Frank Albanese, who played Tony Soprano's uncle, the retired mobster Pat Blundetto, on "The Sopranos", has died. He was 84. Albanese, who appeared in 1990s
Goodfellas and in uncredited roles in two of the three
Godfather films, died on Monday at a Staten Island hospice facility in New York.
A hard-hitting heavyweight boxer, Albanese had to give up the sport at the age of 19 after he suffered a brain injury.
Middleweight champion Rocky Graziano helped him get an uncredited role in Martin Ritt's Mafia drama The
Brotherhood (1968), starring Kirk Douglas.
Albanese studied acting and appeared in
Plaza Suite (1971) and in
Honor Thy Father, a 1973 CBS TV film about the Bonanno crime family and "Goodbye, Columbus", based on the Philip Roth novel.
On four episodes of HBO's
The Sopranos between 2004 and 2007, he portrayed Tony's (James Gandolfini) Uncle Pat, who was suffering from dementia and could not remember where the bodies were buried on his farm.
Albanese played mobster Paul Castellano in a reenactment on a 1989 episode of
America's Most Wanted and showed up in yet another crime film,
Dead Presidents in 1995.
He also guest starred on soaps like
As the World Turns and
Loving.