The actor who most epitomized the modern gangster without being in The Godfather trilogy, Ray Liotta, has passed away in the Dominican Republic at the age of 67.
Born in Newark, New Jersey on December 18, 1954, Ray Liotta made his acting debut on the small screen in the 1980 tv movie ‘Hardhat and Legs’. Quickly gaining regular work on television he went on to be a regular on the quickly canceled 1983 series, ‘Casablanca’. Based on what is regarded as the greatest movie of all time, 1943’s ‘Casablanca’ starring Humphrey Bogart, the tv series starred David Soul and Scatman Crothers.
In 1986 Ray Liotta made his big screen debut as a memorable antagonist in director Jonathan Demme’s romantic comedy ‘Something Wild’. He soon had two of his most notable roles in both the 1989 sports fantasy ‘Field of Dreams’, as ballplayer Shoeless Joe Jackson, and in Martin Scorsese’s gangster classic ‘Goodfellas’, leading a cast that included Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci.
His performance in ‘Goodfellas’ often leads audiences to associate him with mafia characters when in reality he rarely played mobsters. He regularly played corrupt tough guys, such as in 1997’s ‘Cop Land’, and in a 1998 tv movie, ‘The Rat Pack’, he played Frank Sinatra.
What is overlooked by audiences is how often he played in comedies. From the 1995 Disney movie, ‘Operation Dumbo Drop’, to appearing alongside the Muppets in both 1999’s ‘Muppets from Space’ and 2014’s ‘Muppets Most Wanted’. He also played himself on a couple of episodes of the television comedy ‘Just Shoot Me’.
In 2002 he starred in and produced the gritty crime film ‘Narc’ alongside Jason Patric. That same year he voiced a character in the phenomenal hit video game, ‘Grand Theft Auto: Vice City’.
Taking the chance to act in a variety of genres he appeared in the 2007 fantasy film ‘In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale’, the 2014 comic book adaptation ‘Sin City: A Dame to Kill For’, a 2015 Ed Sheeran music video, and the hit romance film of 2019 ‘Marriage Story’.
Jennifer Lopez starred with him in the television cop drama ‘Shades of Blue’ and he was a regular for one season on the thriller series ‘Hanna’ on Amazon Prime.
Comedy is the genre he really gravitated to especially in the last decade. He voiced characters for animated comedies ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ and ‘The Simpsons’. Among his many tv appearances were ‘Modern Family’, ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ and ‘Young Sheldon’.
He did appear as a mafioso in his last released feature, ‘The Many Saints of Newark’.
Ray Liotta passed away in his sleep while in the Dominican Republic where he was filming the upcoming feature film, ‘Dangerous Waters’. He had already completed work on the as-yet-to-be-released films ‘El Tonto’ and ‘Cocaine Bear’ as well as the upcoming tv series ‘Black Bird’.