Actor Ray Liotta, hailed for his classic roles in Goodfellas and Marriage Story, has passed away at the age of 67.

Actor Ray Liotta, revered for his roles in Goodfellas, Field of Dreams, and more recently The Many Saints of Newark, and Marriage Story has died at the age of 67.

As reported by Deadline, the actor passed away in his sleep. He was in the Dominican Republic shooting for his latest project, Dangerous Waters. 

Liotta’s most prominent role was as the tough, straight-laced gangster Henry Hill on Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. His portrayal of Hill – who made off with more than $5 million in cash and jewels in what came to be known as the Lufthansa heist – propelled him to stardom and became one of his most iconic roles.

The role, in fact, was so influential that The Sopranos creator David Chase to approach Liotta to play Ralphie Cifaretto in the third season of the series. Not wanting to be typecast, however, Liotta turned him down.

“It just wasn’t the right thing at that time, and I had some other things lined up. I was doing Heartbreakers right after that, I think. But I was really, really flattered that David did that. And because of that, I wanted to try to get to work with him again, because I really liked The Sopranos.” he told Rolling Stone in an interview last year. 

Chase, in fact, also considered Liotta for the part of the iconic Tony Soprano. Of course, that never it panned out, but Liotta gushed about James Gandolfini, who ultimately played the part.

“Oh, he was fucking great. I’ll be honest, at that time, I wasn’t following any shows like that. I didn’t want to commit, so I only watched it sometimes. But whatever I saw — even if you just saw a picture [of him as Tony] in a paper or a magazine — he was just fucking there.” he told Rolling Stone. 

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“He went deep, and I really admired him. And that’s unusual. The one who feels the deepest, whether it’s love or anger, that’s how you move people.” he added.

Check out tributes to Ray Liotta:

https://twitter.com/jamieleecurtis/status/1529865195555737605

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