The character actor Vincent Pastore, who has died aged 80, made Italian mobster roles his speciality, most notably playing Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero in The Sopranos. Although the character’s nickname came from his early career as a cat burglar, in a recent interview Pastore said the Soprano’s creator, David Chase, had written the part “for an actor who could play a tough guy but also could be sensitive. I saw Big Pussy as a man with a big heart.”
In the show, Pastore’s Pussy balanced the violent intensity of Tony Sirico’s Paulie Walnuts. “It was like sharing the camera with an elephant,” Pastore joked about the much smaller but intense actor.
