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In mid-2022, the world was saddened to learn the news that Ray Liotta was no longer among the living. Only 67 years old at the time of his demise, Liotta was in the capital city of the Dominican Republic when he passed away in his sleep.When Ray Liotta passed away, he left behind a lot of loved ones who mourned his loss. On top of that, based on what Liotta's fellow actors have said about him, he clearly was deeply respected. However, for moviegoers, Liotta will be remembered for his stellar performances.During Ray Liotta's life which was far too short, he starred in a slew of movies as some truly scary villains. As a result of Liotta's legacy of acting excellence, he was working on several films and shows when he took his last breath.No matter how many movies Ray Liotta starred in throughout his career, he remained best known for his star-making role in Goodfellas. As it turns out, part of the reason he was so great in that film was due to a horrible tragedy in his life.
How Ray Liotta Was Cast In Goodfellas
By the time Martin Scorsese made Goodfellas, his career already was pretty incredible. After all, Scorses directed Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, and Raging Bull before he decided to tell the story of Henry Hill and his comrades.
Since Martin Scorsese was so respected in the business by the time he made Goodfellas, most of the top actors wanted to work with him. In the end, Scorsese wound up casting Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci in two of Goodfelllas' main roles.
Unsurprisingly, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci were both great in Goodfellas. In fact, Pesci even won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his work in the film.
Even though Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci's work in Goodfellas was pivotal to the movie's success the really key thing was for Martin Scorsese to cast the right person as Henry Hill. Thankfully, Ray Liotta was cast as Hill and he was amazing in the role.
By the time Goodfellas was released, Ray Liotta had only portrayed supporting characters in a handful of films, only one of which was a success. With that in mind, it is shocking that Martin Scorsese cast him in such a pivotal role.
As it turns out, Ray Liotta's role in a film that flopped and a chance meeting were the keys to his Goodfellas casting.
When GQ published an article that chronicled Goodfellas' production, they spoke to Martin Scorsese about why he hired Ray Liotta to star in the film.
"I'd seen Ray in Something Wild, Jonathan Demme's film; I really liked him. And then I met him. I was walking across the lobby of the hotel on the Lido that houses the Venice Film Festival, and I was there with The Last Temptation of Christ."
"I had a lot of bodyguards around me. Ray approached me in the lobby and the bodyguards moved toward him, and he had an interesting way of reacting, which was he held his ground, but made them understand he was no threat. I liked his behavior at that moment, and I saw, Oh, he understands that kind of situation. That's something you wouldn't have to explain to him."
How Tragedy Made Ray Liotta A Star
Not long before Ray Liotta passed away, the legendary actor was interviewed by Nick Hasted from Little White Lies. During the resulting conversation, Liotta spoke about many of his most notable roles. Unsurprisingly, Goodfellas was part of the conversation.
As Ray Liotta explained to the interviewer for Little White Lies, something huge went wrong in his life during the filming of Goodfellas. “When I was doing Goodfellas, my mother was dying – and did die – from cancer in the middle of [filming].”
Over the years, a lot of actors have spoken about bringing to mind really emotional things in their life when they have to perform really dramatic scenes.
Since Ray Liotta was going through something so horrible during Goodfellas filming, it only makes sense that he used the emotions he was going through at the time for his performance. While speaking to Little White Lies, Liotta outlined how he did that.
“I had to go across the street and p****l-whip a guy, and I just remember thinking about my mother. It really made me angry. I brought outside stuff in and personalized it there." From there, Ray Liotta went on to explain that he typically can't personalize roles like that.
"But it’s impossible to personalize [generally], because every character I’ve played is so far from who I am.”
Even though Ray Liotta was excellent in many roles, his Goodfellas performance has always been widely considered his best. Once you learn that he was able to personalize that role unlike most of his other performances, that makes a lot of sense.
Keeping in mind that Ray Liotta's Goodfellas performance is what really made him a star, it is clear that he owes his stardom to one of the most terrible things he ever had to go through.
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