Unhappy information to report this night as Tony Sirico, finest identified for taking part in Paul “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri on The Sopranos, has died on the age of 79.
Tony Sirico’s buddy and colleague Michael Imperioli took to Instagram to disclose the information. “It pains me to say that my expensive buddy, colleague and accomplice in crime, the good TONY SIRICO has handed away as we speak,” Imperioli wrote. “Tony was like nobody else: he was as robust, as loyal and as large hearted as anybody i’ve ever identified. I used to be at his facet by a lot: by good instances and unhealthy. However principally good. And we had quite a lot of laughs. We discovered a groove as Christopher and Paulie and I’m proud to say I did quite a lot of my finest and most enjoyable work with my expensive pal Tony. I’ll miss him perpetually. He’s actually irreplaceable. I ship like to his household, mates and his many many followers. He was beloved and can by no means be forgotten. Heartbroken as we speak.” Sirico had initially auditioned for the function of Uncle Junior on The Sopranos and though he clearly didn’t get the half, creator David Chase supplied him the function of Paulie. Sirico accepted on the situation that the character by no means change into a rat. A youthful model of Paulie performed by Billy Magnussen appeared in The Many Saints of Newark.
Very similar to the character he portrayed on The Sopranos, Tony Sirico’s youth rising up in Brooklyn was surrounded by crime. Earlier than he turned to performing, he had been arrested near 30 instances. “I used to be very unstable,” Sirico informed the LA Occasions in 1990. “I wasn’t considering proper. So I attached with these guys and abruptly I’m a stick-up artist. I caught up each nightclub in New York.” After serving 20 months at Sing Sing for a felony weapons possession, he was visited by an performing troupe of ex-convicts who impressed him to strive his hand on the craft. Sirico went on to seem in films comparable to Goodfellas, Harmless Blood, Bullets over Broadway, Useless Presidents, Mighty Aphrodite, Deconstructing Harry, Cop Land, Mickey Blue Eyes, Café Society, and extra. He additionally appeared in TV reveals comparable to Kojak, Police Squad, Miami Vice, The Pretty Oddparents, Chuck, Medium, Lilyhammer, Household Man, The Grinder, and American Dad. You’ll be missed, Tony Sirico.
