Ray Liotta, star of Goodfellas and other beloved films, dies at 67
Ray Liotta, the actor best known for starring in such hard-boiled crime dramas as Goodfellas and The Many Saints of Newark, has died, EW has confirmed. He was 67.
Liotta reportedly died in his sleep in the Dominican Republic, where he was filming the upcoming movie Dangerous Waters. He leaves behind a daughter, Karsen. At the time of his death, Liotta was engaged to be married to Jacy Nittolo. Deadline was first to report the news.
Francois G. Durand/WireImage Ray Liotta died in the Dominican Republic at age 67.
Born Dec. 18, 1954, in Newark, N.J., Liotta was abandoned at an orphanage as a baby and adopted at 6 months old. He made his film debut in 1983's The Lonely Lady, but got his breakthrough role acting alongside Melanie Griffith and Jeff Daniels in Jonathan Demme's 1986 film Something Wild, for which Liotta earned a Golden Globe nomination.
He memorably portrayed the ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson in 1989's Field of Dreams before taking on his most iconic role as Henry Hill, the protagonist of Martin Scorsese's 1990 mafia masterpiece Goodfellas.
In the years following Goodfellas, Liotta appeared in countless films and TV shows, but mostly in crime dramas, including Cop Land, Killing Them Softly, and The Place Beyond the Pines. He won a Primetime Emmy in 2005 for his guest role on ER.
From 2016-2018, he starred as a corrupt NYPD lieutenant alongside Jennifer Lopez in the NBC series Shades of Blue. Most recently, he played one of the divorce attorneys in Marriage Story and the Moltisanti twins Aldo and Salvatore in The Many Saints of Newark, the 2021 prequel film to The Sopranos.
After news broke of Liotta's death, his Goodfellas costar Lorraine Bracco tweeted a touching tribute.
"I can be anywhere in the world and people will come up and tell me their favorite movie is Goodfellas," Bracco wrote. "Then they always ask what was the best part of making that movie. My response has always been the same…Ray Liotta."
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
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