Vincent Pastore, an American actor known to audiences for his role as mobster Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero on HBO’s “The Sopranos,” was found dead in his Bronx residence by a neighbor on Saturday. He was 80 years old.
The news was confirmed to TheWrap by his manager Bob McGowan. McGowan received a call from Pastore’s “Sopranos” co-star and personal friend Vincent Curatola earlier Saturday informing him of Pastore’s death.
“He was such a great guy. He was always helping charities. He would help anybody,” his manager Bob McGowan said. “My condolences to his family.”
After acting in smaller parts through the ’80s and ’90s, with notable crime genre credits including “Goodfellas” and “Carlito’s Way,” Pastore found his most prominent role in 1999 as a main cast member on HBO’s “The Sopranos.”
The actor played Salvatore Bonpensiero, a.k.a. Big Pussy, an over-the-hill mobster and sentimental favorite of his capo, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini). Much of the main narrative through the start of the “The Sopranos” involves Bonpensiero’s conspicuous disappearances and associations with forces outside of the mafia. Along with the rest of the main cast, Pastore was honored with the Screen Actors Guild award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series in 2000.
After serving as a main cast member through the first two seasons, Pastore continued to make additional appearances as Big Pussy through the show’s remaining four seasons.
“Vinny was the purest kind of actor, completely committed to the craft, devoted to the work and guided by the muse. He was unconcerned about how many episodes he had left or what his next gig was going to be. For Vinny, it was always, entirely, about the work and the art,” said “Sopranos” creator David Chase in a statement following Pastore’s death. “I was out of the country when the last episode of Season 1 aired, and when I came back, all of America was asking me, ‘Where’s Big Pussy?’ Nobody wanted him to go because Vinny brought true nobility to his role.”
“Vinny Pastore was a dear friend and a very generous, fun guy,” said his co-star Steve Schirripa. “When I first showed up on the second season of ‘The Sopranos,’ Vinny told me he knew he was out. He said, ‘How many fat f–ks can we have on one show?’ We had a lot of laughs together over the years. I’ll miss him
dearly.”
Prior to “The Sopranos,” Pastore made his Broadway debut as a replacement actor for the role of Amos Heart in “Chicago.” He returned to the stage for “Bullets Over Broadway” in 2013.
Pastore continued as a character actor through the years, oftentimes racking up several credits each year with productions that shot in the tri-state area. He had regular guest voice role as the mobster Terry on “Aqua Teen Hunger Force and recurring roles on “General Hospital” in 2008 along with FX’s early-aughts spoof series “Son of the Beach.” Other notable TV credits include “The Practice,” “Hawaii Five-0,” “Wu Tang: An American Saga” and “The Curse.”
Along with narrative credits, Pastore also became a reality show regular, competing on “Celebrity Apprentice,” “Shark Tank” and “Dancing With the Stars.”
Born July 14, 1946, Pastore grew up in New Rochelle, NY before enlisting in the Navy during the Vietnam War. Upon returning home, he graduated from Pace University with a degree in drama. He worked for nearly two decades as a nightlife operator, before regular patrons Kevin and Matt Dillon encouraged him to pursue acting.
Pastore also co-founded the Renegade Theatre NYC in 2003, alongside his “Sopranos” cos-tar Maureen Van Zandt. There, he directed original off-Broadway productions. He also served on the faculty of HB Studio in Greenwich Village, where he was once an acting student.
“Vinny became one of my closest friends from ‘The Sopranos’ and I continued to see him, because he and my wife Maureen had Renegade Theatre NYC for years,” said his co-star Stevie Van Zandt. “He was one of the warmest, kindest, most charming and charitable human beings I have ever known, in dramatic contrast to his totally authentic portrayal of scary gangsters on film. Huge loss. One of a kind.”
Pastore married Nancy Berke, though the two later divorced. He is survived by their daughter, Renee Niebylski; her husband, Christopher; his granddaughter, Maia Niebylski; his brother, John Pastore and sister-in-law, Pam; and his sister, Sally Molloy.
