I’m not sure where I saw Ray Liotta first. But his role in Goodfellas is iconic. But there will be no sequel.
As The Independent reports,
Ray Liotta, the actor best known for playing mobster Henry Hill in “Goodfellas” and baseball player Shoeless Joe Jackson in “Field of Dreams,” has died. He was 67.
An official at the Dominican Republic’s National Forensic Science Institute who was not authorized to speak to the media confirmed the death of Ray Liotta and said his body was taken to the Cristo Redentor morgue. The Hollywood Reporter and NBC News cited representatives for Liotta who said he died in his sleep Wednesday night. He was in the Dominican Republic to film a new movie.
Lorraine Bracco, who played Karen Hill in “Goodfellas” tweeted Thursday that she was, “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.”
Liotta’s death seems untimely to me. After all 60 is the new 40.
So I can’t help but wonder if Liotta was vaxxed. He certainly didn’t act fatalistic, as he was filming a new movie. I don’t know of any other reports of drug abuse, or any of the typical vices that get Hollyweirdos killed.
For those who followed Liotta’s career, you could certainly see the transformation from plastic surgery. Liotta obsessed with looking younger, as the surgeries mounted up. Sadly for him, they didn’t make him look younger. Actually they made him look desperate.
The article continues,
The Newark, New Jersey, native was born in 1954 and adopted at age six months out of an orphanage by a township clerk and an auto parts owner. Though he mostly grew up playing sports, including baseball, during his senior year of high school, the drama teacher at the school asked him if he wanted to be in a play, which he agreed to on a lark. And it stuck: He’d go on to study acting at the University of Miami. After graduation, he got his first big break on the soap opera “Another World.”
Liotta’s first big film role was in Jonathan Demme’s “Something Wild” as Melanie Griffith’s character’s hotheaded ex-convict husband Ray. The turn earned him a Golden Globe nomination. A few years later, he would get the memorable role of the ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson in “Field of Dreams.”
Many of my friends acknowledge Liotta’s role in Field of Dreams. The movie wasn’t quite that powerful for me, though I do understand the draw.
Regardless, Liotta will be missed.