Two months after the sudden death of Ray Liotta, Paul Sorvino, headliner of Martin Scorsese’s “Freedmen”, is also bowing out. The opportunity to measure that many film talents have left us. Tribute.
With the death of Paul Sorvinounforgettable Paul Cicero, it is still a Freedman who has just left us, two months after the brutal death of Ray Liottaanother headliner of the film by Martin Scorsese.
The opportunity precisely to review – and painfully measure – how many actors in the film have left us. In memoriam...
Paul Sorvino (1939-2022)
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The cinema planet loses another of its Affranchis. Two months after the disappearance Ray Liottais the actor Paul Sorvino who passed away on Monday, July 25, at the age of 83. Unforgettable Paul Cicero from the film Martin Scorsesethis unavoidable “character actor” had marked the great (Romeo + Juliet, Nixon) like the small screen (New York Judicial Police where he camped Phil Cerreta for about thirty episodes).
Ray Liotta (1954-2022)
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Whether Ray Liotta has not quite had a career worthy of her talent, she nevertheless remains studded with several strong roles; and among them, of course, THE role that moviegoers around the world rightly revere above all else: that of Henry Hill, in Freedmen of Martin Scorsese.
It is an understatement to say that the announcement of his death was as brutal as it was sudden. Filming in the Dominican Republic for what was to be his next film, Dangerous Waters, he went to bed in his hotel room so as not to wake up again. The actor was 67 years old.
Tony Sirico (1942-2022)
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The one who wonderfully embodied Paulie Walnuts in The Sopranos had a very small role in The Freedmen. In this case, that of Tony Stacks, whom we see at the beginning of the film getting out of his vehicle, to play a game of cards between neighborhood mobsters.
Louis Eppolito (1948-2019)
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Louis Eppolito embodied in Goodfellas “Andy big bacon”, which we discover when Scorsese’s camera presents us, with the voice-over of Ray Liotta, the local sizes of the mafia. It turns out that Louis Eppolito was a genuine dirty cop, who incidentally still collected envelopes for the police at the time he appeared in the film; his moment of glory. He also worked for the Lucchese and Gambino family. Sentenced to life in prison in 2009 for several murders, he died at the Penitentiary Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona, in 2019.
Frank Adonis (1935-2018)
Frank Adonis began his career in 1971 playing in French Connection. He has played many mafioso roles during his career, notably in the classic of Francesco Rosi, Lucky Luciano. In Freedmen, he was Anthony Stabile. You could see it just behind Joe Pesci in the legendary scene “I’m funny… How funny?”. He died in December 2018 at the age of 83 in Las Vegas.
Frank Pellegrino (1944-2017)
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“How do you want your steak? asks Johnny Dio. “A point!” replies Paul Cicero. “Ah! We have an aristocrat!” Everyone remembers one of the exchanges between the caïds serving their prison sentence in Freedmen. Frank Pellegrino played Johnny Dio, red bathrobe and cigar in his mouth, busy cooking the meat.
Chuck Low (1928-2017)
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Unforgettable chuck low in Freedmen. He slipped into Morris Kessler’s clothes. Seller and promoter of wigs in his spare time, and above all one of the instigators of the famous Lufthansa heist in the film. The problem is that he had a little too much of a tendency to harass Jimmy Conway to recover his share of the winnings, in addition to being a chatterbox… To the point of ending up ironed by Tommy using a kind of stylus stuck in the back of the neck.
Frank Vincent (1937-2017)
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In September 2017 died, at the age of 78, Frank Vincent, following a heart attack. Faithful to Martin Scorsese, he played in raging bull, Casino and of course Freedmen, where he camped the kingpin Billy Batts, who had the misfortune to joke about Tommy’s shoe shine past. Miscalculation…
Like several of his mafia colleagues, Frank Vincent was hired in 2004 by HBO to play in The Sopranoswhere he played Phil Leotardo, but heappeared at the start of season 5. It is truly the following year (the last season of the show) that he will show his determination to destroy the family of the hero of the series, Tony Soprano.
Tony Lip (1930-2013)
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Veteran of gangster movies, including The Godfatheralso headlining Soprano, Tony Lip embodied in Freedmen Frank Manzo, alias “Frankie le rital”, henchman of the Lucchese family. If the actor died in 2013, the real Frank Manzo died in his sleep in 2012 after being released from prison in 1994.
Gina Mastrogiacomo (1961-2001)
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Gina Mastrogiacomo played Janice Rossi, the mistress of Henry Hill. She died aged 39 in 2001 from a rare bacterial heart infection. His heartbroken father Leonard died six months later.
Catherine Scorsese (1912-1997)
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The Famiglia is sacred. Martin Scorsese’s mother, Katherine, thus regularly appeared in the works of her son. In Freedmenshe embodied the adorable mother of Tommy, always ready to prepare a good dish of pasta for her son and his friends, even at 2am.
Charles Scorsese (1913-1993)
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Martin Scorsese’s father, Charlesmade his first appearance in Taxi Driver. In Freedmen, he embodied the godfather Vinnie, who was also seen quite a lot busy in the kitchen in the cult sequence of preparing the meal in prison. His character is based on a real mobster, Thomas Agrowho worked for the Gambino family, specializing in racketeering and betting.
