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'Goodfellas' Actor With Deep NJ Roots, Ray Liotta, 67, Dies Suddenly: TMZ

Star of television and film Ray Liotta 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

Liotta's New Jersey roots run deep.

He was born in 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 released.

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