{"id":25034,"date":"2026-08-02T09:54:46","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T04:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=25034"},"modified":"2026-08-02T09:54:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T04:54:46","slug":"sopranos-actor-vincent-pastore-known-for-playing-tough-guys-dies-at-80","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=25034","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Sopranos&#8217; actor Vincent Pastore, known for playing tough guys, dies at 80"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-headline\">\n<p class=\"jxTEW Poyse ouIFx uieav lqtkC HkWF HfYhe kGyAC \"><span class=\"gtOSm FbbUW tUtYa vOCwz EQwFq yCufu eEak Qmvg nyTIa SRXVc vzLa jgBfc WXDas CiUCW kqbG zrdEG txGfn ygKVe BbezD UOtxr CVfpq xijV soGRS XgdC sEIlf daWqJ \">Vincent Pastore, a veteran actor who played mobsters and tough guys, and was best known for playing Salvatore \u201cBig Pussy\u201d Bonpensiero on \u201cThe Sopranos,\u201d has died<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \"><span class=\"oyrPY qlwaB AGxeB  \">NEW YORK &#8212; <\/span>Vincent Pastore, a veteran actor who played mobsters and tough guys, and was best known for playing Salvatore \u201cBig Pussy\u201d Bonpensiero on \u201cThe Sopranos,\u201d has died. He was 80.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Bob McGowan, who had managed Pastore since his run on \u201cThe Sopranos,\u201d told The Associated Press that he learned of his death Saturday from another client and actor on the show, Vincent Curatola.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">He said that he had been found in his home on New York\u2019s City Island after not being heard from for a few days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">McGowan said he\u2019d been trying to reach Pastore about a possible job.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cHe was the most loyal client and he always gave to charity,\u201d McGowan said, \u201cand he was the kind of guy who would help anybody, which is rare in my business.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Michael Imperioli, a longtime friend and collaborator with Pastore, said on Instagram that it seemed as though he had known Vinny forever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cWe did lots of work together and traveled all over the USA as well as Italy and Australia. Lots of good times. Lots of laughs,\u201d Imperioli said. \u201cVinny was a kind hearted brother who cared deeply about his family and friends. I will miss him always.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Pastore appeared in movies dating back to the 1980s and had roles in big movies including \u201cGoodfellas\u201d and \u201cAwakenings,\u201d both in 1990.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">He often played gangsters. And it was one of those roles he\u2019s best known for: his 30-episode run as Salvatore \u201cBig Pussy\u201d Bonpensiero, the friend of Tony Soprano who becomes an FBI informant in \u201cThe Sopranos.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">He was born in the Bronx and grew up in suburban New Rochelle, New York. He enlisted in the Navy during the Vietnam War and later attended Pace University, according to his biography on IMDb.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">He is survived by his daughter, Renee Pastore.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vincent Pastore, a veteran actor who played mobsters and tough guys, and was best known for playing Salvatore \u201cBig Pussy\u201d Bonpensiero on \u201cThe Sopranos,\u201d has died NEW YORK &#8212; Vincent Pastore, a veteran actor who played mobsters and tough guys, and was best known for playing Salvatore \u201cBig Pussy\u201d Bonpensiero on \u201cThe Sopranos,\u201d has died&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/f51a3dee-e93d-4dc1-9aff-1cfc0f1752f9\/wirestory_80cd230a299c6894b809065f835ef774_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}