# Tony Sirico RIP **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [July 8, 2022, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645 "2022-07-08T23:35:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2022, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/1 "2022-07-08T23:35:55Z")
He was 79. Great in the Sopranos . ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2022, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/2 "2022-07-08T23:43:03Z")
“I was born, grew up, spent a few years in the army, couple more in the can, and here I am, half a wise guy.” That pretty much sums it up. RIP ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2022, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/3 "2022-07-08T23:49:45Z")
Guy was an interior decorator. He killed 16 Czechoslovakians. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2022, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/4 "2022-07-08T23:51:55Z")
His house looked like shit. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2022, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/5 "2022-07-08T23:56:30Z")
I’m just saying, Tone. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2022, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/6 "2022-07-08T23:57:53Z")
Paulie Walnuts. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/7 "2022-07-09T01:06:12Z")
Vinnie Griffin. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/8 "2022-07-09T01:14:03Z")
Alias Ted Hughes (but he had nothing to do with wacking Sylvia Plath). ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/9 "2022-07-09T01:47:11Z")
A fascinating guy who managed to convey a remarkable breadth of emotion into a character who could have otherwise been very one-dimensional. I think Sirico was both “playing himself” and “acting” at the same time, which is hard to explain but it is a thing and it’s different and much rarer than one or the other. He was really, truly, intensely emotive and nuanced, and the hard man exterior was as real as the big hearted and sensitive soul underneath it (the “Big Bang” interview paints a fuller picture.) He carried this emotion over into Paulie and as I have rewatched the show at least 20 times I am constantly catching new bits of brilliance in his characterization. Think about it, really think - he got a lot of major storylines centering around him. A show as A-list as The Sopranos could not do this with a cardboard caricature. There’s a reason why he provides so many moments that move the story forward. How many Silvio-centered storylines were there, on the whole run of the show? Two, maybe? Whereas things that Paulie did or didn’t do or say were a CONSTANT source of plot devices. EVERYONE was, at some point or another in the story, playing off of Sirico. If you’ve been through the Talking Sopranos podcast in which Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa discuss each individual episode of the series with each other and a wide variety of co-stars, writers, directors and people otherwise involved in the creation of the show, it’s clear that everyone who worked with him adored the guy. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/10 "2022-07-09T01:47:23Z")
Ah, damn, he was brilliantly as Paulie. He could be side-splittingly funny in one scene and terrifying in the next. RIP. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/11 "2022-07-09T03:00:15Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > Think about it, really think - he got a lot of major storylines centering around him. A show as A-list as The Sopranos could not do this with a cardboard caricature. There’s a reason why he provides so many moments that move the story forward. How many Silvio-centered storylines were there, on the whole run of the show? Tony Sirico had been acting for 20 years before The Sopranos, whereas Silvio was pretty much Steven Van Zandt’s first acting gig, so that’s not the best comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/12 "2022-07-09T04:46:30Z")
“Ride a painted pony, let the spinning wheel spin.” ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/13 "2022-07-09T06:54:18Z")
Or, as they say on The Sopranos… Ride the painted pony, let the spinning wheel glide. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/14 "2022-07-09T07:01:47Z")
First James Caan, now this guy. Someone put out a contract on actors who played Mafiosi? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/15 "2022-07-09T12:36:20Z")
Sicilianos! RIP, Paulie. You were a real _paesano_! ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/16 "2022-07-09T14:12:26Z")
> ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/17 "2022-07-09T14:22:52Z")
He also stipulated he would never, ever be a rat! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/18 "2022-07-09T16:43:11Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Paulie Walnuts I saw the news yesterday and said, “Paulie Walnuts died”. Everyone knew who I was talking about. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/19 "2022-07-09T16:56:30Z")
My Mom and Uncle grew up on the same block as him in Brooklyn. His younger brother and Uncle were best friends. Tony really was involved the mob. My uncle was briefly a loosely affiliated bookie. Tony did protection rackets on discos in the 70s. My uncle’s favorite story about him was walking into the bathroom of a disco and seeing Tony with some poor guy’s head in the toilet. Tony looked up and saw Uncle and they smiled and waved at each other. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645/20 "2022-07-09T18:18:15Z")
First James Caan, now Tony Sirico. People with uncredited parts in _Godfather II_ are dying left and right. (How is it that Bruno Kirby died years ago but Dominic Chianese is still going?) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-sirico-rip/967645.md?page=2)