Vincent Pastore, a character actor who specialized in playing Italian American tough guys, most notably the foot soldier turned F.B.I. informant Salvatore Bonpensiero, known to his friends as Big Pussy, on the classic HBO series “The Sopranos,” has died at his home in the Bronx. He was 80.
His manager, Robert Attermann, said that Mr. Pastore’s body was discovered by friends on Saturday.
Tall and sturdily built, Mr. Pastore was a former nightclub owner who had a substantial career in TV and movies playing mob enforcers, capos and the like before being cast in a major role on “The Sopranos,” which premiered in 1999.
His character was known as Big Pussy — not for any obscene reason, but because he had started his career in crime as a cat burglar. His friends added “Big” to distinguish him from another character, Gennaro Malanga, known as Little Pussy.
Big Pussy, an outwardly loyal and largely sympathetic character in the expansive world of “The Sopranos,” was also a longtime informant for the F.B.I. The tension between his allegiance to his boss, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), and his ties to law enforcement provided one of the central story lines of the hit show’s first two seasons.
Mr. Pastore won critical applause for the nuance he brought to the role; his Bonpensiero was flawed, conflicted and likable, caught in circumstances partly beyond his control that nevertheless sealed his fate.
His sudden disappearance early in the series yielded a cliffhanger at the end of the first season, leaving millions of viewers asking, “Where is Big Pussy?” And his inevitable but still shocking execution at the hands of Tony, Paulie Gualtieri (Tony Sirico) and Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt) — on a boat at the end of season two — remains one of the most memorable scenes in the show’s six seasons.
“I saw Big Pussy as a man with a big heart, and that was my choice of how I played that role,” Mr. Pastore said in an interview with Edge Magazine.
Mr. Pastore came late to acting, after spending over 20 years as a nightclub bouncer and limo driver, and eventually becoming a manager and owner of a club in New Rochelle, N.Y.
Among his regulars were the actors Matt and Kevin Dillon, who knew him from his days as a chauffeur. Impressed by his charisma, they persuaded him to take acting classes and audition for small roles in New York-area theater.
He climbed quickly, getting parts in TV shows and independent movies, as well as small roles in “Goodfellas” (1990) and “Carlito’s Way” (1993), both about mob life and set in the city. His first major role was in the film “The Jerky Boys” (1995), as the right-hand man of a mob boss played by Alan Arkin.
More mob-themed roles followed, including in the movies “Night Falls on Manhattan” (1996), “Gotti” (1996) and “Mickey Blue Eyes” (1999), many of which had him acting alongside some of the Italian American actors who would later populate the cast of “The Sopranos.”
“It’s easier for me to play a tough guy than it is to play the good guy,” Mr. Pastore told The New York Daily News in 2000. “I grew up in a tough neighborhood. I didn’t study the classics. I’m a street actor. A lot of my training was on the set.”
Vincent Dominic Pastore was born on July 14, 1946, in the Bronx and raised in New Rochelle, a Westchester County suburb. His father, John Pastore, was a school custodian, and his mother, Natalie (Santadonato) Pastore, managed the home.
“I grew up in a pure Italian American home,” he told Edge. “Tradition. We lived in New Rochelle in an Italian neighborhood. I can still smell the pizza! Roller skating every Friday night at the Boys’ Club. Great memories. We saw bookies and loan sharks.”
He enlisted in the Navy during the Vietnam War, then studied drama at Pace University.
After “The Sopranos” — on which he was featured in scattered guest appearances after being killed off in 2000 — he appeared on several reality TV shows, including “Celebrity Apprentice,” “Celebrity Family Feud” and “Dancing With the Stars.”
He branded his own pasta sauce and had a role in the Broadway musical “Bullets Over Broadway,” Woody Allen’s 2014 stage adaptation of his 1994 film.
His marriage to Nancy Berke ended in divorce. He is survived by his daughter, Renee Pastore; a granddaughter; his sister, Sally Molloy; and his brother, John Pastore Jr.
In 2005, Mr. Pastore was charged with assaulting his fiancée, Lisa Regina. He reached a plea agreement in which he admitted guilt for attempted assault in exchange for 10 days of community service.
Even as his public image grew, Mr. Pastore retained his connection to his old Italian American community in the Bronx and Westchester. He regularly hung out at a social club in Pelham Bay, where the owners hung his picture after he joined “The Sopranos.”
When his character was revealed to be a government informant, he told The Times in 2000, they took down the photo.
“To that crew, it doesn’t matter to them that I was only acting on TV,” he said. “A rat is a rat is a rat.”
But after Big Pussy’s death, it went back up.
“I’ve been forgiven,” he said. “At least, my picture is back up on the wall.”
Derrick Bryson Taylor contributed reporting.
