Ray Liotta, the terrific actor whose career breakout came in the 1990 Martin Scorsese crime classic Goodfellas after co-starring in Field of Dreams, has died. He was 67.
According to Deadline, Liotta died in his sleep in the Dominican Republic, where he was shooting the film Dangerous Waters. We will have more details when they become available.
Liotta leaves behind a daughter, Karsen. He was engaged to be married to Jacy Nittolo.
Liotta was on a big resurgence. Recent turns included The Many Saints of Newark, Marriage Story — for which he shared a 2020 ensemble Indie Spirit Award — and Steven Soderbergh’s No Sudden Move. He finished the Elizabeth Banks-directed Cocaine Bear and was due to star in the Working Title film The Substance opposite Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley.
He also recently was set to executive produce the A&E docuseries Five Families, about the dramatic rise and fall of the New York’s mafia’s Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo and Lucchese families.
While better known for his big-screen roles, Liotta also starred with Taron Egerton in the Apple TV+ series Black Bird, recurred on Prime Video’s Hanna, fronted the 2006 CBS crime drama Smith and starred opposite Jennifer Lopez in the 2016-18 NBC police drama Shades of Blue.
Liotta won a Primetime Emmy in 2005 for his guest stint on ER and was a two-time SAG Award nominee for the 2015 miniseries Texas Rising and 1998 telefilm The Rat Pack, in which he starred as Frank Sinatra opposite Don Cheadle, Joe Mantegna and Angus Macfayden.
Among his earliest screen roles playing nice guy Joey Perrini on the popular NBC soap Another World from 1978-81.
He had his “Who’s thar?” turn in the Jonathan Demme-directed Something Wild (1987), scoring a Golden Globe nomination, and then played banned Chicago White Sox superstar Shoeless Joe Jackson opposite Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones in 1989’s Field of Dreams. Liotta then quickly followed playing gangster Henry Hill in Scorsese’s Goodfellas, opposite Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci in what was to be the defining role of his career.
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