{"id":25476,"date":"2026-08-02T19:42:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T14:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=25476"},"modified":"2026-08-02T19:42:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T14:42:44","slug":"the-sopranos-star-was-80","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=25476","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;The Sopranos&#8217; Star Was 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>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/vincent-pastore\/\" id=\"auto-tag_vincent-pastore\" data-tag=\"vincent-pastore\">Vincent Pastore<\/a>, known for playing mobsters in film and TV, most notably Salvatore \u201cBig Pussy\u201d Bonpensiero on HBO\u2019s <em><a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/the-sopranos\/\" id=\"auto-tag_the-sopranos\" data-tag=\"the-sopranos\">The Sopranos<\/a><\/em>, has died. He was 80. The veteran actor was found dead in his Bronx residence today, Aug. 1, by a neighbor. Pastore\u2019s manager had not heard from him for three days though, according to a close friend, the actor\u2019s driver had spoken to him on the phone Friday night. The death is believed to be from natural causes and is not being investigated by the medical examiner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tBorn in the Bronx on July 14, 1946, Pastore fought in the Vietnam war before graduating from Pace University with a degree in drama. While working as a limo driver, he met Matt and Kevin Dillon who went to see him in a community play he was doing, and <em>The Entourage <\/em>star Kevin helped him get his first break. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tAfter minor parts in early 1990s movies such as <em>Goodfellas, Carlito\u2019s Way<\/em> and <em>Men of Respect<\/em>, Pastore rose to prominence with his roles in the 1995 feature <em>The Jerky Boys: The Movie<\/em> and the 1996 HBO TV movie <em>Gotti<\/em>, in which he appeared alongside future <em>Sopranos <\/em>co-stars Tony Sirico, Frank Vincent, and Dominic Chianese.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tIt was David Chase\u2019s 1999 drama <em>The Sopranos<\/em> that gave Pastore his signature role, Big Pussy, Tony Soprano\u2019s (James Gandolfini) longtime best friend and mob enforcer turned FBI Informant whose murder became one of the Emmy-winning series\u2019 most memorable scenes.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  \">\n<figure class=\"o-figure   size-large alignnone lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:100%; max-width:982px;\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<div class=\"lrv-a-crop-16x9\" style=\"padding-bottom:calc((658\/982)*100%);\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-deadline-2019\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.jpg\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/TheSopranos_314237900-PICSP39455-SR._V392937825_SX1080_-e1657323467285.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/TheSopranos_314237900-PICSP39455-SR._V392937825_SX1080_-e1657323467285.jpg 982w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/TheSopranos_314237900-PICSP39455-SR._V392937825_SX1080_-e1657323467285.jpg?resize=150,101 150w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/TheSopranos_314237900-PICSP39455-SR._V392937825_SX1080_-e1657323467285.jpg?resize=300,201 300w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/TheSopranos_314237900-PICSP39455-SR._V392937825_SX1080_-e1657323467285.jpg?resize=149,100 149w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/TheSopranos_314237900-PICSP39455-SR._V392937825_SX1080_-e1657323467285.jpg?resize=630,420 630w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/TheSopranos_314237900-PICSP39455-SR._V392937825_SX1080_-e1657323467285.jpg?resize=60,40 60w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/TheSopranos_314237900-PICSP39455-SR._V392937825_SX1080_-e1657323467285.jpg?resize=352,236 352w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/TheSopranos_314237900-PICSP39455-SR._V392937825_SX1080_-e1657323467285.jpg?resize=900,600 900w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/TheSopranos_314237900-PICSP39455-SR._V392937825_SX1080_-e1657323467285.jpg?resize=110,74 110w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/TheSopranos_314237900-PICSP39455-SR._V392937825_SX1080_-e1657323467285.jpg?resize=285,191 285w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/TheSopranos_314237900-PICSP39455-SR._V392937825_SX1080_-e1657323467285.jpg?resize=320,214 320w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/TheSopranos_314237900-PICSP39455-SR._V392937825_SX1080_-e1657323467285.jpg?resize=640,429 640w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/TheSopranos_314237900-PICSP39455-SR._V392937825_SX1080_-e1657323467285.jpg?resize=800,536 800w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 250px\" height=\"658\" width=\"982\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-font-size-12 lrv-u-padding-tb-025\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\" lrv-u-font-size-16 lrv-u-font-size-14@mobile-max lrv-a-font-body-m u-font-style-italic lrv-u-font-weight-bold lrv-u-font-family-primary u-line-height-20 u-letter-spacing-0 u-line-height-18@mobile-max\">\u2018The Sopranos\u2019 Season 1 cast, from left: Tony Sirico, Steven Van Zandt, James Gandolfini, Michael Imperioli and Vincent Pastore<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\" lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase lrv-u-color-grey lrv-u-font-size-10 lrv-a-font-basic-xxs lrv-u-margin-l-025\">HBO<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tPastore\u2019s extensive feature credits also include <em>Mickey Blue Eyes, Two Family House, Riding in Cars with Boys, Witness to the Mob, Deuces Wild, Mafia!, Serving Sara, This Thing of Ours, Shark Tale, Bachelor Party Vegas, Once Upon a Time in Brooklyn, Money Train, A Brooklyn State of Mind, The Deli, Spinning Gold <\/em>and Guy Ritchie\u2019s <em>Revolver.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tIn TV, Pastore was a frequent guest star on <em>Law &amp; Order<\/em> and had major roles on <em>The Practice, Son of the Beach, Queens Supreme, Hawaii Five-0, Wu-Tang: An American Saga, <\/em>the daytime drama <em>One Life to Live and<\/em> the miniseries <em>The Last Don II<\/em>. He most recently was a series regular on <em>Gravesend<\/em> and guest starred on <em>Yellowjackets<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tDuring the 2000s, Pastore was a fixture on reality television with appearances on <em>Celebrity Apprentice, Celebrity Family Feud, Dancing With the Stars, Shark Tank<\/em> and <em>Celebrity Fit Club<\/em>. He also hosted <em>The Wiseguy Show<\/em> on SiriusXM and performed with the band The Gangster Squad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cVinny was a great guy, he would help anyone and was very charitable,\u201d Pastore\u2019s longtime manager Bob McGowan said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tPastore is survived by his daughter, Renee, son-in-law and granddaughter.<\/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, known for playing mobsters in film and TV, most notably Salvatore \u201cBig Pussy\u201d Bonpensiero on HBO\u2019s The Sopranos, has died. He was 80. The veteran actor was found dead in his Bronx residence today, Aug. 1, by a neighbor. Pastore\u2019s manager had not heard from him for three days though, according to a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/VincentPastore.jpg?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25476","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=25476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}