Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Actress Suzanne Shepherd, who is most known for appearing in Goodfellas and The Sopranos, has died at age 89.
According to The US Sun, the late actress’ death was confirmed by her granddaughter Isabelle but neither a cause of death nor official statement has been released as of yet.
Shepherd played the mother of Lorraine Bracco’s character Karen Hill in Martin Scorsese’s hit 1990 film Goodfellas, which also starred Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci.
In HBO‘s iconic mob series The Sopranos, Shepherd played another mom character Mary DeAngelis from 2000 to 2007. Her character, who was the mother of Edie Falco‘s Carmela Soprano, emerged in Season 2 following the show’s successful debut in 1999.
Over her 35-year career, Shepherd also appeared in Mystic Pizza (1988), Uncle Buck (1989), Lolita (1997) and Requiem for a Dream (2000).
More recently, Shepherd appeared in television shows Law and Order and Blue Bloods. Her final appearance was in 2023’s The Performance.
She was also a renowned drama teacher and theater director. A forthcoming documentary titled A Gift Of Fire will delve into her career as an acting coach in New York City.
In addition to her granddaughter Isabelle, Shepherd is survived by her daughter Kate, son-in-law Miles, and daughter-in-law Joyce.
Tributes to Shepherd have begun to pour in on social media. Sopranos star Ray Abruzzo, who played Little Carmine Lupertazzi on the show, wrote on Instagram: “Sad to hear of the passing of Suzanne Shepherd. A force of nature.”
He continued: “Actress, teacher. Played Carmella’s mother on Sopranos and Karen’s mother in Goodfellas.”
You can check out Ray’s tribute among others below:
