Celebrity Biographies
Frank Vincent
You will be reminded of series stalwarts like the mob boss who was chasing Steve Buscemi’s character. Frank Vincent, who specializes in gangster films such as “Goodfellas” and “Casino”, died at the age of 78, on September 13, while undergoing surgery, after suffering a heart attack a week earlier.
Born into a family of Italian emigrants, on August 4, 1939, in North Adams (Massachussetts), Frank Vincent Gattuso Jr. spent his childhood in Jersey City (New Jersey). He intended to pursue music because of his ability to play the drums, trumpet, and piano. But by chance he ended up as an actor in The Death Collector , a crime film that featured Joe Pesci .
The film went unnoticed but impressed the great Martin Scorsese , who would recruit Frank Vincent for Raging Bull , which also featured Pesci, and later to play gangsters in Goodfellas and Casino . Due to his physical appearance, he was typecast in this type of role, which he would repeat in Gotti , and in The Sopranos , where he gave life to his most remembered character, Phil Leotardo, New York capo.
He is survived by his wife, Kathleen, and their three children.