Actor Vincent Pastore, unforgettable “Big Pussy” from The Sopranos, has died at 80

“Big Pussy” singer Bonpensiero has died at the age of 80 after a career spanning nearly forty years marked by numerous gangster roles in film and television.

Memorable face of the series The Sopranos, actor Vincent Pastore has died at the age of 80.

He, who played mafioso Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero in the cult HBO drama, was found lifeless on Saturday at his home in the Bronx, New York, according to Deadline. Authorities are investigating the circumstances of his death.

Born in the same Bronx in 1946, Vincent Pastore served in the US Navy during the Vietnam War before studying theater at Pace University. After working for a long time in New York bars and clubs, he began his screen career late in the late 1980s.

Accustomed to the roles of gangsters and strong heads, the Italian-American star then multiplies appearances in classics of American cinema such as Goodfellas by Martin Scorsese, Dead End by Brian De Palma, Murder Mystery in Manhattan by Woody Allen, or even the TV film Gotti. It is also the latter who opens the doors of the Sopranos to him. “All of Gotti’s actors ended up getting a role in it,” he said last March.

But it is his interpretation of Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero that will make him go down in television history. Present as a regular character during the first two seasons of The Sopranos, he will then return several times throughout the series, notably through flashbacks and dream sequences, after one of the most significant deaths in fiction.

However, his career was never limited to the David Chase series.

With nearly 200 roles in a forty-year career, Vincent Pastore had done a voice in Gang of Sharks, appeared with Luc Besson in Malavita, as well as in series like New York, Judicial Police, Blue Bloods, or even Hawaii Five-0, and more recently Yellowjackets, where he lent his voice to a llama in the third season.

In a statement sent to Entertainment Weekly, his agent Robert Attermann, who represented him for more than thirty years, praised him as “one of the kindest and most generous men I have known. The public will always remember him as Big Pussy, but for those who knew him, he was much more: a loyal friend, funny, passionate about his profession and always ready to encourage young actors.”