Actor Vincent Pastore, who played Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero in the TV series “The Sopranos,” has died. He was 80 years old.
His manager, Robert Atterman, announced the actor’s death. According to him, Pastore’s body was discovered by friends at the actor’s home in the Bronx, New York, on August 1.
Vincent Pastore gained the greatest popularity thanks to his role as Salvatore Bonpensiero, better known as “Big Pussy,” in the cult HBO series “The Sopranos,” which premiered in 1999. His character was one of the closest to Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini. According to the plot, he worked undercover with the FBI for a long time. His internal conflict between loyalty to the mafia and work for law enforcement became one of the key plot lines of the first two seasons of the series.
Vincent Dominic Pastore was born on July 14, 1946, in the Bronx and grew up in New Rochelle. During the Vietnam War, he served in the US Navy, after which he studied drama at Pace University.
Before his acting career, Pastore worked for more than two decades as a bouncer in nightclubs, a driver, and later became a manager and owner of a club in New Rochelle.
It was actors Matt and Kevin Dillon, who knew him from his days as a driver, who advised him to try his hand at acting. After that, he began studying acting and auditioning. Pastore’s career quickly went uphill.