Ray Liotta cause of death latest — Goodfellas icon’s body to be flown back from Dominican Republic for funeral service
GOODFELLAS star Ray Liotta's body will be flown back from the Dominican Republic for his funeral service following his tragic death at 67.
The star died in his sleep while abroad where he was filming Dangerous Waters.
There were no signs of foul play or anything suspicious about the death, TMZ reported.
Now, the Dominican funeral home where his body has been held is reportedly rushing arrangements to have him transported back to Los Angeles via private jet.
Liotta is survived by his daughter Karsen. He was engaged to be married to Jacy Nittolo, who was with him while he was filming.
A cause of death has not yet been released.
Read our Ray Liotta cause of death blog for the very latest news and updates…
Hometown to name a baseball field after Liotta
Ray Liotta‘s hometown of Union Township, New Jersey, might be naming a baseball field after him as a nod to his role in Field of Dreams.
Mayor Manuel Figueiredo said that the Township is exploring multiple possibilities in commemorating the late actor.
“We are allowing the family and loved ones time to grieve and process his untimely death before we make any definitive decisions,” Figueiredo said in a statement.
Liotta dined at steakhouse days before death
Before his death on Thursday in the Dominican Republic, Ray Liotta had dinner with his fiancé at Naca’n Restaurant last Tuesday night.
Naca’n posted a picture of the couple at the establishment and said that the actor had been “friendly and generous.”
“Mr Ray Liotta joined us for dinner with friends,” the caption read. “We had a nice chat about the history of our building and our business. Very friendly and generous gentleman.”
After his death, the luxury steakhouse posted another picture of him.
“He was a special person and talented actor that will be missed – your friends at Naca’n will remember you fondly,” the tribute said.
Liotta on the small screen
Liotta was well-known for his scores of film performances, but he also had an impact on television.
Some of his television appearances include:
- Another World (1978)
- Casablanca (1983)
- Frasier (1995)
- Family Guy (2001)
- ER (2004)
- Texas Rising (2015)
- Shades of Blue (2016)
- Young Sheldon (2017)
- Hanna (2021)
- Black Bird (premieres in 2022)
Who did Liotta play in Another World?
Liotta was most known for his role as Joey Perrini, who he described as “the nicest guy in the world” per the New York Times, in the soap opera Another World.
Did Liotta star in music videos?
In 2014, Liotta starred in a music video for Lovers on the Sun by David Guetta.
He also appeared in Ed Sheeran and Rudimental’s Bloodstream in 2015.
'One of a kind'
Actress Debi Mazar, who starred alongside Liotta in Goodfellas, shared a series of photos of them on the set of the iconic film.
She wrote: Goodbye Ray..
"Thankyou for the memories,your generosity at work,your wicked sense of humor,your raw grit&lazer stare.
"You had me at ‘Dominick & Eugene’
"One of a kind. ..
"My condolences to your family."
'Terrific actor'
In a tweet on the day of Ray Liotta's death, Fox anchor Geraldo Rivera wrote: "RIP Ray Liotta terrific actor, the original Goodfella, wonderful career, premature death.
"Condolences to his family. He died doing what he loved, with his boots on, making movies."
Hallmark actor calls Liotta a 'legend'
Hallmark actor Trevor Donovan took to Twitter to honor his Texas Rising co-star Ray Liotta with touching words and a photo.
He wrote: "RIP to the legend Ray Liotta. It was an honor to work with him for 6 months filming Texas Rising in Mexico.
"He was one of the good ones. Condolences to his family."
What is Texas Rising about?
Texas Rising is a 10-hour television miniseries based on the Texas Revolution against Mexico and the formation of the Texas Rangers that aired on the History Channel in 2015.
Roland Joffé directed the film, which premiered on May 25, 2015.
Bill Paxton, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Ray Liotta, Brendan Fraser, Olivier Martinez, and Cynthia Addai-Robinson are among the cast members.
Jacy's life with Liotta was 'truly magical'
In a heartbreaking Instagram post, Ray Liotta's fiancée wrote about her love for her late significant other.
She captioned a carousel of images of them both: "My life these past couple of years have been nothing but truly magical.
"Ray and I share a deep love that I will cherish in my heart forever. We laughed daily and we were inseparable.
"The chemistry was wild in the best way.
"He was everything in the world to me and we couldn’t get enough of each other.
"The kind of real love that one dreams of.
"He was the most beautiful person inside and out that I’ve ever known…and even that is an understatement."
Who is Ray Liotta’s ex-wife Michelle Grace?
Michelle was born on December 4, 1968, in Chicago, Illinois.
Michelle was a producer and actor, according to her IMDb page, and she produced numerous films in which her late ex-husband featured.
The Rat Pack, released in 1998, Narc, released in 2002, and Take the Lead, released in 2006.
In addition, she is the mother of Ray Liotta’s only child, Karsen Liotta.
Reason that Liotta refused The Sopranos revealed
Liotta also turned down a role in the HBO gangster series The Sopranos, despite the show’s creator David Chase reaching out to him in the hopes of landing him a part.
“I didn’t want to do another mafia thing,” Liotta told The Guardian about turning down the role of Ralphie, who was eventually portrayed by Joe Pantoliano in season three.
“And I was shooting Hannibal. It just didn’t feel right at the time,” he added.
‘A massive unexpected shock’
“This is a massive, unexpected shock,” said Sopranos creator David Chase, according to Us Weekly.
“I have been an admirer of Ray’s work since I saw him in Something Wild, a movie he wrenched by the tail. I was so glad he worked on The Many Saints of Newark.
“I believed strongly in my heart that he could play that double role. He created two distinctly separate characters and each performance was phenomenal.
“Ray was also a very warm and humorous person. A really superior actor. We all felt we lucked out having him on that movie.”
