Paul Sorvino

Early life

Sorvino was born on April 13, 1939, and raised in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. His mother, Angela Maria Mattea (née Renzi; 1906–1991), was a homemaker and piano teacher who was born in Connecticut to Italian (Molisan) parents from Casacalenda. His father, Fortunato “Ford” Sorvino (1902–1995), was an Italian (Neapolitan) immigrant who worked in a robe factory as a foreman.

Sorvino attended Lafayette High School (where he was a classmate of Peter Max, a painter and artist), graduated, and then went to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.

Career

Sorvino began his career as a copywriter in an advertising agency. He took voice lessons for 18 years. While attending The American Musical and Dramatic Academy, he decided to go into the theatre. He made his Broadway debut in the 1964 musical Bajour, and six years later he appeared in his first film, Carl Reiner's Where's Poppa?, starring George Segal and Ruth Gordon. In 1971, he played a supporting role in Jerry Schatzberg's critically acclaimed The Panic in Needle Park, starring Al Pacino and Kitty Winn.

Sorvino received critical praise for his performance as Phil Romano in Jason Miller's 1972 Broadway play That Championship Season, a role he reprised in the 1982 film version. In It Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy (1974), he played Harry Walters, a real estate salesman randomly picked up by a beautiful woman (JoAnna Cameron) and raped at gunpoint as a prank. He appeared in the 1976 Elliott Gould/Diane Keaton vehicle I Will, I Will... for Now. He starred in the weekly series We'll Get By (1975, as George Platt), Bert D'Angelo/Superstar (1976, in the title role), and The Oldest Rookie (1987, as Detective Ike Porter). He also directed Wheelbarrow Closers, a 1976 Broadway play by Louis La Russo II, which starred Danny Aiello.

In 1981, Sorvino played the role of Italian-American communist Louis C. Fraina in Warren Beatty's film Reds. He appeared in Larry Cohen's 1985 horror film The Stuff as a reclusive militia leader, alongside future Law & Order co-star Michael Moriarty. Sorvino also helped found the American Stage Company, a group that launched several successful Off-Broadway shows, in 1986.

In 1991, Sorvino took on the role of Sergeant Phil Cerreta (replacing actor George Dzundza in a new role) on the popular series Law & Order. Sorvino initially was excited about the role but left after 29 episodes, citing the exhausting schedule demanded by the filming of the show, a need to broaden his horizons, and the desire to preserve his vocal cords for singing opera. Sorvino's exit from the series came in an episode in which Sgt. Cerreta is shot in the line of duty and transferred to an administrative position in another precinct. He was replaced by Jerry Orbach.

In 1993, Sorvino substituted for Raymond Burr in a Perry Mason TV movie, The Case of the Wicked Wives. He had earlier appeared as Bruce Willis' father in the weekly series Moonlighting and the "Lamont" counterpart in the never-aired original pilot for Sanford and Son. Some of his most notable film roles were caporegime Paul Cicero in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990) and Henry Kissinger in Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995). In addition to Goodfellas, Sorvino also played mob bosses Eddie Valentine in The Rocketeer and Tony Morolto in The Firm.

Sorvino founded the Paul Sorvino Asthma Foundation; he intended to build asthma centers for children and adults across the United States. In 1998, he narrated the series The Big House for The History Channel. In 1999, he directed and again starred in (albeit playing a different role) a TV version of That Championship Season.

In Hey Arnold!: The Movie, Sorvino voiced the main antagonist, Mr. Scheck, the CEO of Future Tech Industries, who wants to convert Arnold's neighborhood into a huge shopping mall. From 2000 to 2002, Sorvino had a lead role as Frank DeLucca in the television drama That's Life. He also starred in the comedy Still Standing as Al Miller, father to Bill (Mark Addy). Sorvino filmed The Trouble with Cali in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area of Pennsylvania. He directed and starred in the film, and his daughter Mira also acted in a lead role in the film.

