Ray Liotta, star of Goodfellas and Field of Dreams, dies aged 67

The actor died in his sleep in the Dominican Republic while shooting his latest film

Ray Liotta stars in The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel to The Sopranos
Ray Liotta stars in The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel to The Sopranos

Ray Liotta, star of Goodfellas and Field of Dreams, has died at the age of 67.

According to his representative, who confirmed the news to the Hollywood Reporter, the actor died in his sleep in the Dominican Republic while shooting his latest film, Dangerous Waters, alongside Saffron Burrows.

Ray Liotta: A cackling, rugged actor, too dangerous for romantic rolesOpens in new window ]

Liotta was born in New Jersey and abandoned at an orphanage before being adopted at the age of six months. After small roles in TV and in the 1983 film The Lonely Lady, Liotta received a Golden Globe nomination for 1986′s Something Wild. He went onto star in Field of Dreams in 1989 before taking on the role of Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas.

“If you got one movie that people remember, that’s great. If you got two, that’s fantastic,” he said in 2021 about his association with the gangster drama.

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The 1990s also saw him star in the thriller Unlawful Entry alongside Kurt Russell, Cop Land with Robert De Niro and the family drama Corrina, Corrina with Whoopi Goldberg. He also received a Screen Actors Guild nomination for playing Frank Sinatra in the 1998 TV movie The Rat Pack.

The following decade included roles in Ridley Scott’s Hannibal and Joe Carnahan’s Narc, plus an Emmy-winning guest appearance on ER.

Liotta was offered a role on The Sopranos but turned it down. “I didn’t want to do another Mafia thing, and I was shooting Hannibal,” he told the Guardian. “It just didn’t feel right at the time.” In 2021 he starred in the Sopranos prequel movie The Many Saints of Newark.

Ray Liotta (second right) in The Many Saints of Newark
Ray Liotta (second right) in The Many Saints of Newark

Ray Liotta told Tara Brady about almost playing Tony Soprano in this Irish Times interview from September 2021Opens in new window ]

His more recent roles included Marriage Story and Amazon’s small-screen remake of Hanna. His final roles, still to be seen, include the Apple thriller series Black Bird, with Taron Egerton and Cocaine Bear, directed by Elizabeth Banks.

Liotta is survived by his fiance, Jacy Nittolo, who was with him while he was filming, and daughter Karsen.

More to follow.—Guardian