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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Anita McSorley & James Brinsford

Ray Liotta dead aged 67 as tributes paid to Hollywood actor and Goodfellas star

Tributes are being paid to Ray Liotta who has died "in his sleep" aged 67.

The Hollywood actor who starred in Goodfellas passed away in the Dominican Republic, where he was shooting the film Dangerous Waters.

Ray is survived by a daughter Karsen, and was also engaged to be married to Jacy Nittolo.

READ MORE: Top stars winging their way to Ireland for film Cocaine Bear

The actor was enjoying a purple patch of work with a number of projects in recent times including The Many Saints of Newark, Marriage Story and No Sudden Move.

He was starring in the Elizabeth Banks-directed Cocaine Bear - parts of which were filmed in Wicklow, Ireland last summer.

Liotta was due to star opposite Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley in the Working Title film The Substance.

He also starred alongside Taron Egerton in the Apple TV series Black Bird.

Deadline claimed the star died in his sleep but did not give the reasons while TMZ claimed there was no foul play suspected.

He was last pictured in public at the beginning of May in Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles, California.

The actor and his fiancée Jacy were enjoying an early dinner at an Italian restaurant called Spruzzo.

His last social media post, shared on May 3, was a screenshot of a headline confirming the news of one of his movies.

The headline read: "Elizabeth Banks' 'Cocaine Bear' Sets February 2023 Theatrical Release."

His caption also read: "Cocaine Bear follows an oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists and teens converging in a Georgia forest where a 500-pound apex predator has ingested a staggering amount of the white powder and goes on a coke-fueled rampage seeking more blow — and blood."

The iconic actor was born in New Jersey in 1954 and was abandoned at an orphanage.

He was adopted when he was six months old by township clerk Mary and auto-parts store owner Alfred Liotta.

He has a sister, Linda, who is also adopted. Ray later learned he has one biological sister, one biological half-brother, and five biological half-sisters.

One of Ray's earliest roles was as Joey Perrini on the soap series Another World, where he appeared between 1978 to 1981.

Ray made his film debut in 1983's The Lonely Lady but his first major acting role was Something Wild in 1986, which earned him his first Golden Globe nomination.

It was in 1990 that Ray took on the role of real-life mobster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's critically acclaimed movie Goodfellas.

He also appeared in Phoenix, Pilgrim, legendary movie Hannibal, Narc, Wild Hogs, and dozens more.

The actor married actress and producer Michelle Grace in 1997 after meeting at a baseball games.

It was where her former husband Mark Grace was playing for the Chicago Cubs.

Ray and Michelle - who divorced in 2004 - share a daughter together.

He has had quite a few wild stories and once revealed on Jay Leno's Garage that Nancy and Tina Sinatra, daughters of Frank Sinatra, once set him a horse's head in the mail.

It was a joke in response to him passing on taking on the role of their late father in a miniseries they were working on.

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