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On Friday, February 24, 2023, at 12:30 PM PT, there was a ceremony on Hollywood Blvd for the dedication of the 2,749^th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This was a rare occasion in the walk of fame star dedications where the “star” being honored was not present at the ceremony. That star was Ray Liotta, and the award-winning actor was honored posthumously by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in the category of Motion Pictures. On the same day, somewhere down the street in a movie theater off Hollywood Blvd, Cocaine Bear, Ray Liotta’s final role, was on the big screen having been released in theaters that day. One of the guest speakers at Liotta’s star dedication ceremony on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was his director for the film, Elizabeth Banks. The other guest speaker was Taron Egerton, his co-star in the Apple TV+ series, Black Bird. It was Liotta’s final role on Television and premiered mere months after his death. Ray Liotta died on May 26^th, 2022, in his sleep in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where he was shooting the film, Dangerous Waters. Ray Liotta whose career breakout role came in the 1990 film directed by Martin Scorsese and considered a mob crime classic, Goodfellas, was 67 years old.

You can watch the Official Trailer for Cocaine Bear here:

A STAR IS GONE, NOT BORN…

Ray’s daughter, Karsen Liotta, was at the ceremony to receive the dedication plaque for her father’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Karsen was his daughter from a previous marriage to Michelle Grace. Liotta was engaged to be married to Jacy Nittolo at the time of his death. She was with him in the hotel room when he died, there was no foul play or suspected death, due to them being asleep at the time of his death. Ray was having a career resurgence at an older age and had just appeared in The Sopranos prequel written by creator David Chase, The Many Saints of Newark, and previously appeared in the Steven Soderbergh film, No Sudden Move and Marriage Story, for which he shared a 2020 ensemble Indie Spirit Award. He was also set to star in the film The Substance, with Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. There has still been no word on if his role in Dangerous Waters will be recast, the film had barely transitioned from pre-production into production when Liotta died.

A SOAP STAR ON THE RISE…

Ray Liotta had more than 60 feature films to his credit, due to his diverse and challenging range of acting that found him roles in both comedy and drama. Born in Newark, New Jersey on December 18, 1954, Ray grew up in a Roman Catholic household in Union Township, New Jersey, although his family was not that religious about practicing their faith. Liotta later left New Jersey for Miami to attend the University of Miami, where he studied acting and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1978. During his time in college, he performed in the university’s musical productions, including Cabaret, Dames at Sea, Oklahoma!, and The Sound of Music, at the University of Miami’s Jerry Herman Ring Theatre. While known for his breakout role as mobster Henry Hill in Goodfellas, Liotta landed his first acting role on the soap opera, Another World, where he played “nice guy Joey Perrini” from 1978-81. He had been living in New York City as a working actor at the time and when he left the show in 1981, against everyone’s advice, Ray moved out west to Los Angeles to be a movie star. He swapped apartments with a friend of his from college, actor Steven Bauer, and his girlfriend, a young up-and-coming actress named, Melanie Griffith. They wanted to come out to New York and study acting with Stella Adler, so they traded places. Ray lived in Melanie’s little beach house in Los Angeles and she and Steven and Melanie lived in his tiny apartment on 72^nd street in New York. At the same time that Ray was arriving in Los Angeles, another up-and-coming young actor moved there at the same time, his name was Andy Garcia. Ray and Andy would discuss finding acting work out and networking for studio roles without the help of proper representation through an agent.

A MOVIE STAR ON A SLOW RISE…

It would be four or five years of Ray Liotta living in Los Angeles and no luck was coming to him in getting movie roles as a working actor. Two years after moving to L.A., Ray would make his film acting debut in 1983‘s The Lonely Lady but his first major acting role would come in 1983 when his college friend Steven’s girlfriend Melanie Griffith in 1986 recommended and insisted that the director of her latest film would consider her friend Ray Liotta for the male role, despite the director already deciding on an actor. Melanie’s director was Jonathan Demme, and the film was Something Wild. After reading him, Demme thought he was amazing and cast him alongside Jeff Daniels in the film. He was perfect in the role and showed his true talent as an actor and had his breakout role and received a Golden Globe Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, for his explosive antagonistic role of ‘Ray Sinclair‘, which was terrifying and brooding, all while being a comedy until he arrives on screen and then it becomes something of a horror to watch. But that was the talent of this new diverse actor who could carry to either side of the spectrum of film. His award-nominated breakout performance in Something Wild would get him roles in between starring in the 1988 drama Dominick and Eugene with Jamie Lee Curtis, leading him into the first widespread role that would get him noticed and he would co-star with Kevin Costner in the fantasy/drama Field of Dreams in 1989, widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood’s greatest baseball movies, and nominated for three Oscars including Best Picture, where Liotta portrayed the ghost of baseball player Shoeless Joe Jackson, and when heckled while batting in his scenes for doing the opposite of what Shoeless Joe did in terms of righty or lefty, Liotta reminded those hecklers that he was playing a ghost and therefore could do whatever he wanted. Much like the character he was about to be most famous for playing, a certain fella with questionably good friends.

