Actor Richard Romanus, known for his roles in The Sopranos, Mean Streets and Heavy Metal, has died at the age of 80.
The badass character actor died on December 23 at a private hospital in Volos, Greece, as confirmed by his son, Robert Romanus, to the Hollywood Reporter. The cause of death was not specified.
Richard played the character Richard La Penna, the husband of Dr. Jennifer Melfi, in four episodes of The Sopranos from 1999 to 2002.
His other notable roles included Michael Longo in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets in 1973 and the role of taxi driver Harry Canyon in Heavy Metal in 1981.
Romanus is survived by his son Robert, his second wife, Oscar-nominated costume designer Anthea Sylbert, and his younger brother Robert Romanus.
Actor Richard Romanus, known for his roles in The Sopranos, Mean Streets and Heavy Metal, has died at the age of 80
The badass character actor died on December 23 at a private hospital in Volos, Greece, as confirmed by his son, Robert Romanus, to the Hollywood Reporter. The cause of death was not specified
The son of dentist Dr. Raymond Romanos was born on February 8, 1943 in Barrem Vermont and raised in West Hartford, Connecticut.
Romanus received his bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1964 from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.
After a year of law school, he shifted his career path to acting at New York's Carnegie Hall, where he trained alongside Lee Strasberg.
In 1967, he married Tina Bohlmann and welcomed a son before divorcing in 1980. In 2004, he married Oscar-nominated costume designer Anthea Sylbert.
Romanus' iconic scene in Mean Streets (1973) with Rober De Niro, who played Johnny Civello, took place on the penultimate day of shooting.
Director Scorsese recalled the moment in Andy Dougan's 2011 book, Untouchable: Robert De Niro.
“Something had happened between Bobby and Richard because the animosity between them in that scene was real, and I played on that,” he said.
'They got on each other's nerves so much that I think they really wanted to kill each other. I kept filming take after take of Bobby shouting all these insults as the crew got very upset.”
Romanus recalled that De Niro became angry: “By laughing I saved face. He thought I should be furious, but he had no control over my reactions.”
'Sometimes the reaction you get from your acting partner is not the reaction you want. Then you just have to respond to that. But in this scene I was laughing organically.”
After a year of law school, Romanus shifted his career path to become an actor at New York's Carnegie Hall, where he trained alongside Lee Strasberg.
Richard Romanus (left) also appeared in the violent ABC crime show Strike Force. He was pictured with Trisha Noble, Robert Stack, Michael Goodwin, Dorian Harewood (left to right)
In the 1981-82 television season, he landed a recurring role as Detective Lieutenant Charlie Gunzer on the high-intensity ABC crime series “Strike Force.”
The show produced by Aaron Spelling also starred Robert Stack, but was canceled after just 20 episodes.
When Romanus moved to the Greek city of Skiathos with his wife twenty years ago, he turned his attention to writing and published his memoirs, ACT III, in 2011.
A year later the book was shortlisted for the International Rubery Book Award.
He also wrote two novels set in the country: Chrysalis in 2011 and Matoula's Echo in 2014.
The couple produced two Lifetime telefilms, Giving Up the Ghost and If You Believe, the latter earning a nomination for the WGA Award for Original Long Form.