Paul Sorvino was known for his tough-guy roles, whether playing a grizzled cop or a hardened mafioso. He portrayed everything from a comic-strip mobster in “Dick Tracy” to an ideologue in “Reds,” to a detective, to an international political figure. He was also a trained operatic tenor.
Here are some of his most memorable roles:
— “Goodfellas”: Sorvino was perhaps best known as Paulie Cicero, a ruthless mobster in the 1990 classic crime drama directed by Martin Scorsese.
— “Law & Order”: For 31 episodes, Sorvino’s Sgt. Phil Cerreta joined the 27th Detective Squad as the partner of Detective Mike Logan after predecessor Sgt. Max Greevey was gunned down. He started off helping investigate Greevey’s murder and ended up working closely with Logan. Cerreta was eventually wounded while undercover and stepped down.
— “Nixon”: Sorvino played Henry Kissinger, the disgraced President’s National Security adviser who went on to serve as Secretary of State under both Nixon and then Gerald Ford. “You do something like Kissinger it’s a daunting challenge, but it’s a challenge that I love,” he said in 1995, describing what it was like to prepare to portray a living historical figure.
— “That Championship Season”: A role that earned Sorvino a 1973 Tony nomination for his portrayal on Broadway of Phil Romano, a shady former high school basketball player who reunites with three of his teammates to visit their old coach. He would later reprise the role for the film version, and direct another adaptation.
— “Reds”: As American Communist Party founder Louis C. Fraina, Sorvino played the young idealogue in the 1981 movie starring Warren Beatty.
— “Dick Tracy”: Sorvino played Lips Manlis, mentor to fictional gangster Big Boy Caprice, in the 1990 film version of the iconic detective comic strip.
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