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#1
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07-09-2022, 08:47 AM
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Tony Sirico, Paulie from ‘The Sopranos,’ Dies at 79
Tony Sirico, the actor known for playing mobster Peter Paul “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri on “The Sopranos,” died Friday,*Variety*confirmed with his manager. He was 79. ![]() Virico’s Paulie Walnuts, the hilarious foot soldier to James Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano with one-liners like no one else, was a “Sopranos” scene-stealer from the start. Sirico balanced Paulie’s menace with his deadpan humor, and his penchant for malapropisms, once calling Sun Tzu “Sun Tuh-Zoo,” later referring to the philosopher as the “Chinese Prince Matchabelli.” Born Gennaro Anthony Sirico Jr. on July 24, 1942 to an Italian family in New York City, Sirico spent much of his early life*getting into trouble with the law,*and has been associated with the real-life Colombo crime family. He was arrested 28 times — first as a 7-year-old after he stole nickels from a newsstand — before getting into acting. He went to prison twice, once after being charged for possessing an illegal weapon, and again for armed robbery. ![]() “I was very unstable,” Sirico told the LA Times in 1990 about that time in his life. “I wasn’t thinking right. So I hooked up with these guys and all of a sudden I’m a stick-up artist. I stuck up every nightclub in New York.” “I gotta admit I feel funny when somebody will spot me and ask for an autograph,” he continued. “I think it’s that old guilt. Maybe I feel like I don’t deserve the attention.” He made his acting debut as an extra in the 1974 mobster drama “Crazy Joe” alongside Henry Winkler. That film preceded Sirico’s countless later roles as gangsters and criminals, from Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” in 1990 to Woody Allen’s “Bullets Over Broadway” in 1994. Sirico appeared in a number of Allen’s films, including “Café Society” in 2016 and “Mighty Aphrodite” in 1995. In 1989, Sirico appeared in the documentary “The Big Bang,” in which he discussed his criminal past and how it affected his philosophy on life. According to his family’s post, Sirico is survived by his two children, as well as grandchildren, siblings, nieces, nephews and other relatives. |
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#3
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07-11-2022, 01:49 PM
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Re: Tony Sirico, Paulie from ‘The Sopranos,’ Dies at 79
What a great actor.
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