Tony Sirico

THE LATE TONY SIRICO WAS AN UNFORGETTABLE CHARACTER OFFSCREEN TOO

The first time I encountered Tony Sirico he was working at a hot New York club as a fierce doorman/bouncer/security guard. His name in those days was Junior Sirico. He wore his hair slicked back, a pinky ring, and talked tough, but was very nice to me and my friends at the club. A few years later he appeared as a houseguest, visiting my friend Lenny Barin in LA, and I was told he recently got out of prison and wanted to become an actor. My friend laughingly pointed out that Junior always had a stack of Playboy magazines and a gun under his bed, but he was very close to his mother in Brooklyn. Junior started dating a roomate of mine and I had a party where he met Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had started filming Pumping Iron, but was still just a bodybuilder. Tony was immediately drawn to Arnold and seemed thrilled to meet him. The unlikely pair talked about acting. The next thing I knew he had landed a small role in The Godfather Part II. Junior announced that he was no longer Junior- we had to call him Tony from then on. The rest is history- he started enjoying his new life as an actor.

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA

TONY SIRICO IS ALWAYS IN CHARGE

Look who’s appearing in Woody Allen’s currently filming untitled movie set in the late ‘50s: Soprano stars Tony Sirico and Steve Schirripa! We didn’t realize it, but this is Tony’s SIXTH movie with Woody. We’ve known Tony for YEARS – in fact, his name was Junior back in those early New York days. Junior (don’t you dare call him that now!) was the doorman/bouncer at a hot club, and he MEANT BUSINESS. His black hair was slicked back and as shiny as his suit. Cute girls were always welcome, but guys had to wait outside. Any guy who got out of line at that club lived to regret it. Oh, and Junior never went anywhere without packing heat. He was the real thing. And now he’s a movie star- who would have guessed!

Photo Credit: Pacific Coast News

EVERYBODY RECOGNIZES TONY SIRICO FROM “THE SOPRANOS”

“Sopranos” star Tony Sirico dined at Boa steakhouse on Sunset and outside he chatted up a guy we don’t know, carrying a huge trophy. Tony was last seen in March playing a mobster on “Chuck.” He says he’s done “around 45 movies, playing 40 gangsters and 5 crooked cops.” And he doesn’t mind at all being typecast. When he was young, Tony was a real-life gun-toting mobster and served time in the slammer before he discovered acting. Yet he insists he’s a right wing Republican!