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Richard Romanus, 'Mean Street' actor passes away at 80
Richard Romanus, known for his role as Michael Longo died due to unknown cause
Richard Romanus, best known for his roles in Mean Streets and The Sopranos died at the age of 80 with no cause of death revealed.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the American actor’s son, Robert Romanus, confirmed that his father breathed his last on December 23, 2023 in a hospital in Volos, Greece.
In a 2011 biography, Untouchable: Robert De Niro, it was revealed that a crime drama directed by Martin Scorsese had Romanus playing a loan shark, who got into a memorable confrontation with Johnny Civello, played by Robert De Niro.
The iconic scene at the bar was described by the director who said, "Something had happened between Bobby and Richard because the animosity between them in that scene is real, and I played on it.”
“They had gotten on each other’s nerves to the point where I think they really wanted to kill each other. I kept shooting take after take of Bobby yelling all these insults while the crew was getting very upset,” he added.
The reason Robert De Niro was so upset was because he had seen the Romanus laugh while he was all fumed up.
“By laughing I was saving face,” he explained, recalling how Romanus also “looked ridiculous”.
“He thought I should be fuming, but he had no control over my reactions. Sometimes the reaction you get from your acting partner is not the one you want. Then you simply have to react off that. But in this scene, I laughed organically,” he concluded.
About Richard Romanus:
Richard Romanus was known for playing tough-guy roles with his most prominent performance being the character of Michael Longo in Mean Streets.
Romanus also appeared in three episodes as the estranged husband of Dr. Jennifer Melfi, Tony Soprano’s psychiatrist, in the iconic crime drama, The Sopranos, according to IMDb.
Some other accredited works of the now deceased actor include Charlie’s Angels, Mission: Impossible, MacGyver, The A-Team, Hawaii Five-0 and Strike Force.
He also starred in many television motion pictures such as Night Drive, Gold of the Amazon Women, More Than Murder and Ghost of a Chance.
Romanus played his final role in 2003 as Ben Ishak in The Young Black Stallion, a prequel to the 1979 Disney classic The Black Stallion.
