LOS ANGELES: Actor Ray Liotta, who starred in Martin Scorsese’s gangster classic “Goodfellas,” has died in the Dominican Republic, the country’s cinema authority said Thursday. He was 67.
Liotta, whose blistering turn as real-life mobster Henry Hill in Scorsese’s crime masterpiece won universal admiration, was shooting a new film in the country when he died, a spokeswoman for the Dominican Republic’s General Direction of Cinema said.
“We understand that he was accompanied by his (fiancee) and that the (fiancee) asks that you please respect her grief,” the spokeswoman told AFP.
Liotta’s publicist in Los Angeles confirmed his death, saying the actor died in his sleep and that there were no suspicious circumstances.
He was working on a movie called “Dangerous Waters” at the time of his death.
Liotta’s breakout came in 1990 when he was cast alongside Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci in what is widely considered one of the greatest films of the 20th century.
“Goodfellas” won one Oscar, and was nominated for five others, and scenes from the movie continue to resonate as cultural touchstones more than three decades later.
A year before “Goodfellas,” Liotta had played baseball star “Shoeless Joe” Jackson in beloved sports movie “Field of Dreams,” opposite Kevin Costner.
The film was nominated for three Oscars, including best picture.
Tributes began to be paid soon after news of Liotta’s death broke, with “Goodfellas” co-star Lorraine Bracco, who played his on-screen wife, Karen, saying she was “utterly shattered to hear this terrible news.”
“I can be anywhere in the world & people will come up & tell me their favorite movie is Goodfellas,” she tweeted.
“Then they always ask what was the best part of making that movie. My response has always been the same... Ray Liotta.”
Despite branching out to show his breadth as an actor, Liotta had recently returned to the world of mob films, with roles in Steven Soderbergh’s “No Sudden Move” and “The Sopranos” prequel “The Many Saints of Newark.”
Liotta was born in Newark, on the US East Coast, in December 1954.
Variety reported he was left at an orphanage at birth and adopted when he was six months old.
At the University of Miami he performed in musicals, and after graduating landed a role in a soap opera that would provide him with three years’ work to 1981.
His first movie came in 1983, but it wasn’t until 1986’s “Something Wild” opposite Melanie Griffith and Jeff Daniels that he came to wider attention.
The comedy-action-romance was screened at Cannes and scored Liotta a Golden Globe nomination for supporting actor.
‘Goodfellas’ actor Ray Liotta dead
https://arab.news/r3ugv
‘Goodfellas’ actor Ray Liotta dead
- Ray Liotta’s publicist in Los Angeles confirmed his death, saying the actor died in his sleep and that there were no suspicious circumstances
- Liotta, whose turn as mobster Henry Hill in Scorsese’s crime masterpiece, ‘Goodfellas,’ won universal admiration, was shooting a film in the Dominican Republic when he died
Canadian Lebanese singer Maya Waked on music, identity, home
- Late father’s love of music shaped childhood’s soundtrack
DUBAI: For Canadian Lebanese singer Maya Waked, music has always been inseparable from memory.
Some of her earliest recollections are rooted in her family home in Lebanon, where her late father’s love of music shaped the soundtrack of her childhood.
“He had a beautiful voice, so he used to sing a lot at home,” she recalled, adding that he made her and her sisters listen to Arab icons like Fairuz, Asmahan, Umm Kulthum and Mohammed Abdel Wahab. “These are my first memories.”
Music was not just something playing in the background; it was an experience her parents actively nurtured. Waked grew up attending weekly concerts, operas and musical events, an upbringing she describes as “a blessing.” But when she left Lebanon as a teenager, that connection briefly shifted. Living and studying in France for a few years, she found herself leaning into European culture, wanting to feel modern and influenced by her new surroundings.
It was only later, after moving to Canada, that her relationship with her Arab identity came into sharp focus. “This is where it hit me that my roots are my refuge,” she said. “My resources. This is where I find myself ... my stability.” In Canada she hosted a radio program for the Arabic diaspora, speaking Arabic on air and reconnecting with her culture while far from home.
Waked said she never felt torn between cultures. Instead, she learned to live comfortably in all of them. “You can have your identity that is a mix of everything,” she said, explaining that while she sings mainly in Lebanese, her music carries influences from French literature, jazz, bossa nova and global sounds. That multiculturalism has become the foundation of her artistic identity.
Waked’s sound today blends Arabic melodies with improvisation and international textures, resonating across borders.
Her recent performance in Saudi Arabia, at the Ritz-Carlton Jeddah, marked a new milestone in her regional journey. It was her first time performing in the Kingdom, and she said: “It was a very meaningful experience for me. I felt that the audience was very curious and very open. They are great listeners and very cultured. They know the songs and recognized some of the tunes.”
Looking ahead, Waked said she was currently in the process of recording new music and planning a music video following performances across the region.
