Tony Sirico: Sopranos’ Star Who Played Paulie Walnuts Died
What are your favorite memories of Paulie?
Tony Sirico, who portrayed Peter Paul “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri in The Sopranos, died today, according to his family. This month, the actor would have turned 80.
Sirico played The Sopranos’ fan favorite henchman Paulie Walnuts for the entire six-season run on HBO. He was supposed to appear in David Chase’s prequel film, The Many Saints of Newark, due out in 2021, but his health prevented him from doing so.
The Sopranos is full of funny lines and characters, but nobody comes close to Paulie in terms of wit. He is sometimes purposefully amusing. Sometimes the audience laughs at him rather than with him, and other times he is deeply frightening. In any case, anything that comes out of Paulie’s mouth will almost certainly be memorable.
Paulie Walnuts Quotes
“This Is The Worst. This Expresso Sucks.”
Paulie (like most of The Sopranos’ main characters) is very proud of his Italian heritage, and seeing espresso makes his blood boil. Paulie laments the commercialization of Italian culture and cuisine while being served in a major coffee shop franchise.
“You’re Santa Claus. So Shut The F*** Up About It.”
If Paulie takes anything more seriously than his Italian heritage, it’s entertaining the neighborhood kids. Bobby Baccalieri, who is shy and reserved, is hesitant to play Santa for the kids, forcing Paulie to stand and reprimand him, saying: “This family’s boss told you you’re going to be Santa Claus. You’re the real Santa Claus. So stop whining about it!” Even at Christmas, Paulie Walnuts is a soldier through and through.
“You Hear What I Said, Ton?”
Throughout the series, Paulie will make a remark, turn to Tony, and ask, “You hear what I said, Ton?” He then verbatim repeats the joke that everyone has just heard. It always makes the audience laugh, and it helps Paulie establish himself as one of the show’s goofiest and most hilarious characters.
“I’ll Make This Short And Sweet…”
There’s Silvio’s story about finding Chris unconscious in the toilet, and then there’s Paulie, who is hilariously blunt: “I’ll try to keep this brief. You’re frail. You’ve become a source of shame for yourself and others.” It’s a terrible thing to say in that or any other context, but Paulie genuinely cares about Chris, and the fact that this is the only way he can express nurturing advice is amusing.
“I’m here to tell you one thing. You ever go whining to the big man again about s**t between you and me, we’ll have a problem, my friend.”
Paulie and Chris are a hilarious couple. Their adventures and misadventures have provided some of the show’s most memorable moments. They can, however, be quite combative at times. And Paulie’s underwear sniffing incident didn’t bring them any closer.
Despite the fact that he is in the wrong, Paulie is more offended that Chris told Tony what he did. Even though they are friends, and it may appear to be a silly thing at first, Paulie informs Chris that he will not tolerate being ratted on by anyone.
Final Thoughts
Sopranos was one of my favorite series of all time. Paulie Walnuts character was second to none and I am so happy to have seen every episode. I hope you enjoyed my small tribute and will conclude by saying RIP Tony.
Wrap Up:
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