Inside Liotta’s hotel in DR
While filming a new film, Dangerous Waters, Liotta was living at Casas del VXI with his girlfriend Jacy Nittolo, 46, when he died in his sleep.
Medics were dispatched to the resort, but they were unable to rescue him, and his body has now been transported for a post-mortem examination, per the Daily Mail.
His cause of death has yet to be determined, but there is no suspicion of foul play.
It’s believed Liotta was in terrible condition when he visited Los Angeles in March, with witnesses reporting that he was “slow and steady” on his feet, “noticeably pale,” and needed assistance putting on his jacket.
Ray Liotta in Apple’s Black Bird
Shortly before his death, Ray Liotta had just finished filming Apple’s forthcoming series Black Bird, his final completed television series, according to Deadline.
Liotta’s return to series television as a lead opposite Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser will be celebrated in the next limited series, which will launch on Apple TV+ on July 8th.
The six-episode psychological thriller is based on James Keene and Hillel Levin’s true-crime memoir, In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption.
Liotta’s Big Jim Keene is a popular former ranking officer in the Kankakee police and fire departments who had powerful friends in the highest reaches of state and local government.
Liotta says career started by accident
Liotta has said that he got his start in acting by chance, according to the New York Times.
After a squabble with his basketball coach, his theatre instructor inquired if he needed anything to do, and he ended himself in a theatrical production of “Sunday in New York.”
Modern Family star on Ray Liotta
In a conversation with Deadline, Jesse Tyler Ferguson recalled the time Ray Liotta guess starred in a 2016 episode of Modern Family.
“He was one of the greatest actors of our generation.
“The day he was on Modern Family was such a special day. We were really lucky to get a lot of great guest stars, and every once in a while there would be one of his stature that would come in a play with us for the day, and it made us feel so special that they wanted to take the time to come and be with us.
“He was a movie star, a huge movie star, and I’m just so grateful that he left behind such a beautiful body of work because that is all we can hope to do with our time on this earth – leave behind something for people to remember us by.
“And he certainly left a wealth of beautiful performances for us to remember him by.”
Ray Liotta spoke about divorce
According to The Guardian, Liotta has always been kind when speaking of his ex-wife.
He once told the outlet: “She’s a great woman, and thank God we’re still friends.”
“She still stays over at the house, so Karsen can see us together.”
“You want to give her as much semblance of a family unit as you can when you’re separated or divorced.”
Was Field of Dreams a true story?
Phil Alden Robinson wrote and directed Field of Dreams, a 1989 American sports fantasy drama film based on WP Kinsella’s 1982 novel Shoeless Joe.
Burt Lancaster, Amy Madigan, and James Earl Jones also star in the film.
Burt Lancaster and Frank Whaley’s role, Archibald “Moonlight” Graham, is based on a real-life baseball player of the same name. Except for a few factual alterations done for artistic reasons, his character is basically true to life, per Cinemaholic.
Kevin Costner plays a farmer who develops a baseball field in his cornfield, attracting the spirits of baseball icons such as Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) and the Chicago Black Sox.
It was released in theaters on May 5, 1989.
Was Ray Liotta adopted, part two
Liotta said that he was aware of his adoption as a child and that he delivered a kindergarten show-and-tell report on the subject.
In the 2000s, he hired a private investigator to track down his biological mother, and through her, he learned that he is of Scottish ancestry.
He is the biological half-brother of one biological sister and the biological half-sister of five biological half-sisters.
Was Ray Liotta adopted?
Liotta, according to his Wikipedia profile, was adopted at the age of six months by township clerk Mary and auto-parts business owner Alfred Liotta after being abandoned at an orphanage.
Mary has Scottish ancestors while Alfred was a personnel director and the head of a local Democratic Party group.
His adoptive parents also campaigned for local government unsuccessfully, and he recalls attending parades to throw out brochures for his father’s campaign.
Linda, Liotta’s adopted sister, is also adopted.
Liotta’s best films
In a list of his best films, the Independent ranked his 10 best as follows:
- Goodfellas (1990)
- Blow (2001)
- Narc (2002)
- Field of Dreams (1989)
- Marriage Story (2019)
- The Place Beyond The Pines (2012)
- Identity (2003)
- The Many Saints of Newark (2021)
- Cop Land (1997)
- Something Wild (1986)
The tragic loss of his mother, continued
Ray reminisced about being there for his mother’s final moments as she died in his arms.
“I went back that night, and luckily I was there when she passed, literally in my arms. I’ve never really talked about that.”
He later told the LA Times that he had “mixed feelings” about the film despite its massive success at the box office.
“My mom lived in New Jersey. So every weekend I would go home. She passed away in the middle of filming.
“Doing that movie and that character was a dream come true. But I do have mixed feelings about it.”
The tragic loss of his mother
Ray’s dedication to his work was apparent when he recalled the tragic passing of his mother during an interview with Sunday TODAY’s Willie Geist.
Ray, who was adopted as an infant, lost his mother to cancer in the middle of filming the beloved Goodfellas film.
He opened up about the difficult time and how he pushed through filming after hearing the news.
“My mom was sick with cancer during the filming of ‘Goodfellas,’ and she passed away in the middle of it. … It put things in perspective in a really deep way,” he said.
“I was doing a scene Friday. They told me. My knees buckled, but you realize you’ve got to go back and finish the scene. And I did.”
Liotta’s relationship with Jacy Nittolo, continued
According to various reports, Liotta was with Nittolo at the time of his death.
Nittolo has shared plenty of pictures with Liotta on her Instagram account, with her last post showing the pair enjoying a day at the beach in January.
She also posted a picture celebrating Mother’s Day with Liotta’s daughter Karsen last year.