Ray Liotta is shown in "Black Bird." The "Goodfellas" actor died last May in Puerto Rico while shooting a film. Photo: Handout/TNS
Goodfellas star Ray Liotta’s death last year was caused by heart and respiratory ailments, according to a report.
The Newark-born actor died at age 67 of respiratory insufficiency, pulmonary edema and acute heart failure, TMZ reported Monday (May 8), citing documents in the Dominican Republic.
His death was natural, according to local officials, who also said Liotta had the artery condition atherosclerosis.
Liotta’s death in the Dominican Republic last May occurred while he was there shooting the movie Dangerous Waters.
The actor starred as the notorious gangster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 classic Goodfellas, a year after he portrayed Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field Of Dreams.
In recent years, Liotta had prominent roles in 2019′s Oscar-nominated drama Marriage Story and in 2021′s The Sopranos prequel film The Many Saints Of Newark.
Liotta’s fiance, Jacy Nittolo, shared a sweet tribute in November on the first Thanksgiving since his death.
“Today and everyday I am so thankful for the memories he gave me,” she captioned an Instagram post. “They were the best years of my life.”
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce honoured Liotta in February with a star on its Hollywood Walk of Fame, with producer Ana Martinez saying, “The characters he portrayed will always be etched in Hollywood’s film history.”
Liotta reflected on the legacy of Goodfellas ahead of its 30th anniversary in 2020.
“Almost every day, it seems like somebody’s saying something about it,” Liotta told the Daily News that September. “Younger kids are seeing it as if it had come out for the first time, and people have seen it lots of times. I’d like to think it’s just because we did our jobs in telling an interesting, compelling story.” – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
