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'Goodfellas' Actor With Deep Roots In Region, Ray Liotta, Age 67, Dies Suddenly

Nationally renowned actor Ray Liotta has died at the age of 67, according to multiple media outlets. 

Ray Liotta at the Deauville Film Festival
in September 2014

Ray Liotta at the Deauville Film Festival in September 2014

Photo Credit: Georges Biard

Ray Liotta's badass scene where he beats up a neighbor for touching his wife in glorious 4K HD. All rights reserved to Warner Bros and the great Marty Scorsese.

Photo Credit: Vee XXL

Liotta's roots to the Northeast run deep.

He was born in New Jersey at St. Michael's Hospital in Newark in 1954 and spent his first six months at an orphanage there before he was adopted by a couple from Union Township. His father owned an auto parts store and his mom was a municipal clerk.

Liotta got his BFA from Miami University before moving to New York City, where he took work as a bartender before landing a role on the soap opera "Another World."

That didn't last long, soon Liotta lit out for Hollywood. "Field of Dreams" and "Goodfellas" were among the more notable films that followed. So was "Copland," mostly shot along the Hudson River in Edgewater, which Liotta himself said "put me back on the map once again."

Among many other roles, Liotta portrayed Gambino crime family member, Roy DeMeo in a biographical film about notorious contract killer Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski of Dumont.

Liotta was in the Dominican Republic to film "Dangerous Waters" when he reportedly died in his sleep on May 26, Daily Mail reports. 

No foul play is suspected and his fiancée Jacy Nittolo was with him, according to TMZ.

Funeral and memorial service details have not been announced,

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