Register

    “Sopranos” actor Tony Sirico, “Paulie Walnuts,” dies at 79

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1650 Views
    Tony Sirico who plays Paulie Walnuts on the HBO series "The Sopranos" arrives for the premiere of the show's fourth season in this Thursday, Sept. 5, 2002, at New York's Radio City Music Hall. Sirico, who played the impeccably groomed mobster Paulie Walnuts in “The Sopranos” and brought his tough-guy swagger to films including “Goodfellas,” died Friday, July 8, 2022. He was 79. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg, File)

    By Lynn Elber, Television Writer

    LOS ANGELES (AP) --

    Tony Sirico, who played the impeccably groomed mobster Paulie Walnuts in "The Sopranos" and brought his tough-guy swagger to films including "Goodfellas," died Friday. He was 79.

    Sirico died at an assisted living facility in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said his manager, Bob McGowen. There was no immediate information on the cause of death.

    A statement from Sirico's family confirmed the death of Gennaro Anthony "Tony" Sirico "with great sadness, but with incredible pride, love and a whole lot of fond memories."

    McGowan, who represented Sirico for more than two decades, recalled him as "loyal and giving," with a strong philanthropic streak. That included helping ex-soldiers' causes, which hit home for the Army veteran, his manager said.

    Steven Van Zandt, who played opposite Sirico as fellow mobster Silvio Dante on "The Sopranos," saluted him on Twitter as "legendary."

    "A larger than life character on and off screen. Gonna miss you a lot my friend," the actor and musician said.

    Michael Imperioli, who portrayed Christopher Moltisanti on "The Sopranos," called Sirico his "dear friend, colleague and partner in crime."

    "Tony was like no one else: he was as tough, as loyal and as big hearted as anyone i've ever known," Imperioli said on Instagram.

    Sirico was unconcerned about being cast in a string of bad guy roles, McGowan said, most prominently that of Peter Paul "Paulie Walnuts" Gualtieri in the 1999-2007 run of the acclaimed HBO drama starring James Gandolfini as mob boss Tony Soprano. (Gandolfini died in 2013 at age 51).

    "He didn't mind playing a mob guy, but he wouldn't play an informant," or as Sirico put it, a "snitch," McGowan said.

    Sirico, born July 29, 1942, in New York City, grew up in the Flatbush and Bensonhurst neighborhoods where he said "every guy was trying to prove himself. You either had to have a tattoo or a bullet hole."

    "I had both," he told the Los Angeles Times in a 1990 interview, calling himself "unstable" during that period of his life. He was arrested repeatedly for criminal offenses, he said, and was in prison twice. In his last stint behind bars, in the 1970s, he saw a performance by a group of ex-convicts and caught the acting bug.

    "I watched 'em and I thought, 'I can do that.' I knew I wasn't bad looking. And I knew I had the (guts) to stand up and (bull) people," he told the Times. "You get a lot of practice in prison. I used to stand up in front of these cold-blooded murderers and kidnapers — and make 'em laugh."

    Sirico also was cast outside the gangster mold, playing police officers in the films "Dead Presidents" and "Deconstructing Harry." Among his other credits were Woody Allen films including "Bullets over Broadway" and "Mighty Aphrodite," and appearances on TV series including "Miami Vice" and voice roles on "Family Guy" and "American Dad!"

    Sirico is survived by daughter Joanne Sirico Bello; son Richard Sirico; his brother, Robert Sirico, a priest; and other relatives.

    REGISTRATION REQUIRED to access this page.

    Already registered? LOGIN
    Don't have an account? REGISTER

    Registration is FREE and FAST.

    The limited access duration has come to an end. (Access was allowed until: 2022-07-11)
    Tags:The SopranosTony Sirico



    As the world rediscovers “The Odyssey,” disabled actors in Greece explore the pain of war

    Sunday, August 9, 2026
    From left to right, Eirini Kourouvani, a wheelchair dancer, Evi Saoulidou and Lydia Fotopoulou perform during a dress rehearsal of Euripides' tragedy The Trojan Women, staged by the National Theatre of Greece, at the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus, Greece, on Thursday, July 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

    As Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" renews global fascination with Homer, a cast of disabled and non-disabled performers in Greece is staging the war's other story.

    It's not about the triumph of returning heroes, but the suffering they left behind.

    "The Trojan Women," with a cast of 22, was staged at Epidaurus, the ancient open-air stone arena in southern Greece. It marked what organizers called the first fully accessible performance in the ancient theater's 2,300-year history.

    While Homer followed warriors sailing home from Troy, the playwright Euripides — writing some three centuries later — turned to the city's ruins and its women, forced into exile and enslavement.

    The ancient theater offered a full range of accessibility services for the Aug. 2 performance. Blind audience members received Braille programs, tactile models and live audio description, while deaf spectators followed overhead titles. Physical adaptations also improved access throughout the site.

    "It's the first time a performance at Ancient Epidaurus has been made accessible to everyone," said Greg Polychronidis, a Paralympic gold medalist who attended the event. "Today was a celebration of equality and it should serve as an example for everyone, forever."

    For many of the performers, standing on the ancient stage was itself part of the message: a voice for those often overlooked. Eirini Kourouvani, a 58-year-old cast member who uses a wheelchair, had never set foot inside the theater before.

    "It is just grand," she said. "I feel my heart opening up as wide as this theater is."

    Ioanna-Maria Gertsou, a blind psychologist, attended with Babu, her guide dog.

    "We too have the right to attend performances on an equal footing," she said,... Read More

    MySHOOT Profiles


    Add A Comment