‘Goodfellas’ Actor Frank Adonis Dead At 83, Cause Of Death Not Clear

Veteran character actor Frank Adonis, who was best known for his roles in several Martin Scorsese films, including Goodfellas, died Wednesday night in Las Vegas. He was 83.

While Adonis’ cause of death has yet to be specified, a report from TMZ cited the actor’s wife, Denise, who told the publication that her husband had been “sick for a couple of years” and had mostly suffered from kidney problems. She added that Adonis had been on dialysis shortly before his death and had been breathing through a ventilator for nine days before it was removed shortly after Christmas.

“He will be missed. He was a great father and an amazing husband. He helped all his friends he could. Great writer, director, and actor. He was my best friend,” Denise said.

Per his IMDB page, Frank Adonis was born as Frank Testaverde Scioscia in Brooklyn, New York, on October 27, 1935. After appearing in a few uncredited roles, including his film debut in the 1971 classic The French Connection, where he played a car auction bidder, Adonis appeared in a number of other small roles while mostly credited under his birth name. He would then switch to the Frank Adonis screen name, which he was using when he became a mainstay in director Martin Scorsese’s films, including Raging Bull, Casino, and Goodfellas, appearing in the latter movie as real-life mobster Anthony Stabile.

Adonis’ role in Goodfellas was a minor one, as he was mostly a background character in a number of scenes. However, these included the now-classic scene where Joe Pesci, as the ill-tempered, unpredictable Tommy DeVito, raises tensions after lead character Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) refers to him as a “funny guy.” As noted by Go Into the Story, much of this scene was improvised by Pesci, whose character ended up telling everyone in his table that he was trying to see how easily Hill would “fold under questioning.”

Aside from the above roles, Adonis made several guest appearances in the 1980s television series The Equalizer as a limousine driver, and later guested on The Sopranos and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, among other shows. He also was credited for films such as Wall Street, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and True Romance. According to his IMDB page, Adonis’ last film appearance was in 2017’s Proximity to Power.

According to TMZ, Frank Adonis is survived by his wife, their two children, and a daughter from a previous marriage.