Vincent Pastore

Vincent Dominic Pastore (1946-07-14 to 2026-08-01) was an American character actor whose warm, conflicted portrayal of Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on HBO's The Sopranos made him one of the defining faces of prestige television's first golden age. Born in the Bronx and raised in an Italian-American neighborhood in New Rochelle, New York, he was the son of John Pastore, a school custodian, and Natalie (nee Santadonato), who cooked part-time for the Italian men's social club over which the family lived. After graduating from New Rochelle High School in 1964, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War era, trained at Naval Station Great Lakes, and served at Quonset Point, Norfolk, and San Diego before an honorable discharge in 1967. He studied drama at Pace University (switching from business), then spent years in the New York club business, including owning the Crazy Horse in New Rochelle, and worked as a limousine driver.

Acting came relatively late. Friends Matt and Kevin Dillon encouraged him after seeing him in local theater; casting director Ellen Lewis saw him in True Love (1989) and put him into Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990) as the briefly glimpsed "Man with Coat Rack." Bit parts followed in Carlito's Way, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Law & Order, and dozens of other New York crime and comedy projects. A larger showcase arrived as Tony Scarboni in The Jerky Boys: The Movie (1995) and as Angelo Ruggiero in the HBO film Gotti (1996), alongside future Sopranos colleagues Tony Sirico, Frank Vincent, and Dominic Chianese.

In 1999 David Chase cast him as Sal Bonpensiero, Tony Soprano's trusted enforcer whose nickname (from a cat-burglar past, not innuendo) and secret life as an FBI informant drove one of the series' central early arcs. Pastore brought toughness and unexpected tenderness to the role. The season-two finale "Funhouse," in which Tony, Paulie, and Silvio execute Big Pussy on a boat after a fever-dream revelation, remains among the show's most memorable sequences. Pastore shared the 2000 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series and continued to appear in flashbacks and dreams through the series' later seasons. Creator David Chase later recalled Pastore's "unbelievable sweetness" and the grace with which he took the news that his character would be killed off.

After The Sopranos, Pastore stayed busy across film (Mickey Blue Eyes, Shark Tale as Luca, Guy Ritchie's Revolver, The Family), television (Son of the Beach, The Practice, General Hospital, Blue Bloods, Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Gravesend, The Curse, Yellowjackets), and Broadway (Amos Hart in Chicago, 2007; Nick Valenti in Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway, 2014). He became a familiar reality-TV presence on Celebrity Fit Club, Dancing with the Stars (withdrew after one week), Celebrity Apprentice (resigning after a feud with Piers Morgan and directing a charity check toward pancreatic research in memory of his ex-wife's late husband), and Shark Tank (pitching the "Broccoli Wad" money clip with partner Johnny Gennaro in 2011). He hosted The Wiseguy Show on Sirius, co-hosted the podcast Fuhgeddaboudit with Vinny Pastore, fronted the band Big Pussy's Gangster Squad, launched Vincent Pastore's Italian Sauce in 2019, and later taught and produced theater with Maureen Van Zandt.

Pastore was divorced from Nancy Berke; they had a daughter, Renee. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014 and served as grand marshal of the Bronx Columbus Day parade that year. He lived alone on City Island in the Bronx. Friends found him dead at his residence on 2026-08-01 after he had not been heard from for several days; he was 80. Reports described the death as believed to be from natural causes (THR: apparently in his sleep), with no criminal investigation. A Mass and services were held in New Rochelle on 2026-08-06 at Holy Family Church and Lloyd Maxcy & Sons Beauchamp Chapel, with Steven Van Zandt among the pallbearers and co-stars including Kathrine Narducci, Michael Rispoli, Al Sapienza, and Chazz Palminteri among the mourners. He is survived by daughter Renee (and her husband Christopher), granddaughter Maia, brother John, and sister Sally.