Sorvino played GeneCo founder Rotti Largo in the 2008 musical film Repo! The Genetic Opera. Working with Repo! director Darren Lynn Bousman again, Sorvino played God in The Devil's Carnival, a short film screened on tour beginning in April 2012.

Sorvino's final motion picture The Ride was released posthumously in 2022. Sorvino appeared alongside Dean Cain, D.B. Sweeney, and his wife Dee Dee in his final performance. Sorvino's scenes were filmed in Jacksonville, Florida.

Personal life

Sorvino lived in Los Angeles and Madison, Indiana. He had three children: Mira, Michael, and Amanda from his first marriage with Lorraine Davis. Mira and Michael are actors.

On January 17, 2007, news reports detailed that he pulled a gun in front of Daniel Snee, an ex-boyfriend of his daughter Amanda, after the man pounded on her hotel room door and made threats. Amanda testified that Snee threatened to kill her at a hotel on January 3 in Stowe, Vermont. She said she locked herself in the bathroom and called both the police and her father. Her 67-year-old father showed up before police, she testified. When police arrived, the young man was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, she said. As a deputy sheriff in Pennsylvania, Sorvino was legally authorized to carry a gun in different states. He did not point the gun at Snee or threaten him.

In March 2008, Sorvino and his daughter Amanda lobbied with the Americans Against Horse Slaughter in Washington D.C., for U.S. Congress to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (S311/HR503). The Sorvinos run a private horse rescue operation in Gilbert, Pennsylvania.

Sorvino was also an accomplished sculptor, specializing in cast bronze. In December 2008 his sculpture of the late playwright Jason Miller was unveiled in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In addition, he guest-starred on the 2008 album of Neapolitan singer Eddy Napoli, Napulitanata, performing a duet of the song "Luna Rossa".

In 2007, Sorvino launched Paul Sorvino Foods to market a range of pasta sauces. Based on his mother's recipe, the product appeared in supermarkets in the northeastern United States in late 2009. Three years later, Sorvino became part owner in Janson-Beckett Cosmeceuticals.

In an April 2014 interview, Sorvino said, "Most people think I'm either a gangster or a cop or something, but the reality is I'm a sculptor, a painter, a best-selling author, many, many things—a poet, an opera singer, but none of them is gangster, but, you know, obviously I sort of have a knack for playing these things. It's almost my later goal in life to disabuse people of the notion that I'm a slow-moving, heavy-lidded thug, and most people's impression of me IS that—because of the success of Goodfellas and a few other things, but they forget that I was also Dr. Kissinger in Nixon, the deaf lawyer in Dummy, and they forget a lot of things that I've done. It would be nice to have my legacy more than that of just tough guy."

Before screening his film Once Upon a Time in Queens at the Florida Film Festival in Orlando in April 2014, Sorvino revealed that he practiced New Formalism, by writing rhymed and metrical verse after the heyday of Modernist poetry, and recited one of his own poems as an example.

In December 2014, Sorvino married political pundit Dee Dee Benkie after he met her while appearing as a guest on Your World With Neil Cavuto.

In January 2018, Sorvino found out that Harvey Weinstein allegedly sexually harassed his daughter Mira, and blacklisted her within the film industry after she rejected the film mogul's sexual demands. In response, Sorvino told TMZ, "He's going to go to jail. Oh yeah. That son of a bitch. Good for him if he goes, because if not, he has to meet me. And I will kill the motherfucker. Real simple. If I had known it, he would not be walking. He'd be in a wheelchair. This pig will get his comeuppance. The law will get him. He's going to go to jail and die in jail."

