Ray Liotta — the US actor known for his leading roles in Goodfellas and Field of Dreams — has died suddenly at the age of 67.
Liotta died in his sleep in the Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic, where he was shooting a film.
Tributes have flowed in from Hollywood insiders, including from many who worked with Liotta such as Robert De Niro, Lorraine Bracco, Alessandro Nivola, David Chase and Seth Rogen.
An official at the Dominican Republic’s National Forensic Science Institute — who was not authorised to speak to the media — confirmed Liotta's death and said his body had been taken to the Cristo Redentor morgue.
Nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in 1986's Something Wild, Liotta also portrayed singer Frank Sinatra in the 1998 TV movie The Rat Pack and starred opposite Brad Pitt in the 2012 film Killing Them Softly.
Liotta was engaged to be married and leaves behind a daughter from his previous marriage.
Robert De Niro, who co-starred with Liotta in Goodfellas, said in an emailed statement: "I was very saddened to learn of Ray's passing. He is way too way young to have left us. May he Rest in Peace."
Lorraine Bracco — who played Karen Hill opposite Liotta's character mobster Henry Hill in Goodfellas — tweeted that she was, “utterly shattered to hear this terrible news about my Ray".
"I can be anywhere in the world and people will come up and tell me their favourite movie is Goodfellas. Then they always ask what was the best part of making that movie. My response has always been the same … Ray Liotta."
Seth Rogen acted with Liotta in the 2009 comedy Observe and Report. On Twitter he shared a tribute to "such a lovely, talented and hilarious person" with whom he made some of his favourite scenes.
"Working with him was one of the great joys of my career," Rogen tweeted. "A true legend of immense skill and grace."
Alessandro Nivola, who recently appeared with Liotta in The Sopranos prequel film The Many Saints of Newark wrote: "I feel so lucky to have squared off against this legend in one of his final roles."
"The scenes we did together were among the all-time highlights of my acting career. He was dangerous, unpredictable, hilarious and generous with his praise for other actors. Too soon.”
From humble beginnings
The Newark, New Jersey, native was born in 1954 and adopted at age six months out of an orphanage by a township clerk and an auto parts owner.
Although he mostly grew up playing sports, including baseball, during his senior year of high school, the drama teacher at the school asked him if he wanted to be in a play, which he agreed to on a lark.
And it stuck: He'd go on to study acting at the University of Miami. After graduation, he got his first big break on the soap opera "Another World".
Liotta's first big film role was in Jonathan Demme's "Something Wild", as Melanie Griffith's character's hot-headed ex-convict husband, Ray.
The turn earned him a Golden Globe nomination. A few years later, he would get the memorable role of the ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson in "Field of Dreams".
His most iconic role, as real-life mobster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas came shortly after.
He, and Scorsese, had to fight for it though, with multiple auditions and pleas to the studio to cast the still relative unknown.
"The thing about that movie, you know, Henry Hill isn't that edgy of a character," Liotta said in an interview in 2012.
"It's really the other guys who are doing all the actual killings. The one physical thing he does do, when he goes after the guy who went after Karen — you know, most audiences, they actually like him for that."
In the same interview, he marvelled at how Goodfellas had a "life of its own" and has only grown over time.
"People watch it, over and over, and still respond to it, and different ages come up, even today, teenagers come up to me and they really emotionally connect to it," he said.
AP
