Sopranos star Frank Vincent passes away at 80

Goodfellas and Sopranos famed American film and television star Frank Vincent Gattuso Jr, commonly known as Frank Vincent, has passed away at 80. “Legendary actor and accomplished musician Frank Vincent has passed away peacefully at the age of 80 surrounded by his family on September 13, 2017. We ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time,” his family said in a statement. Vincent, who was of Italian descent, was born in North Adams, Massachusetts and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey. His father, Frank Vincent Gattuso, Sr, was an ironsmith and businessman. The New Jersey native began his career as a musician and later started acting in the 1970s, a decade that also saw him form a short-lived comedy duo with fellow musician Joe Pesci. Vincent received his biggest acting break alongside Pesci in 1976’s The Death Collector. He also appeared as an antagonist for Pesci in Martin Scorsese’s 1980 classic Raging Bull and later collaborated heavily with Scorsese, Pesci, and Robert De Niro. One of his notable appearances in foreign film was in Juan José Jusid’s Made in Argentina, in which he played Vito, a wealthy Manhattan businessman who befriends the substance abuse counselor who treats his son. Vincent was often cast as a gangster. His role in Scorsese’s 1990 film Goodfellas is one of his most memorable work, where he played the role of Billy Batts, a self-made man in the Gambino crime family. Vincent had his most prominent role, as Phil Leotardo in the popular HBO TV series The Sopranos, where he played a ruthless New York City gangster who, as boss of the show’s fictional Lupertazzi crime family, becomes the show’s chief antagonist in the final season.