The actor is the father of Mira Sorvino.
Paul Sorvino has died. In a press release, Paul's publicist, Roger Neal, announced that the actor died Monday morning with his wife, Dee Dee Sorvino, by his side. He was 83.
"Our hearts are broken, there will never be another Paul Sorvino, he was the love of my life, and one of the greatest performers to ever grace the screen and stage," Dee Dee, who married Paul in 2014, said in a statement, through her late husband's publicist.
Sorvino died from natural causes and had dealt with health issues over the past few years, according to the press release.
Born April 13, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York, Sorvino started his career as an advertising copywriter, before attending the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and deciding to go into theater. He made his Broadway debut in Bajour in 1964.
Six years later, he appeared in his first film, Where's Poppa?. Throughout his career he appeared in such films as Goodfellas, Nixon, Dick Tracy, The Rocketeer, For the Love of Money, Reds, Oh God, and A Touch of Class, among many others.
Sorvino, an opera singer, writer, renowned sculptor and TV star, returned to Broadway throughout his career. He earned a Tony nomination for his performance in That Championship Season, and later reprised his role in a film version of the play.
"Terrific actor, very sensitive man," his Goodfellas co-star, Joe Pesci, said in a statement. "I’m sure I’m not the only person that will miss him!🙏."
Martin Scorsese, who directed Goodfellas, also remembered the late actor in a statement to ET.
"Paul Sorvino was a brilliant actor. He was completely immersed in his craft, and his level of mastery could take your breath away," Scorsese said. "Look at his performance as Louis Fraina in Reds by Warren Beatty. He found a wonderfully expressive voice for his character, and quite a unique body language: urgent, fervent, and impassioned."
"Watch it back to back with his performance as the televangelist in Oh God by Carl Reiner," the director continued. "At first glance, it seems like a broad comic turn, a send-up of Jimmy Swaggart and Jerry Falwell. But when you really pay attention, you see that Paul is inhabiting the character completely. It’s hilarious but it’s also sobering and disturbing. Seeing Paul in that role was what convinced me that he was the man to play Paulie Cicero in Goodfellas."
As for his experience with the late actor, Scorsese said, he "loved working with Paul" on Goodfellas.
"It wasn’t always easy, but that’s never the point to begin with. Paul was tireless -- he never settled for less than a deeper emotional truth," Scorsese said. "I learned a lot from him. I remember one day, I was doing a few takes with him on a scene and it wasn’t quite there. On about the third or fourth take, he said to me, 'Come away from the monitor and watch me.' That’s what I did, and I could see it right away. It was a great lesson."
Scorsese concluded, "I was really saddened to hear the news of his passing, in part because it was so close to losing Ray Liotta. But it was also the loss of a great, generous soul, and an irreplaceable artist."
Sorvino will be interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, in the Garden of Legends, the same area as Rudolph Valentino, Mickey Rooney, and Burt Reynolds, among others.
Sorvino is survived by his wife, his three adult children -- Mira, Amanda and Michael -- and five grandchildren.
His passing comes two months after his Goodfellas co-star, Ray Liotta, died in his sleep while in the Dominican Republic. The actor was 67 years old.
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