You can watch the Official Trailer from 1983 for The Lonely Lady here:

You can watch the Official Trailer from 1986 for Something Wild here:

You can watch the Official Trailer from 1989 for Field of Dreams here:

A STAR DREAMS OF GOODFELLAS…

But in 1990, Ray Liotta would not only become the famous movie star he came out to Los Angeles to be, but he would also become a mobster movie icon and legacy in film history. The role that brought him this widespread acclaim and would become the defining role in his career, was his portrayal of real-life mobster ‘Henry Hill’ in Martin Scorsese’s critical and commercially successful mob film, Goodfellas, starring opposite Robert De Niro, Paul Sorvino, and Joe Pesci. The famous Copa Long Take tracking shot through the underneath bowels of the Copacabana when he’s walking in Karen would go on to be studied in film schools and Liotta’s performance would go on to help the film earn a Best Picture Academy Award nomination and after his Golden Globe nomination prior, Ray’s status with critics and movie fans alike would be solidified. Liotta played ruggedly handsome Henry Hill perfectly narrating most of the film to tell the tale of how he got involved with the organized crime gang that was responsible for pulling off the Lufthansa heist at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport in 1978, a heist that totaled out to more than $5 million in cash and jewels stored in the air cargo building of the German airline. The film was adapted by Martin Scorsese with Nicholas Pileggi from his book and was nominated for a total of six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor with Joe Pesci winning the only Oscars that night for his role as Tommy Devito.

You can watch the Official Trailer from 1990 for Goodfellas here:

A MOVIE STAR LIVING THE DREAM…

His portrayal of Henry Hill and Goodfellas would lead Liotta to work steadily through the 90s appearing in such films as Unlawful Entry co-starring Kurt Russell, No Escape, Unforgettable, Turbulence, Operation Dumbo Drop with Danny Glover, James Mangold‘s Cop Land starring Sylvester Stallone and there was also Corrina, Corrina opposite Whoopi Goldberg. Liotta would portray Frank Sinatra in the 1998 HBO movie The Rat Pack, for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. Ray Liotta would be busy into the 2000s with roles in Ridley Scott’s Hannibal, the sequel to Silence of the Lambs starring Anthony Hopkins, he would then star opposite Penélope Cruz and Johnny Depp in Ted Demme’s Blow in 2001, as drug trafficker George Jung’s father, and he would follow that up with the Indie hit co-starring Jason Patric, Narc in 2002, and appeared in director Nick Cassavetes’ John Q starring Denzel Washington in 2002. Then came Identity in 2003, directed by James Mangold and co-starring John Cusack and Amanda Peet. Liotta would even have time for more TV work and appeared on the popular television drama and ratings-getter, ER in 2004 playing Charlie Metcalf, for which Liotta would earn an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, a win he spoofed as himself in Jerry Seinfeld’s animated 2007 film, Bee Movie. Ray Liotta also starred in Smokin’ Aces with Jeremy Piven and Ryan Reynolds in 2006 and Guy Richie’s Revolver in 2005.

A MOVIE STAR WITH TV SHINE…

Ray Liotta would also star in the comedy Wild Hogs, co-starring John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy in 2007. In the 2010s, Liotta starred in such films as The Place Beyond the Pines starring Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper, and The Iceman with Michael Shannon, Winona Ryder, and Chris Evans. Liotta would then star with Brad Pitt in the book-adapted film Killing Them Softly which premiered at Cannes for its release, he would also appear in Judd Apatow’s produced dramedy Wanderlust opposite Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd. He was cast in more comedies starting with Shawn Levy’s Steve Carell and Tina Fey‘s film, Date Night, and Observe and Report starring Seth Rogan, and then followed those up with the Frank Miller–Robert Rodriguez sequel Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. Ray Liotta would also guest star in popular TV series throughout the 2000/the 2010s including The Simpsons, SpongeBob SquarePants, Family Guy, Hannah Montana, Just Shoot Me! and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and narrated the 2015 docuseries The Making of the Mob: New York. Liotta then starred in a TV series from 2016-18 along with Jennifer Lopez in the crime drama Shades of Blue for NBC.

A STAR SHINES TOO BRIGHT…

At the time of his death, Liotta had just had his most recent career highlights playing the second lawyer of Adam Driver’s character in Netflix’s Marriage Story, which scored a total of six Oscar nominations including Best Picture, and The Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark, where Ray Liotta co-starred as twin brothers, he played “Hollywood Dick” Moltisanti and his incarcerated brother Salvatore “Sally” Moltisanti, “Hollywood Dick“ was The Sopranos character Christopher Moltasanti’s grandfather, and the film was narrated from Moltasanti’s perspective of the past from the grave. At the time of Ray Liotta’s death, he was still in demand as an actor and working steadily with future films being produced. Ray Liotta’s star was shining bright at the time of his unexpected death, the film world lost a great talented actor and his fans felt like they lost their friend, that good fella.

His newest film, Cocaine Bear for director Elizabeth Banks is in theaters now and is also now available to stream for rent digitally on your preferred platform.