US actor Tony Sirico, who starred as Paulie Walnuts in the epic mafia television series The Sopranos, has died aged 79.
A statement posted on the Facebook account of Sirico's brother Robert said the actor died on Friday morning (local time). No cause of death was provided.
"The family is deeply grateful for the many expressions of love, prayer and condolences, and requests that the public respect its privacy in this time of bereavement," the statement said.
Born in Brooklyn on July 29, 1942, Sirico's career began in 1977 and he appeared in films including Bullets Over Broadway and Mighty Aphrodite as well as Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. But his defining role was in The Sopranos as "Paulie Walnuts" Gualtieri, a soldier to mob chief Tony Soprano.
"When I first read David Chase's script, I knew this was special," Sirico is quoted as saying on IMDB. "This is what I'd been looking for all my life... I knew right away this was a role to kill for."
Sirico is survived by two children plus an unspecified number of grandchildren, siblings, nieces, nephews and others, his brother said.
"A larger-than-life character on and off-screen. Gonna miss you a lot my friend," Sopranos co-star Steven Van Zandt said on Twitter.
Reuters / Newshub.
