Soprano actor Tony Sirico, who played Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri on the hit HBO show, has died at age 79, his family has announced.
The actor, who appeared in all six seasons of The Sopranos alongside James Gandolfini, died Friday morning.
His 25-year-old manager, Bob McGowan, told the Hollywood Reporter that Sirico had died at a Fort Lauderdale assisted living facility and had been living with dementia for the past two years.
A statement posted on Facebook by his brother Robert Sirico said: “It is with great sadness, but with incredible pride, love and lots of good memories, that the family of Gennaro Anthony ‘Tony’ Sirico wants to inform you of his death on the morning of July 8, 2022.
“The family is deeply grateful for the many expressions of love, prayer and condolences and calls on the public to respect their privacy in this time of mourning.”
His Sopranos co-star Michael Imperioli paid tribute to Sirico on Instagram by calling him “my dear friend, comrade and crime companion.”
“Tony was not like anyone else: he was as tough, loyal and as great as anyone he has ever met,” he wrote. “I was by his side in a lot of things: the good and the bad. But mostly good. And we had a lot of laughs. We found a groove like Christopher and Paulie and I’m proud to say I did a lot of my best and more fun working with my dear friend Tony. I will miss him forever. “
Sirico, born in 1942 in New York City, frequently played gangsters throughout his career, including Goodfellas, Cop Land, and Mickey Blue Eyes. He frequently appeared in Woody Allen films, such as Deconstructing Harry, Celebrity, Bullets Over Broadway, Mighty Aphrodite, Everyone Says I Love You and Wonder Wheel.
He originally auditioned for the role of Uncle Junior in The Sopranos, but Dominic Chianese got the role. The show’s creator, David Chase, offered him the role of Paulie Gualtieri, which Sirico accepted on the condition that his character “not become a rat.”
Sirico is survived by a daughter and a brother.