bensonhurst, a neighborhood with a lot of mob activity. “I watched them all the time, watching the way they walked, the cars they drove, the way they interacted. It was very fascinating to a kid to observe them; they had an air about them.”
His first job was in construction, but he soon surrendered to temptation. According to James Toback’s documentary “The Big Bang” (1989), he ran around with the wrong type of people. Coercion, extortion, armed robbery, and possession of a felony weapon are all examples of bad behavior.
A troupe of actors, all ex-convicts, made a stop at Sing Sing, the maximum-security prison in Ossining, N.Y., where he served 20 months of a four-year sentence. In 1999, he told The Daily News, “When I watched them, I thought, ‘I can do that.'”
The director of “Hughes and Harlow: Angels in Hell” (1977), who self-proclaimed to be the master of schlock, credited him as an uncredited extra in “The Godfather: Part II” (1974). After that, he played several small television and movie roles, culminating with Tony Stacks in “Goodfellas” (1990).
The first director who advocated his work was Toback, who cast him in “Fingers” (1978), in which Harvey Keitel starred; in “Love & Money” (1981), starring Ray Sharkey, and in “The Pick-Up Artist” (1987), with Molly Ringwald and Robert Downey Jr.
In addition to “The Sopranos,” he’s starred in “Dead Presidents” (1995), “Cop Land” (1997), and “Gotti” (1996) as a Gambino crime family capo.
As soon as “The Sopranos” debuted in 1999, it became immensely popular. It didn’t take long for Mr. Sirico to realize how famous he was. The New York Times quoted him as saying, “If I’m in the middle of a crowd with five other Paulies, and somebody yells, ‘Hey, Paulie,’ I know it’s for me.”
Read More: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigns after mutiny in his party
He frequently worked with his co-stars after “Sopranos” ended in 2007.
A “Sesame Street” Christmas special (2008) followed his role as Bert opposite Steve Schirripa’s Ernie. He starred in “Lilyhammer” (2013-14) with Steven Van Zandt, “Friends and Romans” (2014) with Michael Rispoli, and “Sarah Q” (2017) with Vincent Pastore.
He also voiced a street-smart dog name Vinny in the animated series “Family Guy” (2013-16).
A “Sesame Street” Christmas special (2008) followed his role as Bert opposite Steve Schirripa’s Ernie. He starred in “Lilyhammer” (2013-14) with Steven Van Zandt, “Friends and Romans” (2014) with Michael Rispoli, and “Sarah Q” (2017) with Vincent Pastore.
His voice can also be heard in the animated series “Family Guy” (2013-16).
“Respect the Jux” was the title of his recent crime drama.
Tony Sirico married at a young age and divorced at a young age. In addition to his two children, Raoul Sirico Bello, and Joanne Sirico Bello, he is survived by a sister, Carol Pannunzio; two brothers, Robert Sirico and Carmine Sirico; and many grandchildren. Fort Lauderdale was where he lived.
At least one thing he brought from the mob world could be said to be an admirable lesson for “The Sopranos.” He insisted that the character be never seen as snitching on the crime family. As a character, Paulie smothers an elderly nursing home resident with a pillow when she interrupts his theft of her life savings. Although he was reluctant to kill a woman, he was surprised that his old neighbors weren’t less inclined to respect him after the episode premiered.
During the early days of his quest, he sometimes forgot about his rejection of the dark side.
The Daily News interview with Tony Sirico revealed how he sat among fresh-faced, serious drama students as a 30-year-old ex-con villain. Tony’s teacher whispered to me after performing a scene, ‘Leave the gun at home.’ I had been carrying a gun for so many years that I didn’t even realize I had one.”
