Cause of Death Announced for Ray Liotta

UPDATE May 8, 2023 10:35 AM CDT

It's been nearly a year since Ray Liotta's death at age 67, and now there are some answers as to what happened. As TMZ puts it, the Goodfellas actor's "heart and lungs gave out," according to officials in the Dominican Republic, where Liotta had been filming a movie when he died last May. Documents seen by the outlet show Liotta's passing was of natural causes and "nonviolent," the result of fluid in his lungs (technically called a pulmonary edema), respiratory insufficiency, and heart failure. The document also notes Liotta suffered from a hardening of the arteries, known as atherosclerosis, which can have other health repercussions. Per Page Six, Liotta received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in February. "I couldn't be more proud of him," daughter Karsen Liotta, 24, said at the time.

May 26, 2022 11:38 AM CDT

Actor Ray Liotta, whose breakout role came as mobster Henry Hill in Goodfellas, has died at age 67, reports Deadline. Both that outlet and TMZ say Liotta died in his sleep in the Dominican Republic, where he was filming a movie. No suspicious circumstances were believed to be at play. Liotta starred alongside Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci in Goodfellas, a based-on-true-life Mafia classic from Martin Scorcese. Liotta, however, has a long resume, and just a small sampling of movies include Hannibal, Narc, Blow, Cop Land, and Field of Dreams. Liotta is survived by a daughter, Karsen, and his fiancee, Jacy Nittolo.

"Utterly shattered to hear this terrible news about my Ray," tweeted Lorraine Bracco, who played Karen Hill in Goodfellas. "I can be anywhere in the world & people will come up & tell me their favorite movie is Goodfellas. Then they always ask what was the best part of making that movie. My response has always been the same ... Ray Liotta." The AP notes that Liotta was adopted out of an orphanage at age 6 months in Newark, New Jersey. He grew up thinking he was Italian but learned later in life while searching for his birth parents that he was actually Scottish. (More Ray Liotta stories.)