L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS Continued from page 4 H e i s w a y t o o y o u n g t o have left us." Actor Seth Rogen, who worked with Liotta in 2009's Observe a n d R e p o r t , s a i d o n h i s T w i t t e r p r o f i l e : " I c a n ' t b e l i e v e R a y L i o t t a h a s passed away. He was such a lovely, talented and hilar- ious person. Working with him was one of the great joys of my career and we made some of my favorite scenes I ever got to be in. A t r u e l e g e n d o f i m m e n s e skill and grace. " Actor Joe Pesci said "God is a Good- fella and so is Ray." I t a l i a n - A m e r i c a n actor Alessandro Nivola, honors his Many Saints of Newark co-star: "I feel so lucky to have squared off against this legend in one o f h i s f i n a l r o l e s . T h e s c e n e s w e d i d t o g e t h e r w e r e a m o n g t h e a l l - t i m e h i g h l i g h t s o f m y a c t i n g career. He was dangerous, unpredictable, hilarious, a n d g e n e r o u s w i t h h i s praise for other actors." "Ray was my partner in c r i m e o n S h a d e s o f B l u e , " J e n n i f e r L o p e z wrote. The actress shared the television screen with Liotta in the NBC drama: "The first thing that comes to mind is he was so kind t o m y c h i l d r e n . R a y w a s the epitome of a tough guy who was all mushy on the inside… I guess that's what m a d e h i m s u c h a c o m - pelling actor to watch." She c a l l e d h i m t h e " o r i g i n a l G o o d f e l l a " a n d a l s o recalled the "electric spark a n d a m u t u a l r e s p e c t " between them on set. S a g - A f t r a m e m b e r since 1977, he was remem- bered by the world's largest labor union representing performers and broadcast- ers. "We are saddened and s h o c k e d b y t h e s u d d e n death of SAG Award nomi- nee Ray Liotta. He gave us legendary performances in G o o d f e l l a s , F i e l d o f Dreams and so many other f i l m s . " T h e A s s o c i a t i o n wrote on its official Twitter account. The Newark, New Jer- s e y , n a t i v e w a s b o r n i n 1954 and adopted at age six m o n t h s . L i o t t a a l w a y s a s s u m e d h e w a s m o s t l y Italian — and he was cast in a lot of movies as an Ital- ian-American. Only later in life, while searching for his birth par- ents, he discovered he was actually Scottish. But this didn't diminish his appeal t o t h e I t a l i a n - A m e r i c a n community, nor did he do anything to distance him- self from it, and certainly not only because it was part of his artistic persona. Per- h a p s t h a t s i m p l e , y e t incredibly meaningful and natural act of seeking his r o o t s , h i s b i r t h p a r e n t s , served to tie him even more strongly to a community for w h o m " h e r i t a g e " a n d "roots" are key terms in an identitarian discourse that is centered on the idea of search, discovery and con- nection with the past. Liotta, who grew up play- ing sports including base- ball, always assumed he'd get a job working in con- struction. He got into act- i n g f o r t h e f i r s t t i m e b y c h a n c e w h e n , d u r i n g h i s senior year of high school, h i s d r a m a t e a c h e r a s k e d him if he wanted to be in a play. Later on, he picked d r a m a a n d a c t i n g a t t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f M i a m i j u s t because they had no math requirements attached. He would often joke in inter- views about the fact that he only started auditioning for plays because a pretty girl told him to. But after grad- uation, he got an agent, and s o o n h e g o t h i s f i r s t b i g b r e a k o n t h e s o a p o p e r a A n o t h e r W o r l d . J u s t t h e first step toward a long and s u c c e s s f u l c a r e e r i n t h e Hollywood mecca. The many heartfelt mes- s a g e s h i s f r i e n d s , f a m i l y and colleagues published on social media or entrust- ed to the press give us the i m a g e o f a m a n w h o w a s l o v e d , r e s p e c t e d a n d admired for his talent. An actor by chance, perhaps, as his own very beginnings tell us, but certainly a person w i t h a c t i n g i n h i s b l o o d , until the end. He passed in his sleep, while on location in the Dominican Republic for the shooting of his last movie, Dangerous Waters. Ray Liotta and Silvia Lombardo at the Tribeca Film Festival (Photo: Laurence Agron/Dreamstime) Scorsese, who directed Liotta in Goodfellas, said "I'm absolutely shocked and devastated by the sudden, unexpected death of Ray Liotta. He was so uniquely gifted, so adventurous, so courageous as an actor Liotta and family at the LA premiere of Shrek the Third in 2007 (Photo: Sbukley/Dreamstime)

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