MOVIE NEWS – Popular actor Ray Liotta, best known for his “tough guy” performances, has become one of the first well-known actors to take on a voice role in a video game.

Tragic news came yesterday as celebrated actor Ray Liotta passed away at 67. The actor, best known for his role as Henry Hill in director Martin Scorsese’s iconic 1990s mafia film Goodfellas, died in his sleep during a filming session.

According to a report courtesy of Deadline, Liotta died in the Dominican Republic, where he was filming the upcoming movie Dangerous Waters. Unfortunately, no further details were released. The actor is mourned by his daughter Karsen and fiancée Jacy Nittolo.

Ray Liotta’s career spanned four decades, and the actor appeared in many popular films.

Among them was the 1989 sports fantasy drama Field of Dreams, in which Liotta played the ghost of baseball player “Shoeless” Joe Jackson opposite Kevin Costner. Liotta’s first significant acting role was as Ray Sinclair in director Jonathan Demme’s 1986 screwball comedy-romance Something Wild. Liotta received a Golden Globe nomination for the role.

Over the years, Liotta has proved time and again why he is one of the most recognisable names, faces and voices in Hollywood, starring in such big projects as Copland (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001) and Identity (2003). He has also shown his comic chops on more than one occasion, with a memorable performance as the bad guy in Wild Hogs (2007).

As for video games, he provided the voice of the protagonist Tommy Vercetti in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City in 2002.

Liotta has starred alongside big names such as Denzel Washington, Sylvester Stallone, Anthony Hopkins and Brad Pitt, among many others, but is best known for his role as Henry Hill in the iconic gangster flick Goodfellas.

In the Martin Scorsese-directed film, Liotta leads the team played by Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco and Paul Sorvino, which explores the life and times of the real-life Henry Hill, detailing the rise and fall of the mobster and his friends and family between 1955 and 1980.

Playing Henry Hill in Goodfellas

Ray Liotta was last seen in last year’s The Sopranos prequel film, The Many Saints of Newark, slipping effortlessly back into the role of the gangster.

Liotta played the twin brothers “Hollywood Dick” Moltisanti and Salvatore “Sally” Moltisanti in parallel, opposite Alessandro Nivola as Dickie Moltisanti. The Many Saints of Newark tells the story of Tony Soprano’s (Michael Gandolfini) early years, from the perspective of mobster Dickie and his gangster activities, amid the 1967 Newark street riots. Ray Liotta had previously shown his love of playing mobster characters in director Steven Soderbergh’s critically acclaimed film No Sudden Move.

Liotta has worked on several projects, including Every Last Second, Elizabeth Banks’ Cocaine Bear, an untitled film with Charlie Day, and The Substance. It is not known precisely how far along these projects were in production or what their fates will be.

Although the news of Ray Liotta’s death is very recent, many in the acting world have already been remembered.

From Jamie Lee Curtis to director James Mangold to Lorraine Bracco, Liotta’s partner in Goodfellas, many have stressed how likeable and lovable he was and how talented an actor he was. A longer list of condolences can be found at this link.

Source: Deadline

I am utterly shattered to hear this terrible news about my Ray.
I can be anywhere in the world & people will come up & tell me their favorite 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. pic.twitter.com/3gNjJFTAne

— Lorraine Bracco (@Lorraine_Bracco) May 26, 2022