On May 26, local time, bad news came out of the American film and television industry: veteran actor Ray Liotta tragically passed away at the age of 67 during the filming of the film "Dangerous Waters" in the island country of Dominica. According to his agent, Lyotard died in his sleep, and the specific cause of death has not been announced yet. Lyotard starred in more than 120 film and television works in his life, and his representative work is the classic gangster film "Goodfellas" directed by Martin Scorsese.

Lyotard (center) in "Goodfellas"

Ray Liotta was born on December 18, 1954 in Newark, New Jersey, USA, and was abandoned in an orphanage as soon as he was born. When he was six months old, he was adopted by the small owners of the local auto parts store, Alfred Liotta and his wife, and finally had a home of his own.
Little Lyotta was told he was adopted early in kindergarten, but it wasn't until 1997 that he mustered the courage to hire a private investigator to track down his biological parents. In 1999, he finally met his biological mother, ending his long-cherished wish for many years. "Since I was a child, I always felt that I was like a defective product with questionable quality and was abandoned by others. Until I met my biological mother this time, I finally understood their difficulties at the beginning. Many people in the same situation have given up on themselves. In fact, it is also for children to have a better life." In an interview, he said.
Lyotard's adoptive parents did give him good living conditions. It was his adoptive father's insistence that he had to go to university, even if it was a semester first. In 1978, Liotta graduated from the Department of Acting at the University of Miami, but according to his personal recollection in the future, he was not very interested in acting at first, but he did not need to look at math scores when applying for the acting department.

Young Ray Liotta

Shortly after leaving school, Lyotard moved to New York, where he started his career as an actor from small supporting roles in various soap operas. When he was young, the Italian-Irish Lyotard was very impressive, especially his blue eyes, which were very impressive; coupled with the permanent bumps on his cheeks caused by pimples. The scar, the whole appearance has a kind of bewitching taste that is both righteous and evil.

"Scattered Lulu" stills

In 1986, he won his first important role in his life, playing a terrifying ex-boyfriend in Jonathan Demme's "Shine Lulu", which made the audience and the industry shine, and also won the Golden Globe Award for the best in the following year. Nominations for Supporting Actor. Three years later, he played the legendary American baseball player Joe Jackson in the fantasy baseball film "Dreamland", and was photographed by the great director Martin Scorsese, who invited him to play in the gangster film "Goodfellas". starring Henry Hill.
"Goodfellas" is based on a true story about the 1978 theft of $5 million in belongings from Lufthansa Airlines at JFK Airport in New York. The whole story of the film is strung together with the ups and downs of Henry Hill's life played by Lyotard as the main line, showing how he slipped from an ignorant teenager into a typical underworld life step by step into the abyss of crime. Scorsese's two longtime partners, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, also play major roles in the film. During the filming, Lyotard's adoptive mother passed away unfortunately, he endured his grief and continued to complete the filming, and his wonderful acting skills were not affected at all.
Perhaps the relationship between the underworld and the perverted characters is too deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. After that, when I found Lyotard's film contract, most of them were based on such images, either the police or the gang. In "Dangerous Third Love", he played the role of a policeman who is greedy for beauty; in "Police Empire", "1998 Fighting Police", "Drug SWAT", "On the Eyes" and "Wanted Heroes", he also played police officers. . On the other hand, in films such as "Fatal ID" and "Gentle Killing", he played the villain again. Even in 2005, he played a seriously ill bedridden prisoner in the American drama "The Story of the Emergency Room", but it earned him an Emmy Award.

Lyotard's cameo appearance in "ER Story"

Lyotard, who is used to playing ruthless roles on the screen, is a good man in life. Not only does he rarely make lace news, it is said that he has never even had a hand with anyone in his life. It's just that Hollywood's so-called typecast strategy of one radish and one pit is too strong. Once the character type is identified, it is difficult to have the opportunity to transform. In addition, after "Goodfellas", Lyotard's own selection of projects was also biased. Later, he received a lot of follow-up films that made quick money, and gradually faded out of the Hollywood front-line team, only playing in "Hannibal". A handful of roles, such as the Justice Department official who was brain-eaten by Anthony Hopkins and the father of Johnny Depp in "Drug King," are still fresh in the memory.

"Hannibal" stills

Back in those days, it was from "Goodfellas" that David Chase, a gold-medal drama producer, was inspired to shoot the series "The Sopranos." At that time, he also threw a hydrangea to Lyotard, but the latter refused the invitation because he was really acting in a gangster movie. Afterwards, Lyotard deeply regretted his decision. Last year, in the film "All Saints of Newark" that appeared as a "Sopranos" spinoff, Lyotard finally got a belated opportunity, and also played two roles by one person.

Lyotard (centre) in All Saints of Newark

In recent years, some old and prosperous Lyotard's film career has ushered in the second spring, and has successively participated in such topical works as "Marriage Story" and "Don't Move Unauthorized". Therefore, his sudden death came as a surprise to the outside world. Fortunately, his film "Cocaine Bear" for Universal Pictures and the series "Black Bird" for Apple Streaming have been completed, and audiences can continue to remember him in the works.

"Marriage Story" stills