Frank Vincent, actor who played ill-fated tough guys on-screen, dies at 80
Frank Vincent, a veteran character actor who often played tough guys, including mob boss Phil Leotardo on “The Sopranos,” died Sept. 13 in New Jersey. He was 80, according to the Associated Press, citing a family statement, although some people put his age at 78. No further details were available.
Besides Leotardo, the ruthless New York mob boss who frequently clashed with Tony Soprano on the popular HBO drama and who was memorably whacked at a service station, Mr. Vincent portrayed gangsters for director Martin Scorsese.
He appeared in "Raging Bull" (1980) and "Goodfellas" (1990) — where he played Billy Batts, a made man in the Gambino crime family who insults Joe Pesci's character to fatal consequence. In "Casino" (1995), he played Frank Marino, based on real-life gangster Frank Cullotta.
Mr. Vincent had small roles in two Spike Lee films, “Do the Right Thing” (1989) and “Jungle Fever” (1991), among his more than 50 movies.
Frank Vincent Gattuso was born in North Adams, Mass., and raised in Jersey City, where he acted in school plays and learned piano, trumpet and drums. He told The Washington Post that he spent his early adult life playing music in bars and lounges that sometimes catered to mob clientele.
“You got to see them at their best and their worst,” Mr. Vincent said. “The best is that they have social grace, and they’re accommodating and humorous and polite. . . . And they make you [think] they care about what you’re feeling.
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“And the worst is that they can turn on a dime,” he said. “They’re very sensitive to insult. Or if you said the wrong thing to them, you could get into a little bit of trouble.”
In 1976, he made his feature film acting debut in “The Death Collector,” where he was spotted by Scorsese.
In 2006, Mr. Vincent published the book "A Guy's Guide to Being a Man's Man."
Survivors include his wife, Katherine; three children; three siblings; and two grandchildren.
Mr. Vincent was less a household name than a household face, instantly recognizable for his many gangster roles. He once told The Post that he was on location for a film shoot in Rhode Island when a 12-year-old boy asked for his autograph.
“You know who I am?” Mr. Vincent asked.
Notable deaths in 2017
Remembering those who died in 2017.
He wasn’t prepared when the boy answered, “You’re a made man.”
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