Death

Sorvino died of natural causes at Mayo Clinic Florida in Jacksonville on July 25, 2022, aged 83. He was interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

References

1. https://patch.com/new-jersey/mendham-chester/actor-paul-sorvinos-brother-successful-psychiatrist-dies-82-0
2. Steyn, Mark (host). (January 7, 2017). "The Mark Steyn Show Season 1—Episode 1".
3. (April 13, 2012). "On This Day in History, April 13: A 'Goodfella' From Bensonhurst". [[Brooklyn Daily Eagle]].
4. "Paul Sorvino Biography".
5. Evans, Greg. (July 25, 2022). "Paul Sorvino Dead: ''Goodfellas'' Actor, Father of Mira Sorvino Was 83".
6. (July 25, 2022). "Paul Sorvino of ''Goodfellas'' and ''Law & Order'' dies at 83".
7. Salemi, Vicki. (November 2016). "Paul Sorvino Used to Run an Ad Agency Until he Went 'Crazy'".
8. Gonzalez, Sandra. (July 25, 2022). "Paul Sorvino, ''Goodfellas'' and ''Law & Order'' star, dead at 83".
9. Ebert, Roger. "A Touch of Class movie review (1973)".
10. (November 19, 1974). "Turning Tables on Rape". [[Los Angeles Times]].
11. (March 12, 1976). "12 Mar 1976, Page 64". Fort Lauderdale News.
12. (March 14, 1975). "14 Mar 1975, Page 37". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
13. (April 10, 1976). "10 Apr 1976, 28". Sun Herald.
14. (September 16, 1987). "16 Sep 1987, Page 43". The Akron Beacon Journal.
15. (October 24, 1976). "24 Oct 1976, 128". The Tampa Tribune.
16. Klein, Alvin. (March 19, 2000). "Jersey Footlights; Executive Producer Search Is On". [[The New York Times]].
17. (November 20, 1999). "Law & Order: The Unofficial Companion". Renaissance Books.
18. (October 22, 1993). "22 Oct 1993, Page 48". Clarion-Ledger.
19. (September 23, 1986). "23 Sep 1986, 17". Lancaster New Era.
20. (September 21, 1990). "21 Sep 1990, 31". The Press Democrat.
21. (December 10, 1995). "10 Dec 1995, Page 64". Detroit Free Press.
22. (June 20, 1991). "20 Jun 1991, Page 44". The Pittsburgh Press.
23. (July 6, 1993). "Strong Talent Bolsters ''The Firm''".
24. "Paul Sorvino Roles".
25. "That 'Championship' Director Paul Sorvino Goes Behind The Camera For A Cable Film Of The Prizewinning Play". New York Daily News.
26. (June 28, 2002). "28 Jun 2002, 115". The News and Observer.
27. (August 31, 2001). "31 Aug 2001, Page 134". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
28. (February 18, 2008). "18 Feb 2008, A30". The Monitor.
29. (January 2, 2009). "2 Jan 2009, 39". The Charlotte Observer.
30. (March 6, 2012). "Two Tickets To ''The Devil's Carnival'' Please".
31. Bell, Kim. (2022-07-25). "The Last Movie Paul Sorvino Was In Before He Died".
32. (January 17, 2007). "'Goodfellas' actor, as deputy sheriff, was entitled to weapon". Boston.com.
33. Koch, Denise. (March 5, 2008). "Horse Lovers Ask Congress To Stop Horse Slaughter". [[WJZ-TV]].
34. eddynapolispa. (September 1, 2008). "Eddy Napoli SpA & Paul Sorvino – Luna Rossa".
35. (January 9, 2010). "'Goodfella' Paul Sorvino dishes up own pasta sauce based mom's recipe". New York Daily News.
36. (June 2010). "Brand News".
37. Meier, Cameron. (April 2, 2014). "Paul Sorvino: Slaying the Stereotype: Veteran Actor to Screen ''Goodfellas'' at Florida Film Festival". [[Orlando Weekly]].
38. (April 29, 2014). "The Poetry of Paul Sorvino – Day 8 FFF 2014".
39. (January 8, 2015). "Paul Sorvino, Dee Dee Benkie Wed".
40. Quackenbush, Casey. (January 4, 2018). "Harvey Weinstein Was Accused of Harassing Paul Sorvino's Daughter. Now Sorvino Is Threatening to Kill Him". [[Meredith Corporation]].
41. Bahr, Lindsey. (July 25, 2022). "''Goodfellas'', ''Law & Order'' actor Paul Sorvino dies at 83".
42. Gates, Anita. (July 25, 2022). "Paul Sorvino, Master of the Mild-Mannered Mobster, Dies at 83". [[The New York Times]].
43. (July 25, 2022). "Paul Sorvino, Actor in ''Goodfellas'' and ''That Championship Season'', Dies at 83".
44. "Paul Sorvino List of Movies and TV Shows".
45. "Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1972)".
46. "Paul Sorvino".
47. Bahr, Lindsey. "Mira Sorvino mourns father, 'Goodfellas' actor Paul Sorvino: 'My heart is rent asunder'".
48. Scheck, Frank. (August 4, 2016). "''The Brooklyn Banker'': Film Review".
49. "''Detours'' Film, with Tara Westwood, Richard Kind, Michael Cerveris & More, Hits Theaters".
50. Kuperinsky, Amy. (July 26, 2022). "N.J.'s Mira Sorvino mourns Paul Sorvino: 'My heart is rent asunder.' They always showed up for each other.". [[NJ.com]].
51. [https://www.tvinsider.com/1053648/paul-sorvino-dies-83-goodfellas-law-and-order/ 'Law & Order' & 'Goodfellas' Actor Paul Sorvino Dies at 83]
52. (March 4, 1976). "4 Mar 1976, 33 – The Kansas City Star".
53. (May 27, 1979). "27 May 1979, 42 – The Times and Democrat".
54. (May 25, 1979). "25 May 1979, 58 – The Shreveport Journal".
55. (June 10, 1983). "10 Jun 1983, 16 – The Charlotte Observer".
56. (February 10, 1985). "10 Feb 1985, page 162 – The Greenville News".
57. (May 19, 1985). "19 May 1985, 154 – El Paso Times".
58. (August 20, 1989). "20 Aug 1989, 37 – Corvallis Gazette-Times".
59. (January 21, 1994). "21 Jan 1994, Page 119 – Chicago Tribune".
60. (July 11, 1994). "11 Jul 1994, 18 – Tampa Bay Times".
61. (October 14, 1994). "14 Oct 1994, 18 – The Selma Times-Journal".
62. (July 13, 1996). "13 Jul 1996, 40 – The Billings Gazette".
63. (October 17, 1997). "17 Oct 1997, 81 – The Record".
64. (January 4, 1997). "4 Jan 1997, Page 48 – Star Tribune".
65. (December 6, 1998). "6 Dec 1998, 103 – The Columbian".
66. (May 20, 2000). "20 May 2000, Page 75 – South Florida Sun Sentinel".
67. (August 12, 2000). "12 Aug 2000, Page 40 – Clarion-Ledger".
68. (December 5, 2008). "5 Dec 2008, Page Z048 – The Santa Fe New Mexican".
69. (December 13, 2009). "13 Dec 2009, Page 87 – The Springfield News-Leader".
70. (June 9, 2012). "9 Jun 2012, Page 33 – Daily Record".
71. Gelman, Vlada. (December 18, 2013). "'Elementary' Season 2 Cast – Paul Sorvino as Mob Head". TVLine.
72. Lesley Goldberg. (September 15, 2015). "''The Goldbergs'' Enlists Judd Hirsch for Familiar Role (Exclusive)".
73. (January 5, 2016). "''Grandfathered'' Casts Paul Sorvino to Play John Stamos' Dad (Exclusive)".
74. (September 20, 2017). "CityNews".
75. Denise Petski. (September 27, 2018). "''Godfather Of Harlem'': Paul Sorvino to Star in Epix Drama Series".