American actor Ray Liotta, who headlined Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed gangster drama Goodfellas, has died at 67, according to reports.
Liotta died in his sleep in the Dominican Republic, where he was shooting for the film Dangerous Waters, Deadline reported.
Goodfellas (1990), in which Liotta played Henry Hill, who works for a Mafia gang and later turns informer against them, is one of the actor’s most well-regarded films. Liotta held his own against a cast that included Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci.
Among his early well-regarded roles was in Something Wild (1986), in which he plays a violent husband, and Field of Dreams (1989), in which he is sstar baseball player Shoeless Joe Jackson.
Other iconic roles include a psychotic police officer in Unlawful Entry (1992), a prisoner in the futuristic No Escape (1994), a corrupt policeman in Cop Land (1997) and a gambler in Phoenix (1998).
Liotta’s roles in the 2000s include Hannibal, Narc, Observe and Report, Killing Them Softly, Kill The Messenger, Marriage Story, No Sudden Move and the Many Saints of Newark.
Liotta also appeared in a series of television shows, including ER, Smith, Texas Rising and Hanna.
Among his upcoming projects is Cocaine Bear, an untitled comedy with showbiz as the backdrop, and the Apple TV+’s true crime series Black Bird.
Lorraine Bracco paid tribute to her Goodfellas co-star on Twitter. The Many Saints of Newark star Alessandro Nivola described Liotta as “dangerous, unpredictable, hilarious, and generous with his praise for other actors